Tag: Jelani Thurman

Ohio State football: Five players on offense poised for a breakout in 2023

Who do you think breaks out on the national scene? #GoBucks

With fall camp starting for [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] Thursday, one can only dream of what to expect during the season.

Like every year in college football, there is plenty of turnover, but one thing we know about the Buckeyes, they don’t rebuild, they reload. Multiple stars from the 2022 team have gone on to the NFL, but Ohio State isn’t short of talented players waiting in the wings.

This season, there are more than a few non-returning starting spots open, so there will be new names we’ll see on Saturdays making an impact. Here are five Buckeyes that I believe will have breakout seasons and become household names on the offensive side of the ball.

Don’t worry, we’ll hit the defense next.

Tight end Jelani Thurman loses black stripe

Another Buckeye newcomer lost his black stripe on Friday! #GoBucks

It’s the time of the year when a lot of the Ohio State football newcomers officially become part of the team by doing all they need to do with team culture and performance to lose their black stripe. It’s the equivalent of being welcomed into the “brotherhood” after making it on campus.

On Friday, the Buckeyes welcomed tight end Jelani Thurman as a member of the exclusivity that is being a part of the family in a short ceremony where his black stripe was removed. He was the No. 3 overall tight end in the 2023 class according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

For his part, Thurman was grateful.

“Appreciate all y’all for making me better,” said Thurman. “Appreciate the tight end room, appreciate coach Kee, coach Sean. Go Buckeyes.”

We’ll continue to keep an eye on all the black stripes that get removed throughout the spring and beyond in 2023 in our tracker. You can bet there will be more over the next couple of weeks on through the annual LiFEsports Spring Game.

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Top five true freshman tight ends in the Big Ten for 2023

Top five true freshman tight ends in the Big Ten for 2023 #GoBucks #B1G

It is always fun to look at recruiting rankings. The recruiting landscape receives more coverage every year and is a very important aspect of building a program. Still, it is important to remember these players and prospects are not defined by these rankings.

I was diving into the most recent class and trying to figure out which future Buckeye is going to shine brightest and fastest but noticed that the Big Ten as a whole was pretty interesting recruiting-wise this cycle, and we already discussed the quarterback position, running back position, and wide receiver group and now we are diving into the top prospects in the tight end group.

The following are the top five tight end recruits ranked by 247Sports heading to Big Ten schools this fall.

Ohio State football class of 2023 scouting report: Tight end Jelani Thurman

Ohio State football class of 2023 scouting report: Jelani Thurman #GoBucks

The Ohio State football recruiting class of 2023 is complete and despite some murmurs of negativity in the crowd, this class is fantastic from top to bottom. One of the studs of this class is a four-star tight end from the state of Georgia in Jelani Thurman.

Thurman is regarded as a top-70 prospect in the class and a top-five tight end. The tight end room at Ohio State is already reasonably deep with Cade Stover returning and Gee Scott Jr looking to take another step forward, but Thurman is an elite talent and has the ability to see the field early in his career.

Name: Jelani Thurman

High School: Langston Hughes (Fairburn, GA)

Height: 6-feet, 5-inches

Weight: 230 pounds

4-Star Tight End

 

Ranking Ohio State tight ends by 247Sports composite recruiting rankings

Ranking Ohio State tight ends by 247Sports composite recruiting rankings #GoBucks

The Ohio State football program has six tight ends on scholarship and thank goodness the stud of the group, Cade Stover, is coming back for another season. All six tight ends arrived in Columbus as highly touted recruits, but only Stover has lived up to his potential at moving over from linebacker.

It will be interesting to watch Gee Scott Jr. and his development continue from wide receiver to tight end, but most expected the jump last season to be much bigger. There is still a surprising amount of hype surrounding Joe Royer and there are murmurs that he will see more time than Scott, but only time will tell.

