While most of college football has been put on hold, recruiting marches on. The class of 2021 has seen a wave of commitments since the start of April, and the team rankings have adjusted to reflect growing classes. We are taking a snapshot of each class in their order of the Rivals Team Rankings, and start at No. 1 with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Current rank: No. 1
Number of commits: 17
Top commits: Five-star DE Jack Sawyer (No. 8 overall), four-star QB Kyle McCord (No. 24), four-star CB Jakailin Johnson (No. 33)
Top targets: Five-star DE J.T. Tuimoloau (No. 4), five-star WR Emeka Egbuka (No. 11), five-star CB Tony Grimes (No. 13)
LOCAL REACTION
“There is no reason to expect this class to fade based on its current trajectory. Ohio State is already sitting with a commanding lead in the team rankings race, and when you look at many of the realistic targets that are still on the board, nobody in the Big Ten will be able to catch the Buckeyes. Ohio State will be right in the thick of things to not only win the first team recruiting title for a Northern school, but also have a shot at setting the all-time points mark. Ohio State could get there with a West Coast sweep that includes Tuimoloau, Egbuka and Jaylin Davies but also need guys like Tywone Malone, Hudson Wolfe and JC Latham.” – Kevin Noon, BuckeyeGrove.com
NATIONAL REACTION
After getting out to such a fast start in this 2021 class, which started over a year ago with the commitment of Sawyer, Ohio State was able to adjust more effectively to the COVID-19 recruiting shutdown and has landed seven more commitments since mid-March. If Ohio State was to stop right now, their current point total would have been good for the seventh best class in the 2020 team recruiting rankings.
However, there are still many top targets, including several five-stars, Ohio State is in contention to land in this 2021 class, and it will take an extraordinary performance from other schools to catch the Buckeyes for this No. 1 spot. – Josh Helmholdt, Midwest recruiting analyst
