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

 

Ohio State football ‘Face of the Position’: Tight End

When you think of the tight end position historically at Ohio State, what player comes to mind? #GoBucks #FaceOfThePosition

It’s the doldrums of almost summer and you are most likely stuck between queueing up last year’s Rose Bowl victory over Utah on the DVR for the umpteenth time, reading rankings and listicles that include Ohio State, and yearning for the start of the college football season.

Sounds like a perfect time to kick off a series we are embarking upon here at Buckeyes Wire. We call it the “Face of the Position” and it’s really exactly as it sounds. When you think of a position group at Ohio State, who do you think of? From quarterback to linebacker, to placekicker and beyond, OSU has some of the most iconic and historical college football players that have taken their place among the best in the game.

However, one player stands out above all else when you shroud them behind the colors of scarlet and gray, and that’s where we are going to ask for your assistance.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting players that are in the running for the face of a position at Ohio State and asking for your vote in a Twitter poll to have one player identified as the one you think immediately at that position.

We’ve already looked at the quarterback position, running backs, wide receivers, and offensive linemen. Now we’re moving on to a position that hasn’t gotten a lot of fanfare in the past, the tight ends. It’s a thin group compared to some of the others, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some good ones.

We’ll keep voting up for five days, and at the end of it, we’ll reveal the winner of each. Make sure you scroll to the bottom to cast your vote from the nominees in a Twitter poll and feel free to write in a candidate if you think of another player.

Ohio State’s Rickey Dudley mentioned as one of the best college prospects ever covered by ESPN

ESPN staff members remembered some of the best high school athletes they ever covered. Ohio State football’s Rickey Dudley was singled out.

We’re going back in the archives for you, back into the 1990s. Rickey Dudley is a former Ohio State tight end and basketball player. He played for John Cooper on the gridiron and Randy Ayers on the hardwood. He ended up being a first-round NFL draft pick, but you may not know his background very well.

He was quite the legend during his high school days in Henderson, Texas.

And back in a time when there wasn’t a ton of recruiting videos to consume and massive recruiting websites to sift through, the legend of some high school players never made it to the light of day until their college careers started.

Enter Rickey Dudley. ESPN asked some of its writers to single out the best high school prospects they ever covered, and Dave Wilson highlighted his time covering Dudley. Here’s what he said about the eventual Raider, Brown, and Buccaneer.

Next … Wilson’s memory of Dudley