Buckeyes make the cut for 2024 corner, get reassurance from pair of top commits

A 2024 four-star cornerback included Ohio State in his top 10 after trimming his list from nearly 40 schools.

It’s officially June! Ohio State has some major opportunities coming up this month as they plan to host seemingly every major recruiting target on their board both in the 2024 class and in future cycles. Like last summer, the month of June was a gauntlet for the coaching staff, as every day brought a laundry list of to do’s. But with how this staff tends to recruit, it should be similar to last year in terms of successes.

Buckle up. It’s about to get exciting, and hopefully we are one step closer to some BOOMS.

Buckeyes still in the mix for four-star defensive back

Wanting to rinse and repeat the spring success, the Buckeyes will be looking to really get down to business on the defensive side of the ball as that still remains as the priority. Fortunately, Ohio State doesn’t hurt for interested targets, as several across multiple positions have the Buckeyes at or near the top of their considerations. While it’s not expected that the defensive 2024 class will be finished this summer, it should take on multiple additions that make it pretty easy to narrow down who remains.

One of the premier positions that will take a ton of attention of course is cornerback. Knowing the secondary will need to be reloaded again, this defensive staff has been staying on it. The Buckeyes have in-state guys they need to land and want to lean on to bolster this 2024 haul, but taking some out of state guys is definitely possible as well. On Wednesday, Ohio State received some good news as they stayed in the mix for a top 2024 cornerback out of Florida as Cai Bates trimmed his list down to a top-10.

The No. 223 player nationally, Bates is the 17th best cornerback in the class and the 32nd best player in the Sunshine state for the 2024 class per the 247Sports Composite. At over 40 offers to his name, getting down to just 10 is quite the sign that the process is taking shape for Bates, but there’s still some time to wait before anything becomes official. At any rate, staying in the mix included LSU, Tennessee, Florida, UCF, Texas A&M, Alabama, Florida State, Colorado, Maryland, and Ohio State.

Bates hasn’t been a name that’s been mentioned as much as other cornerback targets, but that could change if a visit were to take place. So far, Alabama, LSU, and Tennessee are among his stops this summer official visit wise, but it’s up in the air to see who gets the remaining visits. The safe assumption would tell you if Ohio State is really in the fold here then they’ll be one of the remaining stops on his list. If not, that shows where the cards lay.

Quick Hits

• Regardless of cycle, there’s always a couple of recruits in every Ohio State class that muster up plenty of attention because of their talents, and that can send Buckeye fans into a scurry as they hope to hold on their commitments. It’s a compliment really that these players are highly coveted by every major program in the country, and while the staff is pretty good at keeping these guys locked in, it’s no small task.

This year, the top-ranked player in Ohio State’s class, Jeremiah Smith, has been all over the Twitter drama as he entertains the recruiting process — and you can’t fault him for it. Additionally, the rumors this week of current quarterback commit Air Noland potentially looking to visit two other programs this summer once again had fans a little nervous. But on Wednesday, tweets by both prospects had to help with some reassurance that these two are going to end up in Columbus and keep their Ohio State pledges.

The telling part of it all, these Twitter posts were shared by both Mark Pantoni and Brian Hartline, so clearly they too are trying to tell the rest of the college football landscape that these two are solid to Ohio State.