J.T. Tuimoloau Completes A Championship-Caliber 2021 Class

Real Pod Wednesdays

It certainly hasn't been a quiet two weeks since our last episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

There was no shortage of Ohio State sports news while Dan was on vacation – headlined, of course, by the long-awaited news of J.T. Tuimoloau committing to Ohio State and becoming the highest-rated defensive player to sign with the Buckeyes in the modern recruiting era.

We discuss why landing Tuimoloau is such a big win for Larry Johnson and the Buckeyes, what role we expect to see him play in Ohio State's defensive end rotation as a freshman and at the 15:40 mark, why anything less than winning at least one national championship would be a failure for Ohio State's recruiting class of 2021, which now holds the highest average composite player rating of any Ohio State recruiting class ever.

Beginning at 22:50, we also talk about the three commitments Ohio State landed for the recruiting class of 2022 over the past 15 days: Terrance Brooks, Kojo Antwi and Dallan Hayden, and why each of them can also be considered big wins for the Buckeyes as they build up a 2022 class that could be as good if not even better than the 2021 class.

Starting at 32:05, Colin talks about his experience in California last week at Elite 11 and The Opening, where he kept a close eye on five Ohio State commits and targets: Quinn Ewers, C.J. Hicks, Kyion Grayes, A.J. Harris and Xavier Nwankpa. We discuss what we learned about Ewers last week – and why he's not a finished product yet – as well as why Harris could be an ideal first commitment for the 2023 class, why Grayes should continue to move up the rankings and how Hicks looked the part of a five-star linebacker.

In less positive news, we also talk about Brenan Vernon's commitment to Notre Dame (beginning at 46:25), why that makes Sonny Styles the most important recruit in any class for Ohio State right now and whether there's any reason to be concerned that the Buckeyes don't have any commitments for the 2023 class yet.

Finally (53:07), we talk about Duane Washington Jr.'s decision to stay in the NBA draft, E.J. Liddell's decision to stay in school for another year and how both of those decisions could impact Ohio State men's basketball entering the 2021-22 season.