In second recruitment, Ohio State gets another shot at Duke transfer Sean Stewart
This time, no photoshoot will be necessary.
Three years ago, Sean Stewart and his family went through the full-fledged high school recruitment process. A borderline five-star prospect from Windemere, Florida, Stewart took his visits, met with coaches and ultimately committed to play for Duke as part of a four-man class ranked No. 2 nationally by 247Sports.com.
One season later, Stewart has entered the transfer portal in search of a fresh start and with a pretty good idea of what to look for.
“He (essentially) sat for one year,” Michael Stewart, Sean’s father, said. “He cannot sit for two. From a development standpoint, two years on the bench is not going to work. I’m not sure if he was going to sit on the bench or not if he stayed at Duke, but we weren’t going to take that chance so we decided to go and look for an opportunity to play more minutes and have a bigger role.”
In doing so, the family is looking at places where they already have relationships from their first recruitment. That’s where Ohio State, which hosted Stewart on an official visit in 2021, enters the picture.
Sean Stewart has visited Ohio State before. As a high school junior, he took an official visit during the same weekend that the Buckeyes hosted Penn State for a 2021 football game. He was one of three players on official visits that weekend, part of a list that also included fellow 2023 recruits Jahnathan Lamothe and George Washington III. Lamothe ultimately committed to Maryland and Washington to Ohio State before decommitting and signing with Michigan, and future Ohio State center Austin Parks was there on an unofficial visit as well.
That was the fourth of five official visits for Stewart, who took in Stanford, Michigan and Georgetown before visiting the Buckeyes. His final official visit went to the school where he ultimately signed, Duke. The family also took multiple unofficial visits during the process, checking out home-state schools such as Florida and Central Florida.
While he picked the Blue Devils, Michael Stewart said the Buckeyes weren’t far behind.
“I don’t think it’s any secret: when we did this thing the first time, Ohio State was really high on our list,” he said. “They were probably the runner-up. Ultimately we ended up choosing Duke. It didn’t work out how we wanted it to, and that’s why we’re obviously in the portal. We had a great deal of respect for what the guys at Ohio State were trying to do.”
Those types of connections established the last time around will weigh into wherever Stewart decides to play next season.
“If your only options are to build relationships with people that you never met before, it’s very difficult to do that in a week or two,” Michael Stewart said. “We have a great comfort level with all of the schools that we’re dealing with right now. We have a good idea about what we’re looking for. It helps to prioritize relationships and that does help take away the stress level.”
To that end, Michael Stewart said Ohio State is helped by the relationship the family already has with first-year coach Jake Diebler. When the Buckeyes were recruiting Sean Stewart out of high school, they spoke with coach Chris Holtmann but Diebler was their primary contact and recruiter.
“Obviously we spoke with Holtmann and had a relationship with him but it was mostly Diebler,” Michael Stewart said. “This time around it’s all Diebler, but he’s the head coach. His word carries a lot more weight. A lot more responsibility. We respect what he’s trying to get done and we’re going to try to move fast on this thing, but Ohio State is definitely a situation that we like.
“I have a lot of respect for him. We were very happy when he got the job. Obviously he didn’t know that we’d be looking at potentially joining his team, but we were really happy when he got the job. Nobody loves Ohio State more than Jake Diebler. He was the right person for the job. I wish him nothing but success whether we end up coming or not.”
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Sean Stewart finished as a four-star prospect and the No. 22 player in the 2023 class according to 247Sports.com. In 33 games with the Blue Devils, the 6-9, 227-pound forward averaged 2.6 points and 3.2 rebounds while playing 8.3 minutes per game off the bench. He has three years of eligibility remaining.
He’s now the No. 54 transfer prospect in the nation per 247Sports.
Wednesday is Sean Stewart’s final day of school. The plan is to then go on a few visits within the next week and have a decision by the week of May 6, his dad said. Ohio State is working on finalizing a visit.
The Buckeyes have two roster spots available.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State in the mix again for Duke transfer forward Sean Stewart
