Five-star DE locks in visit with Ohio State

As Ohio State gears up for an important month of March in the recruiting world, the visitor list continues to grow seemingly every day. In addition to dozens of visits over the next several weeks, the Buckeyes’ staff continues to evaluate talent as they hand out new offers to top prospects in both the 2024 and 2025 classes.

Stewart set to visit Ohio State

Ohio State and position coach Larry Johnson have missed on hauling in a five-star defensive lineman in both the 2022 and 2023 classes after landing a pair in 2021 in J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer. That’s not to say that the cupboard has been bare in these last few cycles, as the Buckeyes have added a handful of top-100 players along the defensive front in those classes including Kenyatta Jackson, Omar Abor and Jason Moore.

Still, while there isn’t a lack of talent in the room, Johnson has failed to haul in the big fish as of late. Ohio State will be hoping to change that with Dylan Stewart, who has scheduled a visit to Columbus for March 24.

Stewart, the highest-rated player in the 2024 class by On3, is the No. 4 edge rusher and No. 28 overall prospect on 247Sports. The Washington D.C. native holds around 35 total offers to this point, and has other visits scheduled to some of the biggest schools across the country, including Alabama, Georgia and Michigan, among others.

This past season, Stewart had 16 sacks and helped Friendship Collegiate Academy win a DCSAA Class AA state championship. He was also named an All-Metro selection by the Washington Post.

Stewart previously visited Ohio State back on Nov. 26 for the Michigan game, and even despite the loss for the Buckeyes, he cleared like what he saw enough to make a return trip. OSU was one of the early offers for Stewart, with that coming back in January of 2022, and so Johnson has had plenty of time to build a relationship with one of the best defensive lineman the 2024 class has to offer. If all goes well on his next visit, look for the Buckeyes to be included among his top schools when Stewart narrows his focus.

Buckeyes offer Florida defensive tackle

Sticking with defensive line recruiting, Ohio State sent out a new offer over the weekend, and on the receiving end was three-star defensive tackle Sean Sevillano Jr.

A 6-foot-2, 320-pound interior D-lineman out of Clearwater Academy International, Sevillano Jr. currently ranks as the No. 75 DL in the country. While maybe not as highly rated a prospect as the Buckeyes generally go after, the tackle has compiled a list of around two dozen offers thus far among the likes of Cincinnati, Indiana, Maryland, Wake Forest, West Virginia and of course Ohio State — the biggest name currently on his offer sheet.

Mark Pantoni and the rest of Ohio State’s talent evaluators typically do a great job when it comes to identifying some great talents that aren’t near the top of recruiting boards, and clearly they see something in Sevillano Jr. to get into the mix. We will see if this causes some of the other big names to hop on board now that the Buckeyes have thrown their hat into the ring.

OSU makes top schools list for top OL

Going from one side of the trenches to the other, Ohio State got good news this weekend when one of the top offensive linemen in the 2024 class released a top schools list that included the Buckeyes. Jordan Seaton, the nation’s No. 1 IOL prospect and the No. 41 player overall in the 2024 class according to 247Sports, cut down from a whopping 50 offers down to 14 schools, and Ohio State has made the cut.

Also included among Seaton’s top schools are Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, USC and a handful of others.

Notably for Seaton, there is currently one Crystal Ball logged for his future destination, and that is in favor of Ohio State — cast by 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong back in November. The Buckeyes’ offensive line room was left pretty barren by the last guy in charge of the position, and Justin Frye is now tasked with bringing in some top talent to replenish it.

Landing Seaton would be a massive get in that regard, and Ohio State has to be happy with where they currently stand.

Quick Hits

• The NFL Combine has always been a useful recruiting tool for Ohio State, as former Buckeyes seem to always put up big numbers at the annual talent evaluation. This year was no different, as Jaxon Smith-Njigba recorded the fastest 20-yard shuttle (3.93 seconds) and three-cone drill (6.57 seconds) of any player at this year’s event.

People might forget just how good Smith-Njigba is after he missed the majority of the 2022 season, but we’re talking about the same guy who put up the best numbers in a receiver room with Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and Jameson Williams.