BRADENTON, Fla. – It is a rare occurrence when a recruit decommits from a school only to return. IMG Academy cornerback Lejond Cavazos is a rare athlete and it only makes sense for the talented 2020 star to buck the trend.
Other schools hoped to keep Cavazos away from the Ohio State program but the 6-foot-2, 192-pound four-star defensive back always seemed destined to end up with the Buckeyes, regardless of who the head coach was going to be.
"I decommitted because Urban Meyer had left, and I did not know who was going to be my position coach or the head coach or any of that," Cavazos said. "So, I just wanted to reopen my options and see if that is the place that I still wanted to be at, regardless of the coaching staff. I just took my time and reevaluated everyone else, gave them an equal opportunity and I ended up back at Ohio State."
Ryan Day and Jeff Hafley made Cavazos a major priority once the new staff was in place. Cavazos was on the top of the list of players to call, regardless of commitment status and that impressed Lejond and his family.
It was not an overnight thing, but the Buckeyes did what it took to regain the pledge of the talented DB and now he is locked back into his role of class recruiter. He admitted to having several different 'text threads' going on right now and has some targets that he is working on. One of the biggest plays on the opposite side of the ball.
"My main focus right now is Julian Fleming, hopefully we get him," Cavazos said. "I heard he is supposed to be committing sometime soon, I don't know how soon. That is my main focus."
Cavazos has played safety during his high school career but the Buckeyes see him at corner so he is going to play corner this year at IMG Academy.
Even as a safety, there were people who were saying that he was a corner playing safety. Now he will just have to be a corner playing corner.
"It has been really easy to me because corner is not that hard," Cavazos said. "I find it really easy. It is just like technique stuff that I have got to work on, like little baby things."