We rank the scholarship tight ends on the roster based on their 247Sports recruiting rankings. Off we go …

Ohio State offers fast-rising Georgia offensive tackle from familiar high school

The Buckeyes have entered the chat #GoBucks

[autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] football is no stranger to Langston Hughes High School which resides just outside Atlanta, Georgia. The Buckeyes just signed tight end [autotag]Jelani Thurman[/autotag] who prepped there and are also recruiting quarterback [autotag]Air Noland[/autotag], who is coming to Columbus soon to try and get a scholarship offer.

It doesn’t stop there with talented players at Langston Hughes, as today the Buckeyes offered a scholarship to offensive lineman [autotag]Dontrell Glover[/autotag]. He’s a large young man, standing 6-foot, 6-inches tall and weighing 280 pounds.

What’s interesting is that Glover has yet to be ranked by any of the larger services, even though he previously held offers from LSU, Georgia, and Texas.

There’s no doubt that a player with the offer list that Glover is accumulating,  will soon be making a rise up the recruiting ranking boards. Offensive tackle is a big need going forward and getting Glover’s attention early is a good start to his relationship with head coach [autotag]Ryan Day[/autotag] and offensive line coach [autotag]Justin Frye[/autotag].

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Where each Ohio State signee landed on ESPN’s final 2023 recruiting rank update

What do you think about these rankings? #GoBucks

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that certainly is the case with [autotag]ESPN[/autotag] and the 2023 [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] football recruiting class.

There are certain attributes that prospect evaluators like over others, and that is why you often see significant disparities between the major recruiting services. One might like a prospect much more than the other but it still gives you a good idea of how much potential the player has.

Now that the high school season is over and the all-star games have been played, ESPN made the final update to its class of 2023 rankings. Find out below where each Buckeye signee was ranked in the top 300 and a quick takeaway of the rankings.

Where each 2023 Ohio State football recruit landed on 247Sports updated rankings

It’s no surprise that this class is ranked as one of the best in the country. #GoBucks

When you assemble one of the top-rated recruiting classes in the country, you are bound to have plenty of players who are among the highest-rated in the nation. That is exactly the case for Ryan Day and his Ohio State Buckeyes football program.

The evidence is here, as 247Sports has updated their Top 247 recruits and it is littered with Buckeye commitments. In total there were twelve future OSU stars that made the list with room to add a few more before the early signing period and the traditional signing day in February. Find out below where each of those 12 verbal commits landed in the updated rankings.

(Note: This list has now been updated from 12 to 13 players with the verbal commitment from quarterback [autotag]Lincoln Kienholz[/autotag] on Wednesday, December 14th.)

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Michael Chen on Twitter.

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Ohio State football recruiting class of 2023 high school performance tracker

Ohio State football recruiting class of 2023 high school performance tracker #GoBucks

As we eagerly await the kickoff of the contest between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Iowa Hawkeyes, we can pass the time by monitoring some of the top high school prospects that have committed to the Buckeyes in the class of 2023. As it stands, Ohio State currently has the fourth-ranked class in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, but the hope is they will rise up these rankings.

This class appears to be offense-heavy with a few stud receivers and some intriguing offensive linemen, but the Buckeyes need to add some more defensive help. I wanted to provide a brief recap of some of the top recruits in the Ohio State class and how they have performed so far during their high school season.

Buckeyes edge out Spartans for 2023 4-star Georgia TE Jelani Thurman

Four-star tight end Jelani Thurman announced on Sunday that he has committed to Ohio State, picking the Buckeyes over Michigan State, Alabama and Auburn

It’s another “close but no cigar” recruiting loss for the Spartans on Saturday.

Four-star tight end Jelani Thurman announced on Sunday, that he has committed to Ohio State, picking the Buckeyes over Michigan State, Alabama and Auburn. Thurman is ranked as the No. 3 tight end prospect in the 2023 class, according to 247Sports.

Thurman hails from Fairburn, Ga., and is one of the most highly-touted tight end prospects in the class. He holds offers from nearly 30 schools and had his choice of where he’d like to play his college ball.

Michigan State already has a four-star tight end commitment in their 2023 class in Brennan Parachek of Dexter, Mich., but adding Thurman would have been huge for the Spartans. Losing him to a conference rival doesn’t make it any better, either.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

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