George Washington III lost track of the count.
The first commit in the Buckeyes’ 2023 recruiting class couldn’t even place a number on how many phone calls from Ohio State coaches Chris Holtmann and Ryan Pedon started as quick chats about hoops before turning into hour-plus-long dialogues about a wide assortment of topics.
Washington eventually fell in love with the Columbus campus and began to see a reflection of himself in the type of players Holtmann and company recruit to the program. But first, the connection that reeled him in was built while discussing his youth group, fielding questions about his younger brothers and parsing through points of common ground with the two men that will soon coach him at the next level.