The hurry: Buckeyes offers No. 1 DT James Smith, Austin Jordan reduces list to three, Clemson Lands Your Quarterback

The hurry: Buckeyes offers No. 1 DT James Smith, Austin Jordan reduces list to three, Clemson Lands Your Quarterback

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Rush is your night dose of updates to the Ohio State football recruiting trail, keeping track of the latest confirmations and goals across the country.

Buckeyes offers No. 1 DT

The state of Ohio did not make a real run from the perspective of the nation’s No. 1 defensive tackle, as it was in a good position in the 2020 class to catch Bryan Bresee. (Unless you want to count on JT Tuimoloau as a defensive tackle in the 2021 cycle with the positional versatility he brings to the table. Leonard Taylor in 2021 and Walter Nolen in 2022 were offered by the Buckeyes, but Taylor signed with Miami and Nolen it is very unlikely that it will end up in Ohio.)

Not that Larry Johnson really cares about the ratings. He’s constantly chasing the guys he really wants from a talent and personality standpoint.

It seems that Johnson may have found these two things, however, in his last defensive line offer at James Smith, number 3 in general perspective and No. 1 DT in the 2023 class. Johnson entered Smith early in this cycle, extending a offer for the 6-foot-3, 270-pound on Tuesday night.

The man with the nickname “Big Kong” has offers (or at least listed offers) from a dozen programs – Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Penn State, Texas and Texas A&M are the highlights alongside the state of Ohio.

Smith hails from Montgomery, Carver High School of Alabama, becoming the second player in this cycle for which the State of Ohio extended an offer, after an offer to the nation’s No. 1 cornerback at Tony Mitchell last week.

Again, it is rare for Buckeyes to extend offers to Alabama players and even more rare for them to win on a recruiting for a player residing in the state. They never hired an Alabama high school player, and Smith is only the fifth player the state of Ohio offered from the state between the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 cycles.

Crimson Tide did an excellent job keeping their talent at home, as expected, but the state of Ohio is plunging its feet in the water here by Mitchell and Smith – a player whose physicality and versatility to play as a 3- tech and on the edge is an item that should be the reason why Johnson and Co. value Smith so much with an advance offer. He is more of a prospect of 3 technologies, but Johnson loves to bring players that can be moved along the defensive line.

Jordan’s top three

With five-star cornerback Will Johnson committing to Michigan and five-star cornerback Denver Harris recently pushing the Buckeyes out of the race for now, the Ohio State’s other top targets in the position have become a little clearer.

Toriano Pride is at the top of that short list, and Ryan Turner is a player that we know the Buckeyes love and hope to bring to their 2022 class.

But don’t count out Austin Jordan, a four-star prospect of Texas’ mighty Ryan High School. Jordan, general player 173 and cornerback 21 of the cycle, updated us on recruitment on Wednesday afternoon, reducing his list to three schools.

None of the schools in that trio is a surprise, since the state of Ohio is in contention with Oklahoma and Texas for the 28th place in the state ranking of Lone Star.

We believe that the Buckeye team likes Pride and Turner as possible cornerbacks a little bit more than Jordan, but the 5-foot-11, 185-pounder is a burner outside (performs a 10.98 in the 100 meters) that can track the top-level receivers. He faces some of the best competitions in the state of Texas and has the length to be a good cover on the next level.

This is a recruitment, however, which is unlikely to see much movement for the Buckeyes until the dead period is lifted, and it won’t be until at least June 1st. Jordan has never visited Ohio and probably needs more personal assessment before becoming a Buckeye candidate without a doubt. Jordan is worth keeping an eye on, however, as the state of Ohio is looking for at least one more cornerback in this class for a total of three (and that number could rise to four, but three is more likely at this point).

Clemson lands his QB

Dabo Swinney’s program has a formula that has been working for the past few cycles, with regard to how the recruitment of defenders works.

Stallion development guy Stallion development guy.

Clemson is back in the game, with the Tigers hitting his man on Tuesday night, and the quarterback’s dominoes continue to fall.

Cade Klubnik, the country’s 74th player and fifth professional defender, announced his commitment to Clemson just four days after receiving an offer. This happened after newly hired five-star quarterback Ty Simpson committed to Alabama on Friday, after Simpson was considered a skinny of Clemson for a while.

This affects the Buckeyes in the fact that their own five-star quarterback, Quinn Ewers, further solidified his promise to the State of Ohio. (Although he wasn’t going anywhere, anyway.)

Texas has its own five-star quarterback at Maalik Murphy, and with Clemson and Alabama picking up his partner, it’s further proof that Ewers is totally locked up in Ohio. (If that profile picture of the Buckeyes’ hat on the deer head didn’t fit you.)

As another funny fact, Klubnik’s recruitment increased last fall when his Westlake (Austin) program defeated Ewers’ Southlake Carroll team in the Texas 6A-Division I state championship game. Klubnik finished 18 out of 20 to 221 yards and a score (plus 90 running yards and two touchdowns), while Ewers made 23 from 39 to 351 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

We can only hope that the two will meet again in 2021 for a rematch between the two likely future opponents of the College Football Playoff. Perhaps Ewers will take revenge in the second round on Klubnik, just as Justin Fields took revenge on Trevor Lawrence at the Sugar Bowl.

Header photo: James Smith – Jason Caldwell / 247Sports

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