Future Buckeyes arrive at the All-American Bowl

Ohio State football has had a busy start to the New Year. The Buckeyes were able to walk away with a hard-fought victory over Utah in the Rose Bowl on New Years Day. Since then, Ohio State has also picked up commitments from multiple blue-chip prospects. While Monday was a slower day for recruiting, Ohio State still found ways to make the headlines. In case you missed any OSU recruiting news Monday, no need to worry, as Land-Grant Holy Land has you covered.

Future Buckeyes arrive at All-American Bowl

While the college football season has wrapped up for this year’s Buckeyes, Buckeye Nation will have one last chance to watch some football with implications for Ohio State. This coming Saturday is the All-American Bowl, and multiple future Buckeyes will be participating in the game.

Nine Ohio State early signees will take the field Saturday: Devin Brown, Caleb Burton, Kaleb Brown, Caden Curry, Kyion Grayes, Tegra Tshabola, Kojo Antwi, Jyaire Brown and George Fitzpatrick. However, Ohio State will also see its top three remaining prospects participate in the event as well, as four-star DL Hero Kanu, four-star OL Carson Hinzman and four-star DL Christen Miller will all also be in attendance.

Kanu, the most likely to commit to Ohio State of the group of three, will also be announcing his commitment publicly Saturday. The Buckeyes have been the recent favorites to land his commitment, and it is due in large part to the work the coaching staff has put in to build a relationship with him.

Ohio State hosted him on an official visit back in October and the communications with Kanu have not stopped there. Additionally, in late November, multiple 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions began rolling in with Ohio State as the school of choice. While these are in no way a guarantee, when there is smoke, there is usually fire.

Hinzman, who appears to be down to Wisconsin and Ohio State, has not yet officially made a decision on when he will make a commitment. However, it seems he may be closer to deciding than initially thought, and a decision could come before the Feb. 2 deadline. With multiple Ohio State commits attending the game, expect them all to be in his ear in hopes to convince him to join.

The final target attending the game, Miller, recently made it known he will commit on Feb 2. He also released his final five schools and Ohio State made the cut alongside Georgia, Oregon, Miami and Florida A&M.

While Ohio State is obviously in the mix, the favorite to land his commitment in February is Georgia. The Buckeyes seem to be the closest to the Bulldogs in earning his commitment, and you can best believe Ohio State commit Caden Curry will be pitching him to join him in Columbus all week.

Another future Buckeye playing in Saturday’s contest is four-star offensive tackle Tegra Tshabola, who checked in to the event on Monday.

Tshaboloa has been garnering a lot of attention as of late, and will likely be one of the more talked about recruits this week. Additionally, there has also been talk of him earning the highly-coveted fifth star if he performs as well as expected.

Make sure to follow Land-Grant Holy Land this week and weekend as we will keep you updated with any and all things Ohio State recruiting.

Quick Hits

• The All-American Bowl this Saturday is not the only All-American game that will be taking place this year. This past weekend was the Under Armor All-American Game, and a future Buckeye was selected as the best of his position. Five-star linebacker C.J. Hicks was selected as the best LB by Ryan Wright of Rivals.com. Wright had the following to say on Hicks’ performance.

Tied for a team and game-high in tackles, Hicks was all over the field on Sunday. Hicks racked up five tackles, three solo, with a half-tackle for a loss and a pass broken up. Fast and physical, Hicks was strong against the run and covered well. Hicks had some good in-game one-on-one moments going against running back Kaytron Allen.