Is There Merit To Ohio State's Chances With Georgia D-End?

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. – Our annual Southern Swing rolls into day two and into Atlanta, a hotbed for college football recruiting and the Buckeyes have grabbed their fair share of top players from the area.

Woodward Academy is home to a lot of that talent and London Merritt is one of the next in line as a class of 2025 ‘edge’ player as a rush end. The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder is well-known as a four-star recruit and the Buckeyes already have made the offer to try and lure him north.

Merritt has had a chance to check out the Buckeyes and that won’t be his last visit to Columbus to see what is going on at The Horseshoe.

“I loved it (at Ohio State),” Merritt said. “We went to the field, the stadium is huge, it was really windy too. We went to practice, and I watched the D-line go to work. After practice (we) watched my film, it wasn’t my highlights but my actual game film, so he told me the good things and the bad things in the game.”

There has been a lot of talk about the “Jack” position at Ohio State since the Buckeyes made the move to Jim Knowles’ system and Merritt is a player that could fill that role and that is what the Buckeyes have been talking about.

“Probably going to be playing that hybrid,” Merritt said. “That d-end, outside linebacker… probably more on the edge, rushing a lot more on 3^rd and 4^th down.”

Ohio State’s reach has really grown in recruiting through the years and Merritt admits that he has watched Ohio State for a good part of his life, even if he has lived hundreds of miles away.

“I always liked Ohio State growing up,” Merritt said. “One of my dad’s co-workers son is Justin Fields, so she has been telling us some good things about Ohio State. Ever since then, we had to go check them out.”

Find out more details on this 2025 four-star lineman and why the Buckeyes have a really strong chance to close the deal when all is said and done in this exclusive video interview from our Southern Swing coverage.

Be sure to keep it locked in here as more coverage will be coming for you every day as we make our way south.