The biggest Fourth of July boom for Ohio State came hours before the evening’s fireworks.
The Buckeyes have won the long recruiting battle for defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau, ranked as the top player in the 2021 recruiting class by 247Sports.com.
Tuimoloau, from Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish, Washington, picked Ohio State over Oregon, Washington and Southern California.
He made the announcement Sunday afternoon on CBS Sports HQ.
Tuimoloau also had been considering Alabama, but he canceled his planned official visit to Tuscaloosa last weekend and eliminated the Crimson Tide from consideration.
Though the 6-4½, 277-pound Tuimoloau is ranked the No. 1 prospect nationally in 247Sports.com’s rankings, he is No. 3 in its composite rankings.
“He’s such a special player that it’s almost like you feel like the platitudes are too much,” said 247Sports’ Brandon Huffman, the analyst to whom Tuimoloau spoke almost exclusively during his recruitment. “But then he goes out and backs it up as a player.”
Tuimoloau’s recruitment wasthe last major battle of the 2021 cycle. It extended months beyond any other top prospect’s. He intended to take all of his official visits, and that intention didn’t change when the pandemic hit and the NCAA banned recruiting travel. Tuimoloau’s status provided enough leverage to cause programs to have the patience to adhere to his timetable.
When the NCAA lifted its ban on official visits in June, Tuimoloau hit the road. He came to Columbus on June 18, where he was greeted at the airport by Ohio State coaches wearing Polynesian-themed shirts.
“It just felt like home,” Tuimoloau said. “The players, it felt like a brotherhood.”
The addition of Tuimoloau strengthens an Ohio State recruiting class that trailed only Alabama for highest-ranked in the country. Tuimoloau joins defensive end Jack Sawyer, who’s ranked as the No. 4 overall prospect in the 247Sports composite rankings.
This is the first time since 2012 that Ohio State has added two five-star defensive linemen in the same class. Nine years ago, the Buckeyes signed Noah Spence (No. 5 overall) and Adolphus Washington (No. 19).
Two years later, then-Ohio State coach Urban Meyer hired longtime Penn State defensive line coach Larry Johnson, and the success Johnson had in State College recruiting and developing linemen has continued in Columbus. Johnson was considered the key to Tuimoloau’s recruitment.
“He was really the only assistant coach that he consistently said he is a huge reason for me picking that school or looking at that school,” Huffman said.
Now that he’s a Buckeye, Tuimoloau will try to make up for lost time. Sawyer and most of Ohio State’s 2021 class enrolled in January. The others arrived about a month ago and have participated in summer workouts.
This article originally appeared on Buckeye Xtra: J.T. Tuimoloau: Ohio State lands DE, top prospect of class of 2021