With Jaheim Singletary out, Ohio State should be in the market for another cornerback

After taking in a Sunday that included Ohio State losing their top-ranked defensive pledge and a Monday that saw the Buckeyes top-ranked overall player elect for reclassification, Tuesday eased up on the collective hearts of Buckeye Nation and the 2022 class as a whole. Land-Grant Holy Land looks at where things stand at cornerback and the latest on a Top 150 defensive lineman.

What’s next at CB in 2022?

As mentioned above, 2022 five-star cornerback Jaheim Singletary of Robert E. Lee (FL) chose to back off of his verbal commitment to Ohio State on Sunday after being a member of the class since January. The unfortunate news for the Buckeyes was one that came as no surprise. The 6-foot-1, 170-pounder from Jacksonville had made visits to both Miami (FL) and Georgia in the summer and always felt like a player that Ryan Day and his staff would have to fight to the bitter end in hopes of keeping him around.

With Singletary now opening things up and the likelihood of a potential reunion unlikely, the first order of business for Ohio State will certainly be keeping their current cast of cornerbacks together. Despite losing their top-ranked cornerback pledge, the Buckeyes still have a tremendously talented group of cornerbacks with Terrance Brooks (No. 46 overall), Jyaire Brown (No. 122), Ryan Turner (No. 358), and Kye Stokes (No. 398) currently in the fold. Getting the coveted signatures from those four should unquestionably be the biggest focus going forward.

Nonetheless, the safe bet is to assume that Ohio State will still be in the cornerback market going forward. There are three ways the Buckeyes can address adding a fifth cornerback and the ultimate replacement for Singletary. They can take a glance at some prospects still uncommitted, they can take a swing at a player currently committed elsewhere, or they can wait until after the season and see if there are any CBs that enter the transfer portal. We will focus on the former two options today.

If the Scarlet and Gray elect to approach some uncommitted talent at the position, two names still floating around that the Buckeyes have previously offered are five-star cornerback Denver Harris of North Shore (TX) and four-star cornerback Ephesians Prysock of Bishop Alemany (CA). Harris admittedly would seem to be a longshot with Alabama, LSU, Texas, and Texas A&M the likely options. As for Prysock, he did take an official visit to Columbus in June and the chances are much more favorable for them to gain traction here than in the case of Harris. Another option would be to get some more offers out to some other uncommitted 2022 cornerbacks.

Perhaps the long-game here though is with a pair of corners committed elsewhere that many Buckeye fans will be familiar with in five-star cornerback Domani Jackson of Mater Dei (CA) and five-star cornerback Will Johnson of Grosse Pointe South (MI). As of now, they are currently committed to USC and Michigan respectively. But if things don’t go well for the Trojans and Wolverines this season, I would certainly expect Ohio State to keep things warm with both.

Miller sets decision date

With a lot of work still to be done along the defensive front in this year’s recruiting cycle, defensive line coach Larry Johnson has Ohio State in the running for a fair amount of blue-chip players in the trenches. One of those players is four-star defensive lineman Christen Miller of Cedar Grove (GA).

Miller, who stands at 6-foot-4 and 285-pounds, is a player the Buckeyes have been in on since offering him back in February. Fast forward to where things stand today and Ohio State has a puncher’s chance in a battle for the No. 118 overall player in the class as Miller included the program in his top four that he revealed last week that also featured Georgia, Oregon, and USC.

On Tuesday, the All-American Bowl selection took to Twitter to say that he will be announcing his decision at the Adidas event that is taking place on NBC on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022.

It’s no secret that the Buckeyes are likely running behind both the Bulldogs and Trojans at least. But now Larry Johnson and the rest of the Ohio State coaching staff have a time frame in mind if they want to put the pressure on Miller in hopes of adding him to their now third-ranked overall recruiting class.