Thad Gets a Second Big for 2016

Lets face it Thad Matta’s hasn’t had much luck getting Big men to Ohio State. Yes there was the one and done Greg Oden, Jared Sullinger as far as really good ones that have donned the Scarlet and Gray so far. There also has been (at least to many fans like myself) disappointments like Amir Williams, undersized centers like Trey McDonald and Anthony Lee. I am sure I am missing some names right now but you get my point.

Next season redshirt freshman David Bell will be someone to keep and eye on along with Virginia Tech transfer who had to sit out this last season, Trevor Thompson.

Derek Funderburk a 2016 commit for the Buckeyes earlier this year is going to be joined now by Micah Porter. The 2016 class is going to be small might even be done with recruiting.

Porter who is from Mentor is listed at 6’10 220-240 and plays center/forward. The 3-star player is listed as the #13 prospect in the state of Ohio.

Thad has talent coming in this next season for the outside, has size currently on team with more coming. This actually could be very scary whats about to go down in Columbus the next few years.

Buckeyes Go To Washington (Watch Live Here)

’16 Donald Stewart Snags Scholarships

IMG_0820

Three-star prospect, twelve offers, and an upcoming senior, Donald Stewart has been catching the eyes of several programs. 247Sports has him as the 148th receiver in his class, and the 32nd prospect coming out of the Garden State. The receiver from Paramus Catholic, NJ has had a huge spike in scholarship offers in the past couple months, totaling to nine since December, currently holding twelve. It is clear that many programs, especially some Big Ten programs have gained a large amount of interest in Stewart.

Standing 6’4, Stewart has been a huge deep ball threat for the Paramus Catholic program. Last season, as a junior he led the team in receiving yards with 662, averaging 19.5 a catch. Along with his 34 receptions, Stewart tied for a team high eight touchdowns. These statistics do not come versus everyday high school football programs. Paramus Catholic plays top programs from several states, such as Pope John XXIII (Noah Brown’s HS), Don Bosco Prep (Commit Kevin Feder’s HS), and St. Josephs (NJ). Stewart has proven he can contribute on the big stage, scoring two touchdowns with 168 receiving yards in the NJSIAA Championship versus St. Peters Prep (NJ).

Stewart reports holding offers from Michigan, Boston College, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Northwestern, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, Wake Forest, and Washington State. In the past couple months, Big Ten programs such as Michigan, Maryland, Northwestern, and Iowa.

Stewart, still has one more year to play for Paramaus Catholic and is looking to receive more offers in the future. He sure is not overlooking any offer given to him, as he is very humble to be in this situation. “The recruiting process has been very exciting. It has been a huge blessing to me and my family, knowing that I can go to college and get a great education for free and play football at the same time. Everything is going well and I am just very excited and blessed.” Stewart said.

Currently, there is not a list for favorite schools, but Stewart reported that his most recent Northwestern and Michigan offers have stood out to him. Throughout the process, there have been several visits. Stewart listed Duke, Stanford, Virginia Tech, California, Wake Forest, and Rutgers. “When I went to Stanford I had a great experience. I was able to sit in a lecture, hangout with the kids and stay the night. Also, visiting Wake Forest I was able to sit in a lecture and talk to professors. Which was a great experience.”

With his recruiting on the up-rise, Stewart believes he has a good opportunity in receiving offers from Stanford, California, Georgia Tech, Yale, and Vanderbilt. There has been little interest from the Buckeyes up to today, but he has heard from the program. ” I plan to visit Michigan and Northwestern next month.” said Stewart.

“I plan to visit Ohio State, and Vanderbilt as well.”

Stewart is known to be a play maker. He goes out and makes big plays. “I catch the ball away from my body, I block well, I am a competitor, and I make big plays.” he explained.

“I plan on improving my speed and yards after catch.”

It is easy to say he will receive more offers before he plans to commit, which he would like to do this upcoming summer. Stewart hopes to come up with a list in June, before his senior season, which he aims to win a state title in.

Out of recruiting and football, Stewart likes to hangout with his little brothers, spending a lot of time playing basketball with them. He also likes to relax, mostly by reading. You can follow Donald on twitter, @Donald_Stewart8.

Highlights on Stewart can be found here: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3987781/highlights/215387375/v2

Ezekiel Elliott Wins 2014 AAU James E. Sullivan Award

No. 1 RB Ezekiel Elliott is all smiles.

No. 1 RB Ezekiel Elliott is all smiles.

Ohio State continues to have a great weekend. Ohio State’s top running back Ezekiel Elliott was awarded the 2014 AAU James E. Sullivan Award on Sunday, given to the best amateur athlete in the nation. It’s considered one of the most prestigious awards in amateur sports. He was one of six finalists for the award and the only football player. Among the sixteen semi-finalists, he was one of two football players, with the other being Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. This is also the second consecutive year a football player has won this award, with Penn State’s John Urschel winning the award last year. Elliott accepted the award in New York City earlier today, which you can view below.

After having a breakout sophomore season and being a key component in the Buckeyes’ run to the national championship, this probably won’t be the last award Elliott will win. He’s considered a top candidate for the 2015 Heisman Award, along with numerous other top honors.

2017 4 Star Running Back Todd Sibley Commits to Ohio State

https://twitter.com/ToddSib23/status/589850471491248130

The rich keep getting richer. The Buckeyes get a fifth commitment this weekend, 4 star running back Todd Sibley who plays for Archbishop Hoban in Akron, Oh. Sibley will be joining teammate 2016 commit ATH Jonah Morris along with new teammate and 2017 commit QB Danny Clark.

