Scarlet Sunrise: Former Buckeye Jalin Marshall making plays in the AAF

Good morning, Ohio State fans, and welcome to the Scarlet Sunrise! Football will always be our focus, but every day we’ll cover news, notes and analysis from across Buckeyes sports. Join us each morning to get caught up on everything you missed in the world of Ohio State football, recruiting, basketball and more. 

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Jalin Marshall turning heads for the Orlando Apollos

One week after scoring the first touchdown in the history of the Alliance of American Football, former Ohio State receiver Jalin Marshall was back at it again Sunday for his Orlando Apollos as they took on the San Antonio Commanders.

Trailing 29-23 with just under eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Marshall caught a 23-yard touchdown pass to give the Apollos the lead for good as they defeated the Commanders 37-29 to move to 2-0 on the season. The former Buckeye caught three balls, including the touchdown, for 51 yards in the victory and now has six catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns on the year.

Five reasons Johnnie Dixon is an NFL Draft sleeper

Ohio State and Urban Meyer had the benefit of retaining a mature trio of wide receivers over the last few seasons in Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon. At some point in their careers, all three saw their opportunity to leave early for a shot at the next level, but none of them felt that is was the time to go and decided to return to Columbus for another year.

That, however, can no longer happen as they all played their finals snaps for the Scarlet and Gray last season and sent Meyer out with his seventh-straight win in The Game, a second-consecutive Big Ten Championship and his first-ever Rose Bowl title.

Now, all three will head back to Lucas Oil Stadium in just under two weeks to show their skills at the NFL Combine as they try to raise their stock ahead of the NFL Draft in late April. Campbell and McLaurin are already being projected as early-round selections, but it seems like the conversation about Dixon is lacking.

So, Lettermen Row is taking a closer look at Dixon, what he brings to the table and why he is being slept on despite being one of the great Ohio State receivers in recent memory.

2020 athlete Cameron Martinez excited by Buckeyes offer, plans on visiting soon

After a year of back-and-forth relationship building affected by coaching changes and school changes, Muskegon (Mich.) 2020 athlete Cameron Martinez was offered by Ohio State on Friday.

Martinez is 5-foot-11 and 175-pounds and has been talking to the Buckeyes for a while now, but that communication started with Kerry Coombs, then turned into Taver Johnson and now he’s hearing from receivers coach Brian Hartline and secondary assistant Matt Barnes.

“I’ve been talking to Matt Barnes quite often,” Martinez said before he learned of the offer. “He’s a really cool dude and a good recruiter. He sent me the spring practice schedule, so I was gonna go in April. But he texted me [last Thursday] saying I needed to get up there ASAP. So, I’m going try to go sooner.”

For more on Martinez and a full recruiting update from the weekend, check out Sunday’s edition of Dotting the ‘Eyes.

Men’s hoops crumbles late in East Lansing

The version of Ohio State that can go head-to-head with the best in the Big Ten was on display for a half.

The one that has the Buckeyes staring at an uncertain Selection Sunday doomed it in the other.

The highs couldn’t be sustained long enough on Sunday at Michigan State and the lows were far too damaging for the Buckeyes, who dropped back-to-back Big Ten games and let an opportunity for a marquee win slip away in a 62-44 loss. The score might be a bit misleading for such a physical, hard-fought game that was competitive for long stretches, but the margin of defeat doesn’t make any difference for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State came up short against Michigan State again, and the NCAA Tournament resumé took another hit during a difficult week for the program. Lettermen Row senior writer Austin Ward broke down what he learned in the latest outing for the Buckeyes with Three Points from the loss.

Is an NCAA Tournament berth still possible for the Buckeyes?

For Ohio State basketball, all is not lost. But any margin of error the Buckeyes had is now gone after a surprising 63-56 loss to Illinois at home on Thursday, and the window may be closing even faster after a 62-44 loss at Michigan State Sunday.

Because of a successful start to the season, Ohio State’s tournament positioning heading into the Illinois game was probably better than some might have imagined. The Buckeyes endured a one-win January, and the recency of those struggles was hard to shake, but an impressive non-conference performance included road wins against Cincinnati and Creighton and a neutral-site victory against UCLA.

After back-to-back conference losses, though, Chris Holtmann and Co. have an even more of an uphill climb to earning an NCAA Tournament berth down the stretch of the season.

Is there a path to the dance for the Buckeyes? Lettermen Row’s Ryan Ginn looked at the remaining games for Ohio State to see what has to happen for the Scarlet and Gray to move back into the tournament picture.

Counting down

• Ohio State hoops vs. Northwestern: 2 days
• Oho State spring game: 54 days

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