Shortly after Keon Keeley, the No. 1 edge rusher in the 2023 class decommitted from Notre Dame, Ohio State was all in. And it seemed like Keeley was interested as well.
Despite all the recruiting experts crystal balling the coveted recruit to Alabama, Keeley made his way to Columbus for the season opener against the Irish to whom he was formerly pledged. Then, just a few weeks after that, the young man decided to make another visit to OSU, this time on his own dime to check things out even more. Most recruiting specialists had the Tide and Buckeyes neck and neck for Keeley’s services.
However, in recent weeks talk of Ohio State slowed and Alabama gained most of the momentum. All of this culminated with a commitment to Nick Saban and the Tide yesterday. This wasn’t necessarily unexpected but, it still leaves the Bucks looking for more help on the defensive line. Where do they go from here?
COMMITTED🐘❤️🤍
Thank you to my Mom, and my amazing Berkeley Family!@BPS_Football @CoachHutzler @AlabamaFTBL @BAMACoachG @Hayesfawcett3 @BerkeleyPrep pic.twitter.com/DqmXMaHfKa— 𝐊𝐞𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐲 5⭐️ (@keon_keeley) December 12, 2022
The good news is that Ohio State is still in play for three highly touted defensive linemen. The bad news is things may have started swinging in the wrong direction.
Damon Wilson, Matayo Uiagalelei, and Joshua Mickens are all three players that the Buckeyes have been courting for some time now.
Wilson looked to be leaning toward Columbus and then in recent weeks, Georgia seems to be picking up steam. Ohio State also has had most of the buzz around Uiagalelei and he has put the Buckeyes in his top three, but now USC seems to be picking up momentum. Will he choose to stay closer to home in southern California? Finally, Mickens seemed to be a lock once he decommitted from LSU immediately after a visit to Ohio State, but things have gotten eerily quiet.
We know Ryan Dan and Larry Johnson would like to snag at least two of these three guys. At the very least, they must get one. Right now, things are still trending for Mickens to sign with OSU. After that, Uiagalelei is the next best bet, but it looks to be 50/50 at this point. I think Wilson is as good as gone unless the Buckeyes can pull off some kind of miracle as he plans to announce on December 21.
With Keeley off the board, the pressure increases that much more to make a convincing argument to these three that Ohio State is the place to be.
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