A good week on the recruiting trail gets better for Ohio State football

It’s been a good week for Ohio State football on the recruiting trail as the Buckeyes landed a four-star pledge and a slew of crystal ball predictions. 

Like most college football teams, Ohio State is going through spring practice right now, which is also a key time period in recruiting.

Ohio State football recently hosted a number of top-tier recruits, with multiple five-stars on campus including 2023 five-star quarterback Dante Moore.

The Buckeyes have some ground to make up with Moore, but getting him on campus is a start and with the way the offense has dominated under Ryan Day, what quarterback wouldn’t at least strongly consider playing for Ohio State football?

While Moore’s decision will come down the road, Ohio State football did add a talented four-star safety to its 2023 recruiting class thanks to the commitment of Malik Hartford earlier this week.

Hartford was a key addition for Ohio State for a couple of reasons. One he’s ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the state of Ohio out of West Chester, but he’s also ranked 189th overall according to the 0n3 consensus rankings and had strong interest from Notre Dame and Alabama.

247 sports even projects Hartford as an eventual round 2-3 pick in the NFL draft, as well as someone with the ability to make an immediate impact. Here’s a look at his 247 sports scouting report: 

"“Brings immediate value in the 2-deep as well as the special teams. Can see his instant value because he constantly shows up all over the film where he even has the ability to long-snap. High-ceiling prospect with plenty of developmental potential remaining in his game. Could become a multi-year starter and possible all-conference selection with an NFL future.”"

Hartford is also just the second four-star commitment for any college football team so far in the month of April. The other was also in the Big Ten as Penn State flipped four-star tight end, Andrew Rappleyea, from Michigan — something that won’t hurt the feelings of OSU fans.

 Ohio State trending for top running back in 2023

The recruiting battle for four-star running back Mark Fletcher, who is out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has really picked up recently as Miami, Michigan, Penn State, and Alabama are all listed as “warm” on Fletcher’s 247 sports profile.

However, on Thursday, Ohio State football started trending with crystal ball predictions and the Buckeyes have three experts: Steve Wiltfong, Andrew Ivins, and Bill Kurelic, projecting the No. 8 running back in the 2023 class to the Buckeyes.

Wiltfong is a lead analyst for 247 sports, while Kurelic covers Ohio State football and Ivins covers Miami and recruiting in South Florida, meaning those are probably the top experts on this recruitment from an Ohio State perspective, so you can trust the predictions.

Fletcher appears like he will join Ohio State’s 2023 class, which is starting to look like another juggernaut.