Ohio State: Buckeyes weekend key for Dawand Jones, Doug Nester recruitment
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 discussion is about the Buckeyes big weekend and a new offer to a Penn State commitment.
Ohio State hosts key official visitors in 2019 class
The Buckeyes canceled most of their expected visitors this weekend due to concerns around the winter storm that hit Columbus on Saturday night but the most important group arrived safe and sound thanks to some travel flexibility.
A majority of Ohio State’s 2019 class was on campus together, working on their relationships, meeting the Buckeyes new coaches and doing their best to convince Doug Nester to stick with Ohio State and Dawand Jones to pick the school.
In fact, Ohio State’s signees seemed they were trying to convince every recruit in the country to pick the Buckeyes.
Message to all Ohio recruits: stay in Ohio #gobucks https://t.co/5C4imYDjek
— Zachary Harrison (@zacharrison_) January 20, 2019
Message to all Georgia recruits: leave for Ohio #gobucks https://t.co/cRSjgceVy9
— Harry Miller (@h_miller76) January 20, 2019
The Buckeyes concerns about the weather were well-founded but there’s a chance this weekend’s storm could turn into a positive for them. Travel is going to be quite difficult on Sunday and that could keep some folks in town a little longer than expected. Most visits though were scheduled from Saturday through Monday. Visitors like Harry Miller and his family were already scheduled to depart on Monday morning.
Not everyone is a fan of the weather causing delays, though.
https://twitter.com/bryson_shaw2/status/1087040953590968320
Lettermen Row will have more on these official visitors after the players leave campus but all early returns have been positive. The primary question for Ohio State is whether or not it’s been enough to prevent Nester from taking a visit to Penn State next weekend as planned. I expect that he will still make that trip.
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Justin Rogers checks in at Ohio State again
There does appear to be one major underclassman who found a way to visit Ohio State this weekend.
I just wanna see my dog ball sell figures 🗣 pic.twitter.com/RAd9BI8moo
— Justin Rogers (@AllAmerican52JR) January 19, 2019
That is 5-star offensive lineman Justin Rogers, the top-ranked guard in the country and a player that has been a major priority for Ohio State for more than a year now. He made the trip to hang out with Josh Alabi, as the picture above shows, and spent the weekend in Columbus. Though he wasn’t really expected or invited by the Buckeyes football program — who again canceled their planned Junior Day weekend — there’s certainly not going to be anyone around Ohio State complaining that he wanted to be in town.
Rogers recruitment has been quite a circus for a while now and it’s not likely to slow down anytime soon but he’s such an exceptional prospect that you just have to hang on for the ride.
The Buckeyes have been near the top of the list for the 6-foot-3, 310-pound Rogers for a while but Georgia still appears to have an edge. It seems likely that the Bulldogs will have an even better odds to land him as former Ohio State commit Dwan Mathis — a teammate of Rogers at Michigan’s Oak Park High School — will be pushing for Rogers to join him in Athens.