Ohio State recruiting UPDATE: Buckeye commits DOMINATING, Ball State visitor preview

0:00Recruiting season is back folks, which means we're back with another addition of the Letterman Live recruiting podcast. My name is Mick Walker. I cover our highest state recruiting for LettermanRoad.com. But if you're here, if you're listening, if you're watching, you already know that. That's why you came. We do a great job over on LettermanRoad.com. And we just come over here every once in a while, every week at this point in the season to talk about our highest state recruiting and keep our YouTube watchers and viewers informed. But if you're not over on LettermanRoad.com, you should sign up right now. We have a sale going on. It's our season kick off sale. Get a full year's worth of LettermanRoad for $30. It's 75% off the normal price of an annual subscription. First year for $30. We're not going to have a better deal than that's for the rest of the year. I could probably see that. You should sign up now. Come over, check us out. We're going to have a ton of recruiting coverage. We're going to have a ton of team coverage in the highest state coverage. When Saturday rolls around, but in the meantime, we're just going to talk about a highest state recruiting. And everything I talk about today has already been talked about, broken down and written about over on LettermanRoad.com. We're going to check it out. But the couple of topics for today's show. We're going to talk about a high state commits dominating on Friday night as the cover photo says.

1:02We're going to answer a couple of questions from LettermanLive message or LettermanLive message board. I'm sorry. As we do every time I have a solo show. And then at the end of the show, we're going to briefly touch on that high state visitors list for the ball state game. Not a long one, but it's still worth mentioning some of the names that are coming to campus, especially the highest state commits. But we're going to talk about the end show to start the show again. And then we're going to talk about a high state commits dominating on Friday night. So let me queue up this picture here of Wyatt Smith, who was an absolute stud for St. Thomas Aquinas on Friday night against the soda of Texas. I might have actually might have been Saturday regardless. Wyatt Smith went ballistic for St. Thomas Aquinas down there for a lot of no Florida and a major win over the soda. The final total, I believe, was 31 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and or eight tackles for loss and 12 solo tackles along those lines. 31 tackles might be a bit high based on everybody that I talked to that was at the game. But all indications are that Wyatt Smith was one of, if not the true best player on the field when St. Thomas Aquinas took on the soda last week. Wyatt Smith is really coming on as a senior. I think he's adding continued, add weight, continue adding play strength.

2:07He's continuing to become a better football player in general. He's the son of a former NFL all pro and Justin Smith. So he has the traits and the tangibles, but he's still growing into his body. You can see here. This is not from the soda game this picture, but it's against their opening scrimmaging and scarlet moody a couple weeks ago. And he's not the most like fill out prospect that we're going to in Ohio States class, not by any means. But I think one thing about Wyatt Smith is he plays with a reckless abandonment. He plays with a nonstop motor. He's somebody that's always chasing down the ball. And that's why he was able to get eight tackles for loss against a really talented distotto rushing attack that's led by Texas Tech commits a ride baker. So there's a lot of talent on that Texas on that desoto team. But Wyatt Smith shined amongst above all of them. And those two teams took the field down at the Broward Showcase last week. So first star of the week last week we wrote it on letter.com. But first star of the week went to Wyatt Smith. Second star of the week. We don't have a picture of him this week, but Quinten Scythe for the Ohio State Linebacker commit down there for Raleigh Milbrook. I believe he had 10 tackles, a handful of tackles for loss and two sacks. It's not easy to get sacks from the linebacker position, but Quinten Scythe for just plays with a similar reckless abandonment that Wyatt Smith plays with.

3:11And just a similar nose for the football that Wyatt Smith plays with. And that's why he was able to get a couple of sacks from Raleigh Milbrook and stay pitched another shut out to start the season. Quinten Scythe is really on a tear. I don't know if it will impact his rankings a ton. But I think one thing's for sure. He is verifying everything that James O'Neil is believed about him going into probably when he committed in December. So Ohio State is a big fan of Quinten Scythe for he's proven wise to start the season and he looked like a stud in last week. When Raleigh Milbrook went over, I believe it was White Force Heritage High School 42 to 42 to zero. I believe it was what it was and it was along those lines in Quinten Scythe right 10 tackles, two sacks. Like I said, second star of the week goes to Quinten Scythe. And then the third star of the week was actually Wyatt Smith's teammate, Jane Carey. It wasn't a loaded week for the third star of a Jane Carey gets the knot because he had a pick six in St. Thomas of Clindes this win over to soda. Not easy again to get a pick six against the town to team like to set up a Jane Carey did a great job. I think it was in the third quarter or the fourth quarter picks up covers around perfectly going towards the sideline picks it off runs it down the sideline touchdown six for Jane Carey in St. Thomas of Clindes.

