Ohio State basketball: Another in-state 4-star commits to be a Buckeye

Chris Holtmann is at it again.

The third-year coach of the Ohio State men’s basketball team secured a second in-state four-star recruit for the class of 2021 with the verbal commitment of Meechie Johnson on Tuesday night.

A 5-foot-11 point guard from Garfield Heights, Johnson is the No. 3 player in Ohio per 247Sports Composite rankings.

He is the second player to commit from the high school class about to become juniors, joining Kalen Etzler of Convoy Crestview.

Etzler, a 6-8 power forward who committed in May, is the No. 7 prospect in the state in his class.

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Holtmann signed the No. 14 class in the country last November and the No. 27 class in 2018.

Ohio State’s 2019 class was No. 1 in the Big Ten while his first ranked No. 6 in the conference.

He began his Ohio State coaching tenure by bringing four-star forward Kyle Young of Massillon Jackson with him from Butler and signing three-star guard Musa Jallow of Bloomington (Ind.) North.

They joined Kaleb Wesson, a four-star center from Westerville South who signed while Thad Matta was still the coach of the Buckeyes.

In 2018, Holtmann signed Luther Muhammad, a four-star guard from Jersey City (N.J.) Hudson Catholic, four-star power forward Jaedon LeDee of Houston (Texas) The Kinkaid School, three-star guard Duane Washington of Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon and three-star small forward Justin Ahrens of Versailles. (Lee has since transferred to TCU.)

The incoming class includes three four-stars in point guard DJ Carton of Bettendorf, Iowa, and forwards EJ Liddell of Belleville (Ill.) West and Alonzo Gaffney of Wolfeboro (N.H.) Brewster Academy along with three-star center Ibrahima Diallo of Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep.

Gaffney is a Northeast Ohio native who previously played at Garfield Heights with Johnson.

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