Ohio State officially joins the hunt for Northwest 2019 DE Marcus Hicks

Add Ohio State to the list of suitors for the services of Northwest junior Marcus Hicks, one of the top defensive end recruits in the country for the Class of 2019.

Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson called on Wednesday to make the scholarship offer official to Hicks, who camped with the Buckeyes this past summer. Ohio State is the 11th Division I program to offer Hicks, who now holds offers from four current top-25 teams in Oklahoma, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma State.

“If you’re talking about climbing the mountain of recruiting, this is pretty much the top of the mountain when you get to Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame,” said Kelvin Hicks, Marcus’ father. “This is all very humbling that they think so highly of Marcus.”

Johnson told the Hicks family he would be watching week-to-week this season to review the progression of Marcus, who helped lead Northwest to a 10-2 season and a trip to the Class 6A semifinals behind 10 sackes, 59 tackles, and 18.5 tackles for loss.

On Wednesday, Johnson called to say how impressed he was with Marcus’ improvement.

“He’s been evaluating all of his film and he said he liked how he’s a hard worker,” Kelvin Hicks said. “The thing he liked the best was that he doesn’t see any bad habits in Marcus’ game. He said he likes bringing in kids like Marcus and he’s everything they want in a defensive end.”

The Hicks father-and-son duo have been impressed by Johnson’s role in Ohio State’s recruitment.

“Marcus loves the facilities and the tradition they have and how they develop lineman, but coach Johnson really stands out,” Kelvin Hicks said. “He’s a man of men. He carries himself very professional and stands out differently than a lot of the other coaches. I know Marcus was blown away by the offer.”

Marcus Hicks has said previously that he does not plan on committing to a college until sometime in his senior year.

This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Ohio State officially joins the hunt for Northwest 2019 DE Marcus Hicks."