4:14I know he's not the highest ring member of this class. He's actually towards near the bottom of the bottom five I believe. But in terms of pure football players in this Ohio State 2027 were pretty class. Jane Carey is as good as really anybody in this class in my opinion at least he's a really darn good football player. And I think the measurable is kind of holding some people back but pure football player wise, Jane Carey is going to be very good for the bug eyes at least in my opinion. And he showed why he's not why I think so highly of him, why Ohio State I think so highly of him against a soda with that picks six. He's a stud. Those are the three that we really named by me the Elijah Newman Hall had a touchdown for for I and you Academy last week I believe Jordan Dona you had a couple of catches from us 80 yards for a Vito high school down there in Florida. So Ohio State commits to have some of the best players in the country committed so high state commits are always going to dominate on Friday nights. But we had to give a shout out to the three stars wise Smith, Quentin Seifer and Jane Carey off for dominating on front last week on week two of high school football. And I think that's a great place in our opinion our view of it also those are the three stars. I'm going to take one quick break you can hear from our sponsors over a cash app.

5:16And we'll come back and talk about answer a couple questions from the Letterman lounge message board. I'm going to get you guys back to the Letterman live recruiting podcast one second where we got here at work from our sponsors over at cash act. And I want to speak specifically to the parents that are watching the show. I know we have many parents and many adults that listen to the show. If you're listening and you have a teen or you have a young adult in your life. Go look over at what our friends over a cash app are doing right now. It's never too early for your kids to start saving small steps today can build the more strong habits tomorrow cash app is offering is now offering teens interest on savings so they can grow their money faster all under your guys. You can sponsor your your teen on cash app to set them up today. If you're not a low hidden or monthly fees no minimum account balances teens can start with this little is one dollar and grow without having to pay anything extra you can also manage everything to cash app account without having to switch between the two making it simple for you stay connected to your teens financial activity in ways that have been more that is more that are both more efficient and more empowering if you're ready to give your teens access to interest on savings start by downloading cash app and sponsoring their account today once again download cash app today and sponsor your teen visit the link down below and get your account set up.

6:32If you're a federal code right there use family 10 at sign up to get $10 when you spend $5 send $5 Joe friend that's the deal we got going over at cash app I appreciate our sponsors over at cash app and I just have to say cash app is a financial services platform not a bank banking services provided by cash app bank partners prepaid debit cards issued by sudden bank member FDIC cash app visa debit plus card cards issued by sudden bank member FDIC the bank core and a present presents to license visa USA ink. And see turns and conditions the sudden prepaid cards and debit flex card and bank corporate debit flex card savings provided by cash app a blocking brand visit cash app cash dot app slash legal slap on podcast for full disclosure I appreciate our folks over at cash app for sponsoring the show today and let's get back to the recruiting content. Thank you again to our sponsors over at cash app for sponsoring the letterman live recruiting show and thank you to our folks over at rowback as well if you guys want to rowback order if you want to get some of this best fit best feel peril for a high state game days go over there use code letterman 20 get 20% off your first rowback order at rowback outcome great great apparel great stuff I got a couple of orders last week and I'm super happy with it all I think if you guys went over there go up with the rowback.com use code letterman 20 and got some yourself some rowback you'd be very happy about it as well.

7:51But the other people the other place for people are really happy is the letterman on message board and that's because we're always interacting with the people on the board we're always interacting with the posters and answering questions this week we brought two questions over from the letterman on message board to answer the first one is from our guy one of the better posters we got over there that is lost at sea this week he's asking a high state seems to have a certain under the radar states like it likes to pick from talent from New Jersey Arizona how does a high state identify these pipeline states outside the usual suspects of California Georgia Texas etc is a relationship with coaches programs that consistently put out talent and he luck well there's a great question from my guy lost at sea and he calls exactly how it is Ohio state has done a really good job and say New Jersey the past couple of years you get Jordan Thomas you get some other guys from that Jalen McLean you also get a couple of guys from Arizona that have done well for them like the rants of Nanzelberg they had these little ares where they get like just kind of pick apart states on the recording trail how state does and I think they really do a good job is trying to just find spots where it's kind of a dead zone when Penn State was at its peak New Jersey was really pumping out guys to Penn State right now Penn State's a little down there's an open window to pull guys out of New Jersey and that's how you take advantage of that opportunity Arizona state has gotten better Oregon's gotten better like you see some of these was going to be a lot of things like that.

