DeaMonte Trayanum completes visit, Landyn Watson waits for offer

Stay in touch or be left out because Ohio State recruiting is a 24-hour, seven-day-per-week obsession. What’s the latest news as the Buckeyes build for the future? Get that and more Sunday through Thursday on Lettermen Row. Tonight’s update gives the latest with Ohio State target DeaMonte Trayanum and shines some light on the first offer with the Buckeyes for Texas standout Landyn Watson.

DeaMonte Trayanum finishes Ohio State official visit, Penn State next

The Buckeyes made their final pitch to Akron Archbishop Hoban 4-star standout DeaMonte Trayanum this week. Now they’ll wait and see if it was enough to keep Ohio’s fifth-ranked prospect from heading out of the state for college.

With his official visit to Ohio State complete, the 5-foot-11, 215-pound running back will take a day off and then head to State College for his official trip to Penn State. Then, within a week or two, it will be decision time.

Trayanum began his official visit with the Buckeyes on Monday morning, but he was also on campus at Ohio State on Saturday, watching some teammates perform in a one-day camp and using the chance to talk to the coaching staff in Columbus on a very casual basis to his advantage.

There’s a comfort with the people at Ohio State, but for much of the last few months, there’s been one underlying concern for those close to Trayanum: Whether or not he will actually stay at running back if he were to choose the Buckeyes. He’s been to Ohio State so many times that there’s nothing new he’s going to see on any visit, even an official one, so the entire focus on the trip was simply to get closer to the coaches and how he feels about their plans to deploy him on the football field.

Beyond that, some kids just don’t want to be half of a two-part recruiting class — even when their first offer is from their dream school like Ohio State was for Trayanum. And there is no doubt that the Buckeyes are going to take multiple running backs in 2020.

That’s why Arizona State, Penn State and Wisconsin have emerged as real threats to the Buckeyes right now. And that’s why, even coming off the visit to Ohio State, it feels like Trayanum is torn between the school he has dreamed of playing for his whole life and other opportunities that may present him a chance to be The Man much earlier in his career.

Bottom line? Don’t assume this one is going to end as most Ohio recruitments do. There’s a very real chance that Trayanum chooses a school other than the Buckeyes.

Ohio State sets high bar for 2021 Texas standout Landyn Watson

Way back last August, Lettermen Row introduced young Texas defensive end named Landyn Watson, who was eager to know more about Ohio State and the program. That interest didn’t wane over the majority of the year, and the 6-foot-3, 240-pound 4-star defensive end followed through on his plans to visit Ohio State last weekend.

The country’s 14th-ranked weakside defensive end prospect in the Class of 2021 was thrilled by his experience.

“It was great,” Watson, who plays for Hutto (Texas) but is originally from Wisconsin, told Lettermen Row. “Just seeing the campus, the facilities, talking with Ryan Day, Larry Johnson and Greg Mattison. It was way more than I expected. I fell in love with the campus. It isn’t like other campuses. The culture and the people are different, and it makes you want to play for a school like that.”

Watson did not camp at Ohio State on Saturday, and that may have prevented him from landing the scholarship offer he very badly covets. Still, he left encouraged about where things are heading between himself and the Buckeyes as the all-important Sept. 1 date approaches and communication between the two sides can ramp up.

“Coach Johnson said the entire staff wants to offer me, and he said an offer will come,” Watson said. “He just wants to build a deeper relationship with me so they can give me a committable offer and not just an offer’ I’m perfectly fine with that and I’m going to come back up for a game this fall.”

Chazz Wallace waiting for Ohio State green light?

One defensive lineman who went to Ohio State this past weekend and did camp was 2020 defensive tackle Chazz Wallace, a 3-star defensive line prospect from The Avalon School (Gaithersburg, Md.) who has offers from 17 schools already but has been holding out hope for a chance to earn an offer from the Buckeyes.

A 6-foot-2, 286-pound tackle, Wallace showed good explosion and quickness working with Johnson — and the experience was definitely worth the drive.

“It was a good trip,” Wallace told Lettermen Row. “I got some great work in. Coach Johnson knows a lot about the game that I didn’t know and I really like the way he was challenging me.”

Wallace had been to Ohio State twice before and wanted to make sure this visit wasn’t about photoshoots or campus tours. He was there for one reason: To try to land a Buckeyes scholarship.

“I had already been to campus two times,” Wallace said. “I just came to secure the bag. Coach Johnson said I did very well and that he likes my quickness and hip explosion. He also said he liked my drive and how hard I work.

“Coach J kept it real with me and said I’m close to the offer. I’ve got wait a week or two to see how everything plays out because I’m No. 3 on the board, so gotta see what the two in front of me do. Not a lot of coaches are gonna tell you the truth in this recruiting game. It’s full of lies so you can feel good at the moment so I appreciate the honesty. I’ll know in the next week or two if I have it.”

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