We couldn’t have picked a better week for Garrick Hodge to co-host Real Pod Wednesdays.

With regular co-host Griffin Strom vacationing in Costa Rica, Eleven Warriors recruiting writer Garrick Hodge took his place on this week’s episode of RPW, and the timing worked out perfectly as it gave us the opportunity to talk about Ohio State’s biggest commitment of the year to date.

Of course, we’re talking about Dylan Raiola – ranked by multiple recruiting services as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2024 class – who became the first member of Ohio State’s 2024 class when he committed to the Buckeyes on Monday night. We start this week’s show by talking about what makes him such a special prospect and how his commitment sets Ohio State up for continued quarterback greatness for years to come.

While Raiola was Ohio State’s No. 1 target in any recruiting class, the Buckeyes’ priorities now shift back to the recruiting class of 2023, where Ohio State also landed another commitment last week from Austin Siereveld. With 10 commitments in a class that’s ranked fourth nationally so far, we discuss what needs to happen over the next seven months to turn Ohio State’s 2023 class from a good class into a great class. Garrick calls his shot (beginning at 27:22) on the five uncommitted prospects he’s most confident will eventually become Buckeyes, and Dan makes predictions on three more recruits – including two top-11 overall prospects in the 2023 class – he thinks will end up wearing scarlet and gray.

The other big news of the week was the NCAA releasing new NIL guidelines on Monday, and the guys consider – with a healthy amount of skepticism – whether the NCAA will actually be able to enforce those guidelines (that discussion begins at 34:22). Garrick also reveals that he rarely hears about NIL when he talks to recruits about Ohio State, and he explains why he thinks that might be.

We also discuss the impact of Marcus Crowley and Mitchell Melton’s injuries (50:12), project what next season will look like for Ohio State men’s basketball after the Buckeyes filled out their scholarship roster for 2022-23 with the transfer of former Oklahoma State guard Isaac Likekele (59:08), and we close out the show with some admittedly unconventional answers to a question about our favorite vacation spots.