Sibley(5’11, 205) had TTUN really really wanting him to become part of the alleged turn around chose instead to stay in Ohio and try to win National Championships.

Welcome to Buckeye Nation young man can’t wait to see you on the field.

Instead of boring you with stats here is his highlight tape:

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2783591/highlights/196579376/v2

2016 Four-Star Defensive End Malik Barrow Commits to Ohio State

Photo Courtesy: 247 Sports

Photo Courtesy: 247 Sports

The talent just keeps pouring into Columbus, as the Buckeyes land another highly rated recruit today. Defensive end Malik Barrow, a four-star defensive end in the 2016 class, announced via Twitter he’s coming to Buckeye Nation. The Tampa, Florida has verbally committed after visiting Ohio State the past two days. Barrow is the 17th highest rated strong-side defensive end in the country in the 2016 class according to 247 Sports’ composite rankings. He is now the 12th addition to the 2016 recruiting class and the third recruit to join the class this weekend. Barrow now makes up three defensive ends in the 2016 class, joining fellow four-star defensive ends Terrell Hall and Jonathan Cooper.

Here was his announcement on Twitter just a while ago:

https://twitter.com/MalikB_54/status/589846746647420929

Barrow stands at 6’3″ and weighs 260 pounds. It was his first visit to Columbus this past weekend, which speaks volumes to how great of recruiters the Ohio State coaching staff is to get a commitment so quickly. He was recruited by Tony Alford and Larry Johnson. Barrow had offers from several different schools, 21 in total. Among the schools that offered him were Michigan State, Nebraska, Kentucky, UCLA, Mississippi State and a host of others. I have a feeling that Mr. Barrow won’t be the last recruit to commit today to the Buckeyes and we’ll be hearing multiple booms from Mark Pantoni.

Check out one of the newest Buckeyes, Malik Barrow below in these highlight videos courtesy of Hudl:

Ohio State Lands Another Top Recruit: 2017 Four-Star Cornerback Marcus Williamson

Photo Courtesy: 247 Sports

Photo Courtesy: 247 Sports

The talent continues to pour into Columbus! The Buckeyes landed another talented recruit today, as 2017 four-star cornerback Marcus Williamson committed as he visited Columbus for Ohio State’s spring game. The Westerville, Ohio native is the fifth highest rated cornerback in the country in the 2017 class and the fourth highest rated overall in the state of Ohio according to 247 Sports rankings. He is the fifth recruit in an already stacked 2017 recruiting class for Ohio State. Williamson took to Twitter to express his excitement in joining the defending national champions:

https://twitter.com/WW_Marcus/status/589514883714195456

Williamson stands at 5’10”, weighs 178 pounds and runs a 4.45 40 yard dash. He first unofficially visited the campus back in January before officially visiting for the past two weeks. Luke Fickell and Kerry Coombs recruited the highly rated cornerback. Williamson had offers from seven other schools, which included Michigan, Michigan State, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Recap of Ohio State football’s day: landed two great recruits and set the national record for spring game attendance with over 99,000 tickets sold. It’s simply another day in Buckeye Nation, as one of the richest programs in the country gets even richer (in more ways than one).

You can check out the newest Buckeye Marcus Williamson in the highlight videos below:

Three-Star 2016 Offensive Lineman Jack Wohlabaugh Commits To Buckeyes

Photo Courtesy: 247 Sports

Photo Courtesy: 247 Sports

Jack Wohlabaugh took to Twitter and announced he was officially a Buckeye today. The three-star lineman from Stow, Ohio is ranked the #30 overall offensive guard in the nation in the 2016 class according to 247 Sports’ rankings. Wohlabaugh is now the 11th player in the Buckeyes’ 2016 class, just a day after linebacker Tuf Borland became the 10th commit. He’s just the second offensive lineman in the 2016 class. Here’s Wohlabaugh’s commitment message on Twitter:

Wohlabaugh stands at 6’3″ and weighs 280 pounds. He unofficially visited Ohio State back in March and was recruited by Tony Alford and Ed Warriner. The Ohio product is officially visiting the Buckeyes today during their spring game. He received offers from 12 other schools, including Michigan, Minnesota, Boston College and Purdue. And of course the official confirmation from Mark Pantoni:

Courtesy of Hudl, check out the newest Buckeye Jack Wohlabaugh below:

Be Proud To Be A Buckeye (Grab A Tissue First) Video

Buckeyes Land A Tuf Recruit

So you want to be a recruiting expert? You think you can read and talk to and converse about recruiting many hours every day and have a firm grasp on what is happening and who will and who wont become a Buckeye. So you go out to dinner with your family and enjoy a nice meal and come home to watch Scandal or whatever 🙂 and you log onto your computer to check Twitter and BOOM some committed but who, what, why, and honestly to what extent? Tuf Borland you say but wait didnt I just crystal ball him to Wisconsin because practically every member of his family played for the Badgers? How did OSU land this very talented young man? How did no one not a single person with connections at the highest of levels know this was a possibility let alone happening? Well the only thing I could come up with was 59-0 is truly a Legacy Destroyer. OSU beat Wisconsin so bad in the B1G Championship game that a sure bet to be a Badger has decided he wants to be a Buckeye. So lets hear it in his own words…

Tuf Borland is a 6’2″ 225 lbs Four Star Linebacker from Bollingbrook, Illinois. What does Tuf bring to OSU? Well lets not ignore his name he is a tough player with great instincts. He has speed and power and can play any of the LB positions but will likely end up playing in the middle. It is just a huge coup for the staff to take away a player who would have gone to a rival school and now can help defeat those rivals.

You willwant to watch his highlights so do that here.