Going in-depth with Jager Burton
We had the opportunity to sit down with one of Ohio State’s biggest targets left on the board recently to get an exclusive look into his recruitment during these strange days that have seen on and off-campus recruiting shut down for months and no return date in site.
Jager Burton is a four-star member of the Rivals250 out of Lexington (Ky.) and has anywhere from a top-six to a top-eight at this point. There are still plans to try and commit somewhere by August 24th of this year, but will that date have official visits in front of it, or could things really change on the fly as the recruiting calendar continues to be in flux?
Over the course of this 30-minute interview we ask the talented offensive lineman all of the questions you have been wanting to hear about. Here is just a brief sample of some of the things that Burton had to say in this one-on-one.
When you look at Burton’s Rivals FutureCast, he is currently sitting at 50-percent to Ohio State but at one point that was much higher and closer to 100-percent. Why does Burton feel that so many people had him locked into going to Ohio State at that one point?
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“I think Ohio State at that time was my last visit and a lot times what happens is you will come off a visit and for most prospects, you will see once they visit somewhere instantly a lot of people will think they are going there,” Burton told BuckeyeGrove.com. “Because they talk that the most, it is the most-fresh on their minds. When I went there to Ohio State, it was freshest thing on my mind, so I was just kind of talking a lot about Ohio State. I think (writers) just got the vibe.”
That certainly does not mean that Burton has cooled on Ohio State by any stretch. What is it about Ohio State that has been so appealing?
“A lot of people down in Kentucky are kind of like Ohio State fans, I had never really looked into the culture, whenever I was doing research and seeing how much their fans care and the history of the program and seeing how easy the switch was from coach (Urban) Meyer to coach (Ryan) Day and how the culture completely… that is one thing that I wanted to see, if the culture stayed the same and it is if not better.” Burton said.
Burton still would like to keep that August 24th date, but even if recruiting does open back up for the month of August (to be determined) that might not allow for a lot of opportunities for official visits. If things were cut down to just two officials before that date, Ohio State would be in line for one of those officials.
Why are these officials so important?
“(Friends who have gone thought this have) said that is where they got clarity through everything,” Burton said. “I think that is really important, something that you don’t really get to do on unofficials because it is game day is get around players… players have no reason to lie to you and try and get there. They have been through everything you have been through and they will give you an honest opinion on a school.”
Be sure to check out the full interview above. Here are a couple of other topics that we went into detail with Burton about and the time to find them in the interview:
:58 Why was everyone putting you to Ohio State?
2:34 Still going to commit on Aug. 24th? Taking officials?
3:43 How many players from these other teams do you talk to?
4:45 Which coaching staff is the least “Sunshine” and “Rainbow-y”?
5:46 A lot of early commits and coaches are getting kids to try and commit and spots are running out, how has that been for you?
9:35 You have a lot of ties to multiple schools through associations
12:50 What are the chances that you go far away, somewhere like Oregon?
15:01 Why Ohio State?
16:56 Why Clemson?
17:58 Why Alabama?
20:12 Why Kentucky?
23:55 Who would you official to if you were only able to take two before you want to decide?
26:11 What happens if you can’t take any officials, would you still commit on 8/24?