Justin Benton has eyes opened in Big Ten, Jihaad Campbell set to announce

Stay in touch or be left out because Ohio State recruiting is a 24-hour, seven-day-per-week obsession. What’s the latest news as the Buckeyes build for the future? Get that and more Sunday through Thursday on Lettermen Row. Today’s notebook catches up with Justin Benton following his first Midwest visits and looks at the Buckeyes linebacker options with Jihaad Campbell’s college choice happening on Sunday.

Ohio State, Penn State visits ‘eye-opening’ for Justin Benton

Ohio State’s one-day camp this past Tuesday was loaded with top-level talent from around the country. One of the standout performers that day was IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) defensive tackle Justin Benton. A 4-star prospect in the Class of 2023, Benton was easy to spot with his royal blue IMG shirt and his quick feet and violent hands made it easy to see why he is an early Top 150 prospect.

A Georgia native, Benton left Ohio State on Wednesday and made a visit to Penn State as well. He said both of those trips were different than he imagined.

“It was really eye-opening,” Benton told Lettermen Row. “A great experience. I had a great visit to Ohio State and Penn State. Both of those schools could make me leave the south.”

For the Buckeyes, it was working with Larry Johnson that made the difference.

“Coach Johnson is the Greatest defensive line coach in all of college football,” Benton said. “He knows every little detail about the game. Working with him really opened my eyes on things I have to improve on. Coming in to the visit I really didn’t know what to expect but it was great to experience. He was everything that I had read about seen online about him.”

Ryan Day’s influence was felt by the 6-foot-2, 275-pound lineman as well.

“We thought Ryan Day was an amazing coach and a great guy to be developed by,” Benton said. “It was my first time in Columbus and I was really surprised. It truly was a great experience for me.”

Benton says he’s hoping to get back to Ohio State for two games this season: the Buckeyes home games against Oregon and Penn State.

Jihaad Campbell college decision coming Sunday

This afternoon, one of the Buckeyes top 2022 targets will make his college choice.

Jihaad Campbell has been at the top of the Ohio State wishlist for months. There was virtually no hope for the Buckeyes in this recruitment heading into the month of June but Campbell did make an official visit to Columbus that sparked a tiny bit of optimism inside Ryan Day’s program.

The hope was that the 6-foot-3, 215-pound linebacker/edge rusher would slow down his recruitment enough to let the Buckeyes back into the mix. Now, with a decision being made just about a week later, it seems unlikely he’ll pick Ohio State. Clemson has long been the frontrunner in this battle and Campbell became even more important to the Tigers when Jalon Walker surprised everyone by picking Georgia.

Florida 5-stars making a college decision in near future?

Three weeks ago, Florida 5-star running back/athlete Treyaun Webb told Lettermen Row that Ohio State was the new leader in his recruitment and that a decision would start to be narrowed in on after a handful of key visits were made. One of those visits were to Oklahoma, where he was last weekend.

So it’s probably not a great thing for the Buckeyes that soon after returning from Norman, Webb took to Twitter to and told the world he’s ready to make a commitment. What makes that more troublesome for Ohio State is that 5-star receiver Brandon Inniss also hinted at some maneuvering on social media shortly after he got back from Columbus this week. The country’s No. 1-ranked receiver got his first real taste of the Buckeyes program just one day after he returned from Oklahoma and dropped his Top 10 schools on Twitter this weekend.

The buzz right now seems to be very good for Oklahoma and subsequently bad for everyone else. It’s not going to be a total surprise if Webb and Inniss commit to the Sooners in three weeks. That should be a heck of a week for Lincoln Riley because Oklahoma is almost certainly going to land 5-star quarterback Malachi Nelson on July 18.