\n Lorenzo McMullen Jr.\u2019s recruiting relationship with Ohio State changed in a big way in just one month. <\/p>\n
\n\tAfter participating in the Under Armour Next camp at Pickerington North High School on May 10, McMullen described his communication with Ohio State as \u201cminimal.\u201d Even though McMullen is ranked as the No. 1 player in Ohio for the 2028 recruiting class<\/a>, Ohio State hadn\u2019t offered the five-star wide receiver, leaving him to question whether the Buckeyes were even interested in him.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAt the time, McMullen wasn\u2019t sure whether he\u2019d camp at Ohio State this summer. But an offer from the Buckeyes was always the one he wanted the most.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt would mean everything to me,\u201d McMullen said when asked then about the possibility of receiving an Ohio State offer. \u201cMy mom is from Columbus, and her whole side of the family is still living in Columbus. I grew up in (Franklin) County too. I used to spend summers here. I\u2019ve watched Ohio State. It would mean a lot.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tUltimately, McMullen chose to camp at Ohio State on Thursday. An offer from the Buckeyes came in turn, and Ohio State immediately became one of his top schools as a result.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDefinitely top three. For sure top three,\u201d said McMullen, who said Thursday that LSU and Notre Dame are his other top schools.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tEven though he\u2019s been regarded as one of the top prospects in his class since national recruiting websites began releasing their initial rankings for the 2028 class last year, Ohio State entered Thursday\u2019s camp still wanting to see more from McMullen before making him an offer. A strong workout in front of Ohio State wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton, however, was enough to convince the Buckeyes that they should formally enter the race for the five-star wide receiver.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMcMullen says his communication with Hankton had \u201cfor sure, definitely\u201d picked up even before Thursday\u2019s camp, and he enjoyed being coached directly by Ohio State\u2019s first-year receivers coach on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt was great because knowing his history, he coached Kyren Lacy and all the guys at LSU and all that, now he’s here coaching Jeremiah Smith and all of them,\u201d McMullen said.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDefinitely top three. For sure top three.\u201d\u2013 Lorenzo McMullen Jr. on where Ohio State stands in his recruitment after offering him\n<\/p>\n \n\tRanked as the No. 7 wide receiver and No. 29 overall prospect<\/a> in the 2028 class, McMullen joins a group of five-star wide receivers in his class whom the Buckeyes are targeting that includes Jett Harrison<\/a>, the younger brother of former Ohio State star Marvin Harrison Jr.; Brysen Wright<\/a>, the No. 1 overall prospect in the class; and fellow five-stars Jaylen Addai<\/a>, Braylon Clark<\/a> and Deandre Bidden<\/a>. He was one of two receivers in his class to receive an offer during Ohio State\u2019s first week of camps, along with four-star California prospect Hayden Koo<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s too early to say where exactly McMullen stands on Ohio State\u2019s 2028 receiver board now that he has received his offer, but his status as the state\u2019s top player in the composite rankings for his class, as well as being the first in-state receiver in his class to pick up an Ohio State offer, certainly makes the 6-foot-2, 180-pound wideout \u2013 who has a 75-inch wingspan and has leaped six feet, seven inches in the high jump \u2013\u00a0a prospect to watch for the Buckeyes.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMcMullen is continuing to explore schools all over the country, with a trip to Florida next up on his list. That said, McMullen said in May that he had a desire to stay in the Midwest, potentially giving Ohio State a key edge over Southern schools in his recruitment. McMullen also has existing relationships with several current and soon-to-be Ohio State players with Southwest Ohio roots, including cornerback Jermaine Mathews Jr., freshman wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. and 2027 wide receiver commit Jamier Brown.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn the end, McMullen says the biggest thing he\u2019s looking for in his recruitment is to have a good relationship with his coaches.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cCoaches\u2019 relationship with the players, how you get along with the players, how the players act around them,\u201d McMullen said of what he\u2019s looking for as he visits schools this summer. \u201cIf the players gotta change, or if they\u2019re being themselves around them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tMcMullen said he plans to return to Ohio State for multiple games this fall, giving the Buckeyes a chance to continue building their quickly blossoming relationship with the five-star wideout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lorenzo McMullen Jr.\u2019s recruiting relationship with Ohio State changed in a big way in just one month. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-701749","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\/701749","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=701749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}