9:10So schools have gotten better so they're pulling more Arizona like based talent but Ohio state still sees an opening in that that's that state out there out west in Arizona to pull guys from and try and get more talent from that area so that's why they continue to recruit them. I think it's a little bit of spotting those weak zones and we're on the recruiting trail but also again it's it's kind of just where the prospects are I think Jordan Thomas is a guy high state really liked from New Jersey so they were always going to recruit them. What is the Tucker Smith is a guy that they really like from Arizona last cycle so they were always going to recruit them so it's luck it's not really luck it's a little bit of intentionality with picking states but it's also an area it's also identifying areas where there's a talent devoid or programs that are not really recruiting on a high level that you can kind of pick apart and again it's just finding guys that you like so if you find a lot of guys and just happens to be this is the strong cycle for Arizona or California or Washington or Oregon whatever the state may be Ohio state's going to go out there and recruit the best players. In the country and that's kind of what they do in this situation. Thank you again to lost at sea for the question.

10:10Next question of your Clyde Buck two early predictions on what the final makeup of the 2028 class will look like on national signing day so again he says too early there and that's a perfect explanation because we are 18 months it's a little less maybe from actually figuring out how Ohio state looks and how it's 2028 class is composed on the early on national on national sign day and in the early signing period however if you go through the listing kind of start breaking down the positions they already have their quarterback committed in Christopher Vargas I think they're going with one quarterback they have a running back committed in a large newman hall I think that would take two running backs so that's one one quarterback two running backs. Why do you have five search at Harrison committed I think I could see them taking anywhere from three to four probably depending on who the second or the third guy is if you could get a Maddox Davis or a Braille in Clark one of these really highly ranked guys to go with Jarrison. Then it may be three because you're allocating some high dollar figures to certain prospects in the class if it's more just blue chip guys more four star guys I think you could see Ohio state go with four wide receivers in that class. Tied in it's hard to project because Ohio state still in such a tough spot with tied in in the 2027 class they're still evaluating guys I'll say just for now I think one tight ends probably the safe bet in the 2028 class just because Kenia Bailey seems really like these senior evaluations he also seems to really enjoy finding guys from the transfer portal.

11:26So I'm going to stick with one tight end kind of being the figure for Ohio state in 2028 class offensive line I'm just going to go five or six there whatever the numbers will be. So when you have five or six offensive lineman you probably take that same number on the on the defensive line and that's just loading up on talented bodies in the trenches Ohio state's going to find a way to take five or six offensive lineman they're going to find a way to take five or six defensive lineman just to really restock the room. Kind of turn out the guys at the bottom of the roster for being honest because they need to develop and if they're not developing they're not going to play and then you just need to move on and get me more talented younger bodies in the room so five or six offensive lineman five or six defensive lineman and then linebacker it's a weird it's a weird and interesting situation the James or nice is in a linebacker in the 2028 class. It's interesting because it all comes down to Taj Gray the four star linebacker who probably will end up being a five star from St Joseph regional high school and out out there in New Jersey if Ohio state gets Taj Gray they will be happy taking just one and I know that sounds odd to say but Ohio state loves Taj Gray they want to get Taj Gray in the class and get him to be a buck guy so if they're only able to land one and he's the guy that they get and they come at a lot of the resources to him I think they would be happy just in taking the one.

12:34But at least in my opinion I think there's a strong chance that Ohio state is able to get Taj Gray and then maybe get another regional guy so I'll go to linebackers in that cornerback I think the number probably drifts closer to three because you want to top in guy maybe like to main cobbins maybe if we reported on a learn reported first on on one day wasn't that five star to share Richardson's going to visit Ohio state for the kids stay game here a couple of weeks so maybe not see a Richardson's the guy they go after you have a couple of other guys links in the prison I think there's a case to get three cornerbacks in this. Class for Ohio state in the 2028 class so that's two probably two from out of state maybe find one guy in state and then safety I'm going to go to I think there's a case for three but I'm going to go to because I think Casey Barner the five star from Georgia is the guy that Ohio state wants badly on the Ohio state that's probably at the top of the board for Ohio state. So if you get him it's another one similar to what we talked about with Taj Gray or even some of these other parts of improvements where you're allocating a lot of dollars to one guy in a position so it's harder to build on a robust class around them. But I'm going to go to it's safety when I can easily see three and you add it all up it's going to be somewhere between I think it'll be another big class summer to one of the highest it's not in the 2026 that will be between 25 and 30 guys just because that is a sizable amount of guys that they need to add and they'll have the funds to go out and get some top in guys but also to reload the bottom of the roster and reload the bottom of that class with some talent so overall make I ideal what the final make up for the 2028 class could be I'll go 25 to 28 guys and just go in their position by position.

