Cameron Martinez commits to Ohio State

The commitment train just keeps rolling through Columbus as the Buckeyes have picked up yet another key piece of the puzzle in Muskegon (Mich.) athlete Cameron Martinez. The reigning Michigan Player of the Year committed to the Buckeyes over finalists Minnesota and Northwestern.

"Ohio State has always been kind of a dream for me," Martinez told BuckeyeGrove.com. "I went to their football camps when I was a little kid, so it's just something that grew on me. Of course they have proven to have success every year and they always put guys in the league."

The opportunity to sort of find his way at one of a few different positions is also appealing to Martinez who primarily plays quarterback for his high school team. Ohio State has given him a couple of different options.

"Pretty much everyone was recruiting me at receiver but Ohio State was the one school that said athlete and that I could pick either side of the ball," Martinez explained. "Not a lot of schools have given me the opportunity to play both sides so to be able to go to a place that has so many great athletes and maybe have success on both sides of the ball, that's really big."

Those options seem to be tailor made for Martinez and his skill set, whether it's offense or defense. The need at those positions in the 2020 class made things even more appealing for him.

"The thing about maybe playing defense at Ohio State is that they don't have a guy yet for that bullet position," Martinez explained. "They're putting in a new defense and coach Hafley said that they need some guys to play that bullet position. But also with coach Hartline, the H position is a position that they've had a lot of success with. They have their outside guys and now they're looking for an inside guy. So I just fit the spots that they're looking to fill up. I fit the bill for both of them."

An off-season unofficial visit led to an offer for Martinez. Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley had to quickly get to work after arriving in January from the NFL. That relationship took off in the months that followed.

"Coach Hafley got there and he was only there for like two months so they offered me kind of late," he explained. "Our relationship has just gotten really strong, not just with him but also with coach Hartline and coach Day. But my relationship with coach Hafley got really strong really quick. Throughout this process he was a coach that I built one of the best relationships with. I'm a big relationship guy, it really does start there."

Martinez is commitment No. 18 for Ohio State in the 2020 recruiting class.