They are celebrating at Value City Arena today. That’s because Ohio’s top prep basketball prospect out of Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary, Malaki Branham, has announced his pledge to Ohio State.
At six-foot, four-inches, Branham is rated as the No. 6 shooting guard and 27th overall recruit in the 2021 class according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. And now, he’ll be joining Chris Holtmann and company in Columbus.
Branham, a Columbus native who moved to Akron since high school chose the Buckeyes over Xavier, Louisville, and Alabama. His recruitment waxed and waned, and the coaching staff never really had extreme confidence that he would end up at Ohio State, but persistence and relationship building paid off.
Branham joins two others from Ohio in the 2021 class, Kalen Etzler and Meechie Johson. The trio now combines for the best recruiting class in the Big Ten and second-best in the country.
We’ll have more on what this means for the program later (hint: it’s huge), but for now, it’s time to celebrate.
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