This week on The Silver Inquiry, we received a lot of great recruiting questions but as always we can only select a few. Last week, we touched on offensive line recruiting as well as wide receiver recruiting. This week The Silver Bulletin was asked:

Do you consider there to be any 2023 recruits who are locks to be in the class?

I never like to describe any recruitment as a lock but there are certainly some recruits in the 2023 cycle I feel the Buckeyes are in the best position for. There’s some recruits I’ve touched on more than others so I will quickly state them. Both Richard Young and AJ Hoffler have Ohio State leading their recruitment and will eventually become Buckeyes. I think Lakota East offensive guard Austin Siereveld is very likely to become a Buckeye if/when he is given the go ahead by Justin Frye and Ryan Day to commit.

I also really like the chances the Buckeyes have in landing Carnell Tate. The Buckeyes have led this recruitment the whole way with Tate growing up a Buckeye fan and also having Brian Hartline who Tate looks up to more than any coach in the country. Many believe Notre Dame is a threat and sure they are but at the end of the day, this is a recruitment that should see Hartline landing another No.1 ranked WR in the country. We’re also going to most likely see Malik Hartford and A’mauri Washington become Buckeyes in the near future.

The Buckeyes are also likely leading for guys like Troy Bowles, Chase Bisontis, Raul Aguirre, Payton Kirkland, and TJ Shanahan Jr. Like I mentioned before, I never like giving locks but these guys are all in a great position to eventually become Buckeyes. There is still a ton of work that needs to be done in many of these recruitments but the Buckeyes are in great shape with all of them. There’s still factors such as NIL and classes filling up or spots being taken so it’s subject to change, but as it stands right now these are the guys closest to becoming Buckeyes.

Where do you predict the Buckeyes to finish in the 2023 recruiting rankings?

That is pretty tough to predict at this time as we’re still so early in the process. However, I can definitely say with how it looks to appear right now, Ohio State is shaping up for another top five class. Now will they be a top three? Not likely. As we are all familiar with, the pull of the SEC is just always going to be a major factor in recruiting and you can almost always pencil in Alabama and Georgia among those top three in the rankings.

In the past, Ohio State was always able to fight for that top three spot but now I’m not so sure with NIL developments. A lot of kids are being able to take their families out of bad situations now before even getting to the pros because of NIL. TreVeyon Henderson is a great example. He mentioned earlier this week that NIL has allowed him to help his mother out in ways he never was able to before. It’s great for that aspect, but on the recruiting side it definitely handicaps schools who do not have major boosters backing them.

That’s where I think Ohio State recruiting in the top three gets a little murky. We’ve already seen it from schools like Texas and Texas A&M: they have boosters corralling 25-35 million dollars together per class, and to say the Buckeyes are going to be able to compete with that is a fallacy. I do however know that Ohio State recruits the best and provides a much better development program as well as a better chance to play in the College Football Playoff than most schools.

At the end of the day it comes down to what’s best for each player and his family. That will be the ultimate factor in whether or not Ohio State finishes among the top three recruiting classes or whether they’re a top five but regardless, a top five class will always be the expectation for Ohio State.