When your teammate is one of, if not, the best, players in the state, and is also graduating a year before you, you can often times get over shadowed.  That is not the case with 2016 WR Justin Layne out of Benedictine  High School, in Ohio.  I’m sure everybody that follows recruiting knows Layne’s teammate and good friend, Jerome Baker.  Justin Layne is able to get out of the spotlight of Baker and to make a name for himself by the way he plays the game.  He holds offers from some of the top programs around the Midwest including, Michigan State, *ichigan, WVU, Miami (FL) and Pitt.  Although he does not have an Ohio State offer, it is one that he really wants and the offer would shoot Ohio State up the list right away.  “The Ohio State offer is the one that I want the most.  If they offered, they would be right up there on the top, probably alongside Michigan State,” Layne says.

Because he does not currently hold an offer, it is difficult for him to put Ohio State high on the list.  He is working to change that though.  “They told me they want to evaluate me more and to build a stronger relationship,” Layne told me.  So that they can evaluate him more, he is attending the Columbus NFTC, this weekend, and will also attend the Friday Night Lights Camp in July.  This will give the coaches an opportunity to further evaluate him as a player and even a person.  I asked Justin what it is like to have Jerome considering Ohio State very seriously and if that had any pull in his decision and he said, “I do not know.  We are just focused on a State Championship right now.”

Besides football, did you know that Justin loves to play the guitar?  He also loves to draw as well, (something I give him a lot of credit for because I still draw people as stick figures).  So if football in the long run does not work out, maybe he can become the next Hendrix or Picasso.    When asked what he would say to buckeye fans across the nation he said, “Go Bucks!”  Justin was such a nice and humble person.  When I talked to him he was actually just returning back from summer workouts, so he is already determined for the season.  He wants an Ohio State offer really bad, and to me, if they offered they would be the favorite right up there with Michigan State.

Check out his highlights as well as his 247sports page: 

Also you can follow Justin on twitter: @JustinLayne0