Top overall safety recruit visiting Ohio State again, but new SEC college football program now firmly in mix

Ohio State the Clear Top Choice

McNutt's visit to Ohio State will be his fifth in the last year and his second time to Columbus in the last three months alone. The Ohio native who plays his high school football just a short two-hour drive from The Horseshoe has, without having to say it, been clearly leaning towards the Buckeyes for quite some time.

His father Richard won the 2002 national championship at Ohio State playing defensive back for the Buckeyes and has spent a significant portion of his college coaching career at various stops around the state of Ohio.

All arrows point towards the Buckeyes for McNutt. Or do they?

Sneaky Schools Still in the Mix

Lincoln Riley did just fly 2000 miles across the country to visit McNutt at his home last month. McNutt has also had multiple visits with Tennessee, Penn State, and Notre Dame since last summer. There are certainly still several programs who have long-standing relationships with McNutt who are very much in the mix.

Tennessee will likely make a big push for him as it looks like safety will be a significant need there after next season. Notre Dame really only has Xavier Watts to go with a bevy of inexperienced safeties in their defensive back room. And Penn State is the closest geographical power conference team to McNutt, so they won't give up on a northeastern Ohio fringe five star easily.

SEC Wild Card Who Could Steal McNutt

Given McNutt's long track record of interest in all of the above schools it was rather surprising when news broke that he would be visiting Texas A&M this Saturday. It does make some sense though.

The new leader of Texas A&M, Mike Elko, is a defensive head coach who has specialized working with safeties since 2014 (Wake Forest, Texas A&M, and as Duke's head coach). Texas A&M may be able to offer the heaviest NIL bag, guaranteed early playing time, and a proven head coach who loves to invest in McNutt's position specifically.

Texas A&M might just now be getting their first visit from McNutt, but don't be surprised if they end up being the ones to get him to commit here soon, despite all the Ohio State ties.