COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thayer Munford remembers the first time he ever saw Dawand Jones.

The 6-foot-8, 360-pound high school senior took his official visit with Ohio State in spring 2019, when the then- redshirt sophomore tackle initially thought Jones was someone working with the football program.

“He’s huge. Have you seen him? God,” Munford said, remembering his first impressions of the lineman that now lines up right next to him.

With that size, Munford saw potential in Jones right away. It wasn’t hard to. It was potential that 22 other college programs saw in the Indianapolis native too, gaining interest from Michigan, Indiana and Penn State to Texas, USC and Florida.

But Jones’ heart was elsewhere, somewhere a 6-foot-8, 360-pound person doesn’t usually find a home: a basketball gym.

Jones was a project.

“Obviously, we took a chance there,” Ohio State offensive line coach Greg Studrawa said. “He loved basketball so much. But when you see a kid that’s that big… running up and down the floor, dunking a basketball, leading the fastbreak, doing the things that he did athletically, your mind says, ‘That’s a big-time tackle.’”

For what Ohio State head coach Ryan Day described as “a skill player in a big man’s body,” all Jones wanted was a chance to be a Buckeye.

He wanted to buy in. He wanted to change the trajectory of where he thought his athletic career was taking him.

He wanted to find a new love.

“I’ve seen a bunch of guys go to the NFL,” Jones said. “I was like, ‘I know I could do that.’ I always used to say I was going to the NBA and then just seeing people go do it and be the same height, weight as me, just seeing other people do it, it just motivates me every day. Just knowing I can change my mom’s, my whole family’s life every day, it’s just motivation.

“I just tell myself every day, ‘Go and be a millionaire. You can’t expect to be nothing else.’”

In high school, Jones wanted to be like Mekhi Becton.

The 6-foot-7, 363-pound tackle played three seasons at Louisville who turned into the No. 11 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft by the New York Jets.

In Becton, Jones saw an offensive tackle who was built like him, watching him play for the Cardinals in his junior and senior years at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. In Bection, Jones found someone he felt he could emulate.

“I seen how hard he goes and stuff like that,” Jones said. “His workout videos, I seen him at practice, how hard he goes, seeing he’s a big guy just like myself and I feel like I can do that.”

When Jones got to Ohio State, those examples continued to be there.

He watched players like Joshua Alabi: a converted three-star defensive end turned guard out of Detroit; Josh Myers: a four-star guard, who moved to center in his final year with the Buckeyes in 2020; Jonah Jackson: a two-star guard, choosing Rutgers — one of two programs to offer him out of high school — for four years before transferring to Ohio State for his final season; and Munford: a three-star tackle like him, who held offers from Penn State, Alabama and Auburn and turned into an All-Big Ten tackle for Ohio State.

“Thayer is just consistent,” Jones said. “He talks about that with me all the time, man. He stays consistent with his sets. He’s been here the longest. He’s listened to Coach Stud, he’s done everything the coaches have asked of him. He’s that guy to me now.”

Munford can’t seem to shake Jones and what he can physically do, watching a 360-pound person move the way he does.

“It’s kind of scary,” Munford said.

However, Jones still had to buy in.

It was something that took time. Studrawa said it wasn’t something he saw in the tackle until the spring, seeing that he wanted to improve, spending extra time in the summer working himself into that starting rotation at left tackle.

Munford saw a player who wanted to get better, who asked questions about where he was supposed to be and why, watching him mature over the course of his three seasons with Ohio State.

Day saw a player that had to adjust to the motivations of basketball as opposed to the motivations of football.

“When you play basketball, you go out there and shoot, you shoot layups, you go up and down, you are always playing,” Day said. “In football, especially at offensive lineman, there’s no ball. There’s not a lot of games.

“That adjustment is something he has worked through and he’s come off the back end of it. If he continues to embrace that grind, his ceiling’s very, very high.”

When Jones returns to his home state Saturday, he’s coming as a full-fledged offensive tackle.

Sure, basketball comes into play, using his feet as he would in the paint to beat a defensive end on the edge, cutting them off and forcing them back in the middle.

But Jones has found a home on the end of Ohio State’s offensive line.

Jones holds a 90.0 run block rating by Pro Football Focus: the second-highest by a Power 5 tackle behind NC State’s Ikem Ekwonu. Jones has a 76.1 pass blocking grade, the highest of his career.

Jones is still a work in progress, a project. But it seems to be working out.

“I don’t feel like I’m anywhere honestly,” Jones said. “I think I can do more… way more above where I’m at right now.”

The same week Jones returns to his home state to show off his progress, Ohio State secured another project for its future.

2022 two-star offensive tackle Avery Henry held five offers and was previously committed to Iowa State before a visit to Ohio State changed his mind.

Henry saw an opportunity he could not pass up. He wanted to be a part of a team that would push him to that next level.

“I chose Ohio State because I knew it was going to push me harder then ever,” Henry said. “And even better it’s close. My expectations are high. I expect to work my way up by my sophomore year.”

Like Jones did with Munford, it looks like Henry’s following Jones’ path.

This is the approach Day’s taking in recruiting: bringing in players who want to play at Ohio State, even if it may take some work to develop.

““There are certain situations where you see traits and can we develop them,” Day said. “If we take too many projections, you can put yourself in a bad spot, but that’s certainly an example of taking guys who have tremendous traits who want to be at Ohio State, want to be a Buckeye and want to put the work in.

“Dawand’s an example of that.”