Omari Abor commits to Ohio State

COLUMBUS – Omari Abor has committed to Ohio State.

Abor is a 6-foot-4, 240-pound four-star prospect out of Duncanville (Texas) High School. Ranked as the No. 68 overall player in America and the No. 6 EDGE prospect in the country, Abor gives Buckeyes defensive line coach Larry Johnson another star recruit to mold. Abor’s relationship with Johnson was at the heart of his decision.

“The main reason [I picked Ohio State] is Larry Johnson. Just the way he coaches his players, I just really feel like it [will] be a great experience,” Abor told On3’s Joseph Hastings. “[We’re] close. Real close. He called me after every game, like, ‘Yo, you messed up on this. You messed up on that.’

“He was picking out the little details, and I’m just looking at them like, ‘Wow, this dude really changes how I play the game of football.’“

He also gives them a recruiting win over Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Alabama, as each was a school that Abor had been strongly considering before ultimately picking Ohio State.

Abor was a five-star prospect throughout much of his recruitment before slightly dipping to just below that status later in the cycle. But Texas’ No. 14-ranked prospect gives Ohio State another win in the Longhorn State for a highly rated defensive player.

It’s become a battle recruiting in Texas. But Abor joins five-stars Quinn Ewers and Donovan Jackson (2021) and five-star Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Ryan Watts (2020) as recent recruiting wins in Texas during Ryan Day’s tenure as head coach – though the Buckeyes lost Ewers and Watts via transfer to Texas.

Ohio State seemed to be on the outside looking in for Omari Abor throughout the summer and fall of 2021. But getting Abor back on campus for a second visit in October for the Penn State game helped bookend a foundation that was laid during his official visit to Columbus on June 4-6.

That weekend was a huge boon for the Buckeyes in the recruitment of a handful of players, and Abor is the latest. He joins Indiana’s Caden Curry and Florida’s Kenyatta Jackson Jr. in a defensive line class that was in need of numbers and star power. With Curry, Abor and Jackson, the Buckeyes have gotten both of those things.

The Buckeyes have not sealed up one of their priority defensive line targets and one of the key pieces in their 2022 recruiting class, however. Abor has committed, but the race to sign him during the Feb. 2 signing day is still on. Ohio State just has a lead heading down the stretch.

“I’m not signing until February,” Abor said. “So my options are still gonna be open. I’m just gonna be [committed] to one school for right now.”