Buckeyes show family atmosphere to Paris Johnson

The transition of the Ohio State football program from being led by Urban Meyer to now being led by Ryan Day has gone about as smoothly as one could have expected when Meyer stepped down in December. The recruiting momentum has seen a huge uptick recently with the Buckeyes coming off a huge weekend that saw 16 official visitors on campus.

One of the biggest visitors over the weekend was already committed in five-star offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. Johnson committed to Urban Meyer last summer but spent the winter and spring months making several visits (including many to Ohio State) as he tried to navigate his way through the transition and make sure that Ohio State was still the right place for him.

After a weekend spent interacting with coaches, current players, and fellow members of the 2020 Ohio State recruiting class, Johnson and his family still feel very good about the commitment to the Buckeyes.

"Paris is definitely still committed," said Monica Johnson, mother of the Cincinnati Princeton standout. "We've told everybody that even on his other official visits, he is still committed to Ohio State. That has not changed."

"It was really a family atmosphere (on the visit), it was incredible," she continued. "Everyone interacted and it was great to see kids that are four and five-star athletes that are also very intelligent and high character."

Johnson has become close with several members of the 2020 class and getting a chance to reconnect with them as well as build on some relationships with guys he hasn't seen in person very often, were highlights of the visit for the big tackle..

"For him, he enjoyed spending time with Julian Fleming and he always enjoys spending time with Lejond (Cavazos)," Monica explained. "He had an opportunity to spend some time with Jaxon (Smith-Njigba) and Clark Phillips, the young man that just committed. He just really just enjoyed interacting with all of those guys and he liked his time with the current players as well. He spent a lot of time with Chase Young and B.B. Landers."

Johnson was also able to get plenty of time in with a few of the coaches.

"Paris also got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with coach Day and coach Stud," she recalled. "I know he really liked that and I actually got to spend some time with coach Day and his beautiful wife Nina and I loved that. It was just very natural, it was very good."

The biggest thing for Johnson and his family over the past six months is just wanting to get a better feel for Ryan Day and what he is all about. They had that type of relationship with Urban Meyer and building that type of relationship with Day has been a huge focal point. That part of the process is going extremely well right now.

"I've seen several great things out of coach Day," she started. "But the number one thing that has stood out to me is that he loves his family. That is realized with his actions and with some of the pictures he has displayed throughout the Woody. There are pictures of his family, pictures of current football players and their families throughout the Woody, so it's not just all about the iconic legendary football coaches and players that have paved the way. It's great to see a picture of a current player who is maybe a sophomore and who maybe doesn't start yet or anything. To see a picture of him with his mom and dad (in the facility), I've never seen anything like that before."

Johnson is set to take part in The Opening in Frisco (Texas) this weekend.