Once an Ohio State verbal commitment to play basketball for Thad Matta and Ohio State, Versailles Ohio standout Justin Ahrens has the Buckeyes in his top 6 for consideration. In fact, Ahrens was on campus this week visiting with new head coach Chris Holtmann.

De-Commitment

Small Forward Justin Ahrens had been a commitment to the Ohio State University for almost a year before news broke that Thad Matta was being let go. His teammate Darius Bazley was also set to join Matta in 2018 and become a part of the rebuilding that needed to be done. Bazley actually jumped ship earlier as the Buckeyes struggled in Big 10 play and did not make the post-season last year. But Ahrens waited until the coaching change to start looking around. Now he has a new scholarship offer from former Butler coach Chris Holtmann and is considering OSU in a recent top 6 that he provided to reporters. Holtmann has jumped on the recruiting trail and been able to bring in some good talent, ranking the current class atop the Big Ten.

Summer Travel Basketball

Ahrens had a great summer playing travel basketball for C2K Elite, averaging 13.4 points per game, almost 4 rebounds and making 35 three pointers over 13 games. The coaches and assistants from Ohio State have followed Ahrens around the country to different tournaments this past month showing him some serious support.

New Schools

Ahrens is looking at Ohio State, Michigan, Dayton, Purdue, Xavier and Vanderbilt. He visited Michigan over the weekend and is set for an official visit to Ann Arbor September 9th. Some view Michigan as the leader for his commitment. He plans on setting up visits to other schools also prior to making a decision during the November signing period. He wants to focus on his High School team and make his college decision before their season begins.

Columbus Visit

This Tuesday he came away from a visit to the OSU campus pretty impressed. He spent most of the time talking to the coaches and touring the Schottenstein Center. He also ran into Evan Turner at the end of a workout when Turner told him how much he likes the new staff and how helpful going to Ohio State can be. He has an official visit schedule over the September 23rd weekend. The Buckeyes currently have one commitment for the 2018 class, shooting guard Torrence Watson from St Louis Whitfield.

Ahrens, a 3 star prospect, is the 164 best player in the country, 7th best in Ohio and 43rd best small forward nationwide.