Booker is the second St. V-M junior to give Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer a commitment recently, following junior running back Parris Campbell Jr.

“It is a great opportunity,” Booker said. “I am excited to get the chance to play with Parris in college. It feels great to make the decision and I look forward to playing my senior year of high school.”

Booker, 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, and Campbell helped St. V-M win the Division III state football championship in 2012, and both played on the Fighting Irish boys basketball team that was the Division II state runner-up in 2013.

Booker, 17, said he also “seriously looked at Notre Dame” and received approximately 14 scholarship offers from Division I colleges.

“Obviously, you are talking about a great university in Ohio State,” St. V-M coach Dan Boarman said. “It is a great place to go to school and a great place to play football. I think it comes down to there wasn’t a bad choice for Dante. He had several options, and they were all good options.”

Booker is ranked the eighth-best outside linebacker in the country, and he is ranked third in the state of Ohio.

He had 157 tackles, 11 sacks and three fumble recoveries as a sophomore. He made 81 tackles and had nine sacks, dealing with injuries last season.

Booker said the Buckeyes recruited him to play outside linebacker. He is the ninth OSU recruit for the class of 2014. He and Campbell join guard Marcelys Jones, offensive tackle Kyle Trout, cornerback Damon Webb, linebacker Kyle Berger, athlete Sam Hubbard, defensive end Dylan Thompson and wide receiver Lonnie Johnson.

Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the high school blog at http://www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MBeavenABJ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.

“My mom means a lot to me, today was Mother’s Day, so I decided to give her this gift,” Johnson, of Gary (West Side), Ind., told the Columbus Dispatch. “And she said ‘Thank you,’ and gave me a big hug. It was great.”

Bucknuts veteran recruiting analyst Bill Kurelic said the 6-foot-3, 190 pound Johnson could play on either side of the ball.

“He’s got outstanding athletic ability,” Kurelic said. “On top of that, OSU is looking for a couple of big safeties for this class, and he is outstanding on that side of the ball as well.”

The previous seven recruits are Marcelys Jones, guard; Parris Campbell (St. Vincent-St. Mary), wide reciever; Kyle Trout, offensive tackle; Damon Webb, cornerback; Kyle Berger, linebacker; Sam Hubbard, athlete; Dylan Thompson, defensive end.

Buckeyes’ 2014 schedule

The Big Ten released its football schedule for 2014 on Thursday. Ohio State will play host to Kent State and Michigan. It also will be the first season that Rutgers and Maryland are in the Big Ten.

As part of the new alignment, the Buckeyes, who will be in the East Division, will not play Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Purdue and Northwestern.

Here is the 2014 OSU schedule: Aug. 30, vs. Navy (at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium); Sept. 13, Kent State; Sept. 20, Virginia Tech; Sept. 27, Cincinnati; Oct. 4, at Maryland; Oct. 18, Rutgers; Oct. 25, at Penn State; Nov. 1, Illinois; Nov. 8, at Michigan State; Nov. 15, at Minnesota; Nov. 22, Indiana; Nov. 29, Michigan.

Golf

Junior Corey Conners shot a 5-under-par 67 to lead Kent State to a fourth-place finish after the first round of the NCAA Fayetteville Regional at the University of Arkansas’ Blessings Golf Course on Thursday.

The No. 22-ranked Golden Flashes shot an even-par 288 as a team, the fourth-lowest NCAA Regional opening round score in school history.

Conners is currently tied for second and junior Taylor Pendrith is tied for ninth after shooting a 1-under-par 71. Senior Kevin Miller and junior Kyle Kmiecik are tied for 39th and Sophomore Nick Scott is tied for 58th.

• University of Akron junior Charlie Bull is tied for 46th place after the first round of the NCAA Columbus Regional on Thursday at the Scarlet Course in Columbus. Bull shot a 5-over-par 76 and had six bogeys and one birdie in the round. The second round begins today at 8 a.m. with Bull teeing off at 10:10 a.m.