Ohio State added to their 2018 recruiting class on Saturday, thanks to the surprise commitments of two talented in-state prospects in Darius Bazley and Justin Ahrens.
Bazley, a 6’8 forward out of Cincinnati Princeton, and Ahrens, a 6’5 wing from Versailles, both ended their recruitments in Buckeyes head coach Thad Matta’s office, as the attached photo hit Twitter and quickly went viral shortly after 1:00 PM.
The pair, who had both been quoted by various recruiting sites in the past as saying they’d like to play college ball together, will join fellow in-state prospect Dane Goodwin (Upper Arlington) as 2018 Buckeye commits, giving Coach Matta a talented trio of skilled wing guards and wing forwards to build his team around.
Currently ranked by this site as the top 2018 prospect in Ohio, and a consensus top-50 prospect nationally, Bazley is an early steal for the Buckeyes staff, as they were able to hold off schools like Florida, Cincinnati, Xavier and Michigan to get a commit from the lanky 6’8 forward. With a wing oriented game and exceptional skill for his size, Bazley’s talent is obvious, as he will have a chance to be an immediate impact player at OSU should he continue to put all the pieces of his game together.
Ahrens, while ranked as a top ten prospect in the state by this site (and we admit that he’s probably a little lower on the list then he should be), had not received a ton of high-major interest until the Buckeyes offered him on an unofficial visit last week. The 6’5 shooter with a smooth all-around game wasted little time in weighing his options, as one week later he committed to stay in-state for college. Coincidentally, Ahrens commitment is to one of the arch rivals of his brother, 2015 Versailles graduate Kyle Ahrens, who is just beginning his sophomore year at Michigan State; setting up some potential family bragging rights games in Kyle’s senior year.
The trio now gives Ohio State their first three-man in-state recruiting class since 2010, and that list could only continue to grow, as the Buckeyes also have offers out to Cleveland Holy Name guard Dwayne Cohill as well as Pickerington North forward Jerome Hunter.
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