Ohio State officially announced the hiring of new Offensive Line Coach Justin Frye on Tuesday. This was a hiring that excited many across the state of Ohio. Ryan Day went out and hand picked Justin Frye as Greg Studrawa’s replacement. His goal was to land a coach who could recruit better than anyone one in the country and develop players for the next level. 

Frye will have his work cut out for him right off the bat in recruiting with a star-studded 2023 class. One of Frye’s first orders of business will be to get right in on some of Ohio State’s priority targets. One player who is sure to be getting a call from Frye is TJ Shanahan Jr. Shanahan has been in constant contact with the Ohio State staff throughout his recruitment, as he tells The Silver Bulletin.

“I’ve been talking to Coach Day a lot lately and I’ve also been keeping up with Coach Alford.” Said Shanahan Jr. 

Even with the staff changes as of late, one thing that has stayed constant is Day prioritizing Shanahan as one of their top prospects at the position. But how big of an asset does Day think Shanahan will be?

“He’s just told me that I’m their top recruit at the offensive line position for the 2023 class and they’ve sent that message to me very clearly by all the conversations we’ve had,” Shanahan stated. “I’m just excited for all the conversations were going to continue having right up until I make my final decision.”

Ohio State has had Shanahan a top of their leaderboard for quite some time now. Shanahan explained that the feeling is mutual on both sides. 

“They’re definitely at the top for sure. I think I’m going to release a top 12 here very soon,” said Shanahan. “The teams that I know for sure will be in that top 12 are Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, USC, Georgia, A&M and I guess I’ll have to think about the others.”

However, Shanahan just recently moved to Texas to finish out his last two years of high school. This past season was Shanahan’s first year with Austin Westlake. It was a successful season as they took home the Texas 6A State Championship. Shanahan mentioned it was definitely a different feel jumping from Florida high school football to Texas.

“Texas definitely has players who are more disciplined and bought in with a lot more physicality, but Florida has probably better athletes. That’s really the only differences I noticed,” Shanahan explained. 

Shanahan mentioned his move to Texas has not changed his recruitment to much in terms of which schools he’s considering. But he knows that he is most likely going to need as much time as possible before making a decision. 

“I’m really not to sure about when I’ll commit right now. I think I’ll have to wait until National Signing Day but if not I may do it after next season,” Shanahan explained. “I definitely will need to take all five of my visits. And I know I’ll be taking an unofficial to Columbus at some point. Now it’s just figuring out when.”