Establishing Ohio State August offensive recruiting goals and priorities

Ohio State recruiting is a year-round venture, and Lettermen Row is trying to keep everyone up to speed on just how the Buckeyes’ efforts are going. At the beginning of each month, our staff will make a to-do list for Ryan Day and his staff on the recruiting trail while reviewing the prior month’s list. A look at how August should go for Ohio State.

COLUMBUS — Ohio State is just 30 days away from kicking off its 2024 season. Recruiting season, however, is never stopped.

The Buckeyes, and programs across the country, are in a dead period for all of August with an exception on game day. There is still plenty of work Ohio State needs to get done on the trail both in the 2025 and 2026 cycles.

Lettermen Row lists out a few offensive recruiting goals and priorities for the Buckeyes to accomplish in August.

David Sanders Jr. Commitment

Five-star Plus+ Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. is a little over two weeks away from announcing his commitment. The country’s No. 2 overall prospect and No. 1 offensive tackle in the On3 Industry Rankings has a final four of Ohio State, Tennessee, Nebraska and Georgia.

Lettermen Row will have a ton about Sanders pre and post-announcement. But on the first of the month, it’s critical to put Sanders at the front of mind. His family remains in decision mode and his camp will be quiet. Expect a piece or two to leak out from the national side of things, but make no mistake, his camp is on lockdown.

Ohio State and Tennessee remain the two main schools talked about with Sanders. Nebraska made up some ground, but one 12-hour, visit isn’t going to put the Cornhuskers in the same conversation as the Buckeyes and Volunteers.

Phillip Bell Decision

It has been widely speculated that four-star Mission Viejo (Calif) wide receiver Phillip Bell will make his commitment in August.

Bell is one of three wide receivers the Buckeyes are in on at this current juncture. He’s the No. 177 overall prospect and the No. 19 wide receiver in the On3 Industry Rankings. This is a true Ohio State-USC battle with Washington nipping at the pack. Bell took official visits to all three programs. What’s notable is that Ohio State holds a commanding lead in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine. On3’s Chad Simmons and Steve Wiltfong both put in predictions on the Buckeyes to land Bell.

Can the Buckeyes withstand more time to land their fourth wide receiver? We will see.

Position coach Brian Hartline has commitments from Quincy Porter , De’Zie Jones and Bodpegn Miller . Besides Bell, Preston Bowman and Jerome Myles are Ohio State targets.

Early Visitors

Ohio State kicks off its 2024 season on Aug. 31 against Akron in Ohio Stadium with a 3:30 start. We mentioned that August is a dead period, but kids are still able to visit campus on game day.

The Buckeyes will have guys on campus anytime they are filling up the Horseshoe. While we don’t expect their game against Zips to be a massive recruiting event, we can speculate that some prospects will be there.

Besides in-state commits, it will likely be 2026s, 2027s and yes, even a 2028 or two will show up. If we had to give a name right now of who could visit campus, Bowman wouldn’t be shocking.

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