Scarlet Sunrise: Ohio high schools allowed to proceed with football season

Good morning, Ohio State fans, and welcome to the Scarlet Sunrise. Football will always be our focus, but every day we’ll cover news, notes and analysis from across Buckeyes sports. Join us each morning to get caught up on everything you missed in the world of Ohio State football, recruiting, basketball and more.

Ohio high schools allowed to proceed with football season

Ohio State had its football season canceled by the Big Ten last week.

But the Ohio High School Athletic Association isn’t going to let the Big Ten’s decision stop it from playing high school football this fall. Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that fall sports are permitted to go on as planned this season.

“I hope the desire to have a season will inspire our young people, our athletes, our student-athletes, 24/7 to be as careful as they can,” DeWine said in a statement. “I hope also that our coaches will use this as an opportunity to focus on helping these young people understand what really is at stake. If they are going to be able to play, that they are going to have to do everything they can to keep COVID out of their team.”

So while the Buckeyes won’t be able to play this fall and will wait until the spring, Ohio high school athletes will be allowed to play football and other fall sports.

They think they can do it safely. The Big Ten did not.

Dasan McCullough commits to Ohio State

Ohio State nailed down its fifth commitment in the 2022 recruiting class Tuesday afternoon: linebacker Dasan McCullough committed to the Buckeyes.

While there’s a long way to go before McCullough takes the field for Ohio State and a lot of development left in his frame, he has the type of body and talent to play safety, linebacker or maybe even be a guy with his hand on the ground as an edge rusher if he adds significant weight between now and the summer of 2022.

The Buckeyes have been rolling on the recruiting trail, and the addition of McCullough adds to what is becoming a very special start to 2022. He joins fellow 4-star prospects Gabe Powers, Jyaire Brown, Tegra Tshabola and C.J. Hicks in the early verbal column for Ohio State. He’s likely to be a key part of the class building process from here.

McCullough is the first Ohio State commitment from the state of Kansas since offensive lineman Mark Bean joined the Buckeyes from Wichita Southeast High School.

With McCullough committed, Ohio State now has more verbal pledges from rising juniors than any program in the country and is tied with LSU. The Buckeyes have offered a total of 65 players in the Class of 2022 to this point according to the folks at 247Sports.com.

McCullough talked to Lettermen Row director of recruiting Jeremy Birmingham about his decision to commit to the Buckeyes. That full interview can be found here.

Jack Sawyer joins Tim May Podcast

The Tim May Podcast is back with plenty of Ohio State headlines and a future Buckeyes star.

Five-star defensive end and Ohio State commitment Jack Sawyer joins the show to talk about his decision to skip his senior year of high school football to focus on joining the Buckeyes in January, when he will enroll early. Tim and Sawyer also talk about the 2021 recruiting class and what the cancelation of the fall football season means for the recruits and their families.

Tim was also joined by former Ohio State defensive lineman Jay Richardson for a discussion about the cancelation of the season and much more. Don’t miss this edition.

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