Ohio State football: BOOM! town coming this month?

The Ohio State football program is hoping to get some commitments this month. They’re hoping for quite a few.

Will Columbus become a BOOM! town this month. No, no, not boom town. BOOM! town. If you follow Ohio State’s coaches on social media you know they announce each recruit’s commitment to the Buckeyes with BOOM! Considering this is the biggest month of recruiting ever for the Ohio State football program, it is certainly possible Columbus will become a BOOM! town.

The NCAA recruiting dead period is finally over and recruits can now make official visits. How busy will Ryan Day and his staff be this month? They are set to host 51 official visitors. You are allowed 62 for the entire year. They’ll also get 150-200 unofficial visits.

The huge numbers are the result of the NCAA allowing recruits to visit college campuses for the first time in fourteen months. Ohio State’s assistant athletic director for player personnel, Mark Pantoni, likens it to finally getting to test drive the car you’ve only seen in commercials. Potential recruits are finally going to see what the Buckeyes have to offer.

While some, like quarterback Quinn Ewers (you can read my article on him here) and linebacker C.J. Hicks are already committed to Ohio State’s 2022 class, there are a lot of prized recruits who are still to be swayed.

Ohio’s top remaining uncommitted player, offensive tackle Aamil Wagner of Huber Heights, the nation’s top safety, Xavier Nwankpa of Altoona, Iowa, five-star defensive end Omari Abor of Duncanville, Texas, and running back Dallan Hayden of Memphis, Tennessee are a few of the Buckeyes’ top targets who will be on campus this month.

Which of those four might create a BOOM! with their commitment in June? Bill Kurelic of Bucknuts feels very confident Wagner will become a Buckeye. 247 Sports’ Steve Lorenz feels the same about Nwankpa. A few days ago, Buckeye Grove recruiting reporter Joseph Hastings predicted Hayden will eventually commit to OSU. However, with Abor the Buckeyes have their work cut out for them. Two of the experts from 247 Sports feel he’s heading to Oklahoma.

As fans, we all want to see as many recruits commit to the Buckeyes as possible this month, but those within the program don’t follow that same line of thinking. Pantoni said they are very happy with the twelve commitments Ohio State has right now.

There is room to add up to a dozen more. He said they don’t want to fill up the class too early because they want to keep spots open for late developing players who shine during their senior year. It would be great to see Ryan Day and his staff get commitments from two or three of their top targets this month and still have plenty of spots open for those late developers.

The biggest name to visit is defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau of Eastside Catholic in Sammamish, Washington (read my article on him here). Here is something to keep in mind about the nation’s top-rated player. He’s a part of the 2021 recruiting class. Virtually everyone else visiting this month is part of the 2022 or 2023 class. Yes, I know, keeping track of this stuff can give you a headache.

With so much going on with recruiting this month, the message boards are going to be burning up with rumors and a lot of “I heard” type of posts. Do yourself a favor and pay attention to what those who are actually in the know are saying.