14:03We're going to take one more quick break sorry about that folks we're taking one more quick break this is no ad issues quick break for me to get some water that way I don't sound even more raspy than I know you guys will say I sound in the comments so let me get a drink of water and we'll come back and talk about the Ohio state visitors list for the ball state game briefly. All right like I said no ad just a quick drink of water we're back at it here I'm going to pull up the little glimpse of their Ohio state visitors list again if you want to see the full visitors list the ultimate visitors list that we roll out every Friday over on letter mo.com for home games. I'm going to get you football basketball baseball wrestling anything that we can have for visitor reports we're going to have it all over on the ultimate visitors list but here's a little snippet of some of the football visitors we got coming up this week and the headliner of course is David Jacobs five store Ohio State commit Edgman David Jacobs is going to come to Ohio State for the season open Oregon's ball state letter mo. First reported that news I believe Friday last week he's going to be coming with his younger brother who's a four star defense alignment to 2028 class Dawson Jacobs so those two are the headliners of the biggest names of the process of Ohio State most wanted to get on campus for the season opener and they were to get that down Ohio State's going to have to fend off other programs Miami Tennessee Oregon as well like they're going to have to fend off other programs from trying to flip the Jacobs brothers and flip specifically David Jacobs but Ohio State feels good about it that's why you're able to get them on campus from the ball state game you're going to get them on campus for two games later in the season in the Oregon and Michigan game as well so the headliner for this week is David Jacobs in Dawson Jacobs but there's a couple of other guys on this list that are notable first one is right you see a right below Dawson Jacobs is three star running back Jordan Hall

15:31he's from Cincinnati Princeton he's committed to Miami of Ohio he balled out against Archbishop molar in the first week of the Ohio high school football season he had a slower weekend it's middle time a week too but I still think Jordan Hall is somebody that Ohio State fans are at least intrigued by any special the coaching staff can he become a player for Ohio State and become an awful guy I'm not sure yet but the buckeye's wanted to get him on campus get some measure we'll get to meet him get the shake hands introductions to him and his family just kind of get the ball rolling on that recruitment if it does become something that Ohio State wants to explore and the last two guys are Cordero Bennett and Demar Sean Clemens they're both coming with Mill Smith of Mills to be made training out in the inapolis area he worked with a bunch of sales he's worked a couple of other highly ranked prospects so those are he's bringing a group and those are the two headliners three star waters you have a Cordero Bennett and again three star edge Demar Sean set Clemens I think Bennett is the one that's more intriguing to me he's a top 300 top 400 is a prospect in the 2028 class six foot five he's got a good frame so again if we go back to the earlier discussion about class size maybe Cordero Bennett is a guy you have to get if you get say jet hair stand a mattox Davis and you need a bigger guy on the outside that's also not kind of come at the highest price tag and maybe that's Cordero Bennett so that's a little glimpse to the Ohio State visitors like I said we're going to have the full one over on letterman row dot com we're not the ultimate visitors list which has a couple of men's basketball visitors this week which has a couple of baseball visitors this week we have a full

16:53list of our on letterman dot com on Friday morning where I'm cool story I was working on with a couple of former Ohio State players that played on a gym trust will just talking about him going into the ring of honor Spencer whole books of course going to have his full predictions it's going to have his different stories going on over there leading up to the game you can get all of that you can read all of that it's going to be pretty on content but you can read all of that over on letterman for $30 for your first year it's the best deal we have folks I'm telling one final time the best deal we have $30 for your first year 75% off a description in a lot of a road does not get any better that so if you want to take advantage of it take advantage of it now because it's going to be gone after this weekend you need to go take advantage of it you need to come over and join us on the letterman on message board because I know you guys will enjoy it when you do join so thank you guys for watching me thank you guys for watching thank you guys for tuning in and I'm sorry again for any slip ups any stumbles over the world like it just made it a minute ago we're getting better at this this individual podcast setting but hopefully here in the near future we have another guest on the show and it comes a little bit more clear but thank you guys for watching again I appreciate you guys tuning into another edition of the letterman live

17:54recruiting podcast