\n Ohio State\u2019s three uncommitted official visitors this weekend aren\u2019t quite as heralded as the official visitors Ohio State hosted last weekend, but it\u2019s still an important weekend for the Buckeyes as they build their 2027 recruiting class. <\/p>\n
\n\tThere was no question where each of Ohio State\u2019s first official visitors of the summer stood on the Buckeyes\u2019 board. Running back David Gabriel Georges, defensive lineman Marcus Fakatou and wide receiver Benny Easter Jr. \u2013 all five-star prospects \u2013 are all top-of-the-board targets whom the Buckeyes are aggressively trying to add to their 2027 class. Even though Ohio State didn\u2019t land immediate commitments from any of them, the Buckeyes appear to have a good shot at landing all of them after making strong impressions on them and their families.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhere exactly this weekend\u2019s uncommitted official visitors stand on Ohio State\u2019s board is a little less clear. None of them are top-300 overall prospects in the 247Sports composite rankings, giving the Buckeyes more to consider in terms of how hard they should push for commitments and how much NIL money they should offer.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThat said, the Buckeyes wouldn\u2019t be bringing them in for official visits if there wasn\u2019t real mutual interest on both sides. And at least two of them are candidates to commit to Ohio State by the end of the month, with one potentially being a candidate to pick the Buckeyes as soon as this weekend.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThis weekend\u2019s official visitors include a pair of four-star prospects, cornerback Jaden Carey<\/a> and running back Jayden Miles<\/a>, as well as three-star linebacker Kaylon Bailey<\/a>. They\u2019ll be joined on campus by three of Ohio State\u2019s 2027 commits: defensive end Wyatt Smith<\/a> and safeties Eli Johnson<\/a> and Angelo Smith<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs their visits begin Friday, we\u2019re taking a look below at each of those official visitors and what to know about their recruitments as they make their way to Columbus.\n<\/p>\n \tCB Jaden Carey<\/p>\n \n\tAmong this weekend\u2019s official visitors, Carey is the one to put on commit watch. Even though his father, Marcus Carey, played for the Miami Hurricanes and Jaden made an official visit to The U last week, Ohio State is viewed as the frontrunner in his recruitment heading into his trip to Columbus.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State is still seeking its first cornerback commitment for the 2027 class, but that could change this weekend if Carey\u2019s visit goes well. Although he\u2019s ranked as only the No. 39 cornerback in the class in the 247Sports composite, he\u2019s one of the top prospects on Tim Walton\u2019s board for the current recruiting cycle.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tCarey is also scheduled to visit Auburn later this month, and Ohio State will have to decide just how hard it wants to push for Carey as it prepares to host three more four-star cornerbacks \u2013 in-state prospects Monsanna Torbert Jr.<\/a> and Deontay Malone<\/a>, and Georgia prospect Bryce Woods<\/a> \u2013 next weekend.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThat said, the Buckeyes also lost a top cornerback target this week when top-40 national prospect Gabriel Osborne Jr.<\/a> committed to Oklahoma. That raises the stakes for Carey\u2019s visit this weekend, and raises the possibility that the weekend could end with Carey committing to Ohio State.\n<\/p>\n \tRB Jayden Miles<\/p>\n \n\tMiles\u2019 recruitment is directly connected to the Buckeyes\u2019 pursuit of Gabriel Georges. Because Gabriel Georges is Ohio State\u2019s clear-cut No. 1 target at running back for the 2027 class, it\u2019s unlikely the Buckeyes would accept a commitment from Miles right now, not wanting to do anything to jeopardize their position as the frontrunner for DGG.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMiles\u2019 official visit to Ohio State this weekend is still important, though, because he\u2019s the only running back other than Gabriel Georges who\u2019s scheduled to make an official visit to OSU this month. Another running back who had been expected to make a June visit, Nigel Newkirk<\/a>, committed to Alabama after visiting the Crimson Tide last weekend.\n<\/p>\n \n\tFlorida State emerged as the frontrunner to land Miles after he made an official visit to Tallahassee last weekend, and a commitment to the Seminoles could come sooner\u00a0rather than later after he canceled his scheduled official visits to LSU and Kentucky.