Cincinnati Football Recruiting: Top 2013 in-State Recruits Who Can't Slip Away

While the Cincinnati Bearcats have a long way to go to get to the level of Ohio State, when it comes to recruiting on a national level, they have made progress in recent years. 

The Buckeyes still tend to dominate the state when it comes to recruiting and have showed early signs of doing the same in 2013. There are however still some recruits who the Bearcats have a chance to get and maybe steal from Ohio State.

The state of Ohio never fails to produce top notch talent every year and 2013 will be no different.

If Cincinnati plans on contending for BCS Bowl Games over the next few years, they will need to start to get some of the best talent in the state.

Here are a few recruits in Ohio that Cincinnati cannot let slip away for 2013. 

Dual-threat quarterback Malik Zaire is one of the highest rated recruits on the Bearcats list and he plays his high school ball less than 60 miles away in Kettering, near Dayton.

Zaire is rated the No. 136 overall recruit according to Rivals.com. That ranking could go up or down drastically depending on the season Zaire has in 2012, but he has all the talent to be a stud at the next level.

He has a lot of offers from a number of schools including Notre Dame and Ohio State, but living so close to Cincinnati could give the Bearcats a slight advantage over the other schools.

One thing is certain, Cincinnati needs this 4-star recruit more than those other two schools and can't let him slip away. 

While it is too early to tell as of right now, Jacob Matuska has the size and talent to be one of the top rated tight ends in next year's recruiting class.

He is rated a top 250 recruit according to Prepforce.com.

Matuska has the size to be a force for the Bearcats. At 6'5" and 240 pounds, he already has college tight end size.

He attends Bishop Hartley in Columbus and may not be on the Ohio State radar too much as of right now.

This is a prime chance for Cincinnati to grab him.

According to Rivals.com he already has offers from Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and NC State among others.

Ohio State is not on that list yet, and Cincinnati needs to get a solid verbal from Matuska as soon as possible. 

Robert Wheelwright is one of the best receivers in the state of Ohio and likely has a mailbox full with all the scholarship offers he has received.

He is from Walnut Ridge High School in Columbus and according to Rivals.com already has multiple offers.

It is uncertain where Wheelwright will be ranked nationally when the rankings come out in a few months, but he has the size and talent to play right away at Cincinnati.

He stands 6'2" and weighs 170 pounds.

He has offers from Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin and West Virginia among others.

The Bearcats are yet to offer him a scholarship and need to do so before Ohio State does.

Cincinnati has gotten some talented receivers over the past few seasons and Wheelwright would fit right into the Butch Jones system.