Ohio State picks up crystal ball for top

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Also, five-star EDGE rusher includes Buckeyes in finalists.

Ryan Day and his staff might be focusing on their current team’s fall camp right now, but that doesn’t mean that recruiting is not marching forward unabated. On Tuesday, the team picked up a crystal ball for a 2024 player they have been waiting on for quite a while and were named a finalist for a prospect who will undoubtedly be one of the most sought-after players in the 2025 cycle. Decision day us also nearing for one of the best 2024 basketball players in the state of Ohio. Check it all out below.

While most of the time, fans have to weather the ups and downs of outrageous fortune when following recruiting, when it comes to the wide receiver position for Ohio State, that is usually pretty smooth sailing; that has not always been the case with Jeremiah McClellan.

Even though the No. 108 player in the country according to 247Sports’ Composite Ratings (also the No. 18 receiver and fourth-best player from the Show Me State) has long been considered an Ohio State lean (two crystal balls were made for the Buckeyes in early April), there has seemingly been a bit of drama in recent weeks, which we discussed on our recruiting podcast last week.

McClellan is from Christian Brothers College in St. Louis, the same high school that produced current Buckeye cornerback Cameron Brown and former OSU WR Kamryn Babb, and rumors had begun circulating in recent weeks indicating that Oregon had been putting on the full-court press to land McClellan, who is the No. 91 player in 247’s individual rankings.

Ohio State’s WR coach and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline already has two receivers in his 2024 class — five-stars Jeremiah Smith and Mylan Graham — so the Ducks were reportedly telling McClellan that he was their top guy, unlike what he would be with the Buckeyes.

Then, on the heels of those rumors, word got out that his home-state Missouri Tigers were looking to make a major NIL push to keep the receiver home. However, both the efforts of Oregon and Mizzou are not having the desired effect as on Tuesday, 247Sports’ national recruiting analyst Allen Trieu submitted a crystal ball in favor of the Buckeyes, joining 247’s director of football recruiting Steve Wiltfong and the dean of Ohio State recruiting coverage Bill Kurelic.

While this certainly doesn’t guarantee that McClellan will become a Buckeye, it does make it more likely that Hartline will close his class landing his three top targets. McClellan is scheduled to make his announcement this coming Sunday, Aug. 13.

Unsurprisingly for someone this talked and at such an in-demand position, Mathis’ final dozen is littered with the best programs in the eastern half of the country, with one more extremely traditional Big Ten school joining the mix as well. In addition to Ohio State, making the cut is Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and USC.

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