\u00a0But as the Buckeyes still have to fend off Tennessee, Ole Miss and Georgia for Gabriel Georges, they\u2019ll do their best to stay in the race for Miles this weekend to keep him on the board as their No. 2 RB target.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMiles is the only offensive player making an official visit to Ohio State this weekend. He was expected to be joined by Eric McFarland III<\/a>, but the five-star wide receiver canceled his trip to Columbus earlier this week, choosing to play in the SEC instead as he will choose from a final four of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas A&M.\n<\/p>\n \tLB Kaylon Bailey<\/p>\n \n\tBailey\u2019s composite ranking as the No. 743 overall prospect in the 2027 class doesn\u2019t stand out. Where he plays his high school football certainly does, though, as Bailey comes from the same Glenville program that produced recent star Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese and five-star freshman linebacker Cincere Johnson, as well as other Ohio State stars like Troy Smith, Ted Ginn Jr., Donte Whitner, Marshon Lattimore and Cardale Jones.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s a big reason why Bailey has emerged as a top candidate to round out Ohio State\u2019s linebacker class alongside Prince Goldsby \u2013 who made his official visit to Ohio State last week, just days after committing to the Buckeyes<\/a> \u2013\u00a0and Quinton Cypher. Like Reese, Bailey is an athletic, versatile prospect who could line up at both linebacker and edge, and the track record of success that Tarblooders have had as Buckeyes makes him a great choice to be a developmental prospect in James Laurinaitis\u2019 unit.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State rarely misses on Glenville prospects that it wants, so the Buckeyes are viewed as the favorite to land Bailey when he makes his commitment on June 25. They still need to close the deal, though, as Louisville and West Virginia are also major contenders in his recruitment after hosting him for official visits over the past week.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tDE Wyatt Smith<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State\u2019s highest-ranked official visitor this weekend, Smith \u2013 the No. 78 overall prospect in the 2027 class \u2013 makes his way to Columbus just a few weeks after committing to the Buckeyes<\/a> on May 17.\n<\/p>\n \n\tSmith\u2019s commitment appears rock-solid entering his official visit as Ohio State made him a top-priority target at defensive end alongside fellow commit DJ Jacobs<\/a>. What makes the timing of Smith\u2019s visit interesting is that he\u2019ll be visiting alongside Carey, his St. Thomas Aquinas High School teammate, making Smith a crucial peer-recruiter who could help push a commitment across the finish line.\n<\/p>\n \tS Eli Johnson<\/p>\n \n\tJohnson committed to Ohio State last November, and there\u2019s been no drama in his recruitment since, as the four-star safety from Texas ranked as the 173rd overall prospect in the class<\/a> is firmly committed to the Buckeyes.\n<\/p>\n \n\tGiven his position in the secondary, Johnson could also play the role of peer-recruiter for Carey this weekend. As for Johnson, this weekend will be an opportunity for Ohio State to continue laying out its vision for his future in Columbus and why the Buckeyes pushed for his early commitment to be a building block of their 2027 class.\n<\/p>\n \tS Angelo Smith<\/p>\n \n\tAmong Ohio State\u2019s three committed official visitors, Angelo Smith\u2019s visit may be the most meaningful of the weekend as the Buckeyes look to fend off a flip effort from South Florida and former Ohio State offensive coordinator\/wide receivers coach Brian Hartline.\n<\/p>\n \n\tA three-star\u00a0safety, Smith has been committed to Ohio State since September, but has a close relationship with Hartline thanks to his older brother, Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. USF may be able to sell Smith on a quicker path to the field, as the No. 843 overall prospect<\/a> in the 2027 class would be a developmental prospect for the Buckeyes, but he remains committed to Ohio State, where the Buckeyes hope to see him continue what\u2019s already become a spectacular family legacy in Columbus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ohio State\u2019s three uncommitted official visitors this weekend aren\u2019t quite as heralded as the official visitors Ohio State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-686064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}