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Recruiting Report: Dailyn Swain, Devin Royal and Arness Lawson

By Chintoo Deora, 04/20/22, 11:00AM EDT

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An update on the recruitment for three of Central Ohio's best

COLUMBUS, Ohio --While at the All Ohio Nike Cup this past weekend, I got a chance to talk to some of the top players in the area and get an update on the recruitment. 

Dailyn Swain (6'8 shooting guard / Africentric / 2023)

Swain is another highly rated junior in the Columbus area who dominated the Division III level this past season and led Africentric to a state final four appearance. The four-star holds 11 offers with four of these coming from the Power Five level. He has visited Virginia Tech, Marquette, and Xavier. Swain said that he loved “the intensity the coaches brought” and the “chemistry they had with the players.” He led all players with 3.5 steals per game over the first EYBL session. This type of defensive ability will only help Swain earn more and more offers this summer. Scouts say that Swain has an NBA-type body and game that will make him a hot commodity for college coaches.

Devin Royal (6'6 dual forward / Pickerington Central / 2023)

Royal garnered plenty of attention this past season after leading Pickerington Central to a Division I state title. The three-star junior has totaled 21 Division I offers with eight of those coming from Power Five schools. He has taken visits to Penn State, Xavier, Ohio State, Marquette, Iowa State, West Virginia, and Illinois. He said that he “loved the community and chemistry” of all the schools he visited. He has also gained a lot of attention after Session 1 of the EYBL season kicked off in Orlando, FL. Royal averaged 16.8 points per game during the weekend in Florida which impressed a lot of coaches. The number of offers for Royal can only grow with four more EYBL sessions to go this summer. Ohio State has made Royal their top priority, with Chris Holtmann visited the rising senior immediately after the last live period began, while the rest of the staff joined Holtmann for an in house visit on Wednesday. Marquette and Xavier each made in-home visits with Royal on Tuesday night as well.

Arness Lawson (6'2 hybrid guard / Pickerington North / 2025)

Lawson is regarded by some as one of the best freshmen in the Columbus area, if not the best. In December, head coach Jeff Boals and Ohio University were the first to offer Lawson. He tells me that he has since been in contact with Cincinnati, Texas Tech and Ohio State. Lawson said that he “really loved the atmosphere of Ohio State” while taking a visit there about a month ago. He is playing his first season of high level AAU and could gain interest of a ton of schools this summer. I also got a chance to catch up with Lawson’s high school coach, Jason Bates who has been coaching the freshman in AAU since 3rd grade. Coach Bates was impressed with how ready he was to play varsity basketball and how well he shared the court. Lawson played along side three really good senior guards but was still able to be productive and stand out. He is the future of Pickerington North’s program and will be the guy for the Panthers next season and beyond. 

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