Three recruits who were impressed with Ohio State football last weekend
By Ryan Stano
The Ohio State football team started their season about the best as they possibly could have hoped. They beat a top-five team in the preseason polls and showed how good their defense has the potential to be. It was a really good night for Buckeye nation.
It was also a great night to do that in front of the number of recruits they had on campus for that game. Ohio State had 10 five-star recruits there for the game. Some of them are five-stars in the 2023 class and some are in the 2024 class. That’s a lot of talent on the sidelines and stands for the game.
Perhaps the biggest thing for the Buckeyes is that some of these high-profile recruits got to see how good the defense is in person. They had plenty of defensive recruits there this weekend to take in Jim Knowles’ new-look defense against a really good team.
There are three high-profile guys that were extremely impressed with how the Buckeyes looked. In fact, all three of these guys are on the defensive line/edge which is good because the Buckeyes still need help there.
The first recruit is a five-star defensive lineman for this upcoming class who recently de-committed from Notre Dame.
The Ohio State football team hosted Keon Keeley, a five-star DE.
Keon Keeley is the number one edge player in the country. He de-committed from Notre Dame just last month and was on hand to see the Buckeyes take on the Fighting Irish. He must have liked what he saw because the defense was flying around out there.
Keeley is the prized recruit for Larry Johnson in this year’s cycle. If he could land him, the Buckeyes become absolutely sick on the edge next year with him joining J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer. That would be a ridiculous lineup for offensive tackles to have to deal with.
Right now, Keeley is still projected to go to Alabama. He’s visiting Florida this weekend and then Alabama on October 8th. We’ll see how both of those visits go. To me, it’s between the Buckeyes and Bama. Bama plays Texas A&M on his visit, and that’s a losable game. Buckeye fans should root hard for the Aggies.
The next recruit who was impressed is another five-star defensive end that may have been swayed by what he saw to come to Columbus.