Hausmann sees early opportunity

SAN ANTONIO - Ohio State tight end commit Jake Hausmann is once again proving to be one of the key pieces to the Buckeyes' highly regarded 2016 recruiting class as he takes part in the Army All-American Bowl this week in Texas. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound prospect has had a solid week of practice for the East team.

"It's been really good," said Hausmann. "It was really fast paced the first two days, just trying to get everything down. The last few practices, we really polished up a lot of things on offense."

Hausmann has been known for his abilities as a pass-catcher but he's also showing to be a more than capable blocker and getting a chance to go against the athletic edge rushers and linebackers on the East team is only helping him prepare for the challenges he'll face in college.

"Playing against bigger, faster, stronger guys on the edge, the D-Ends, it's really going to get me prepared," he said. "These quick guys out in space, it's what I'm going to be going up against week in and week out in college."

When Hausmann takes the field on Saturday, he'll do so with no fewer than four future teammates on his East team. Any headstart that the class can get in terms of building familiarity with each other is a positive, according to the four-star tight end.

"It's kind of like The Opening, you get a chance to build more chemistry (with future teammates)," he said. "It's definitely good spending time around guys that you're going to be playing with the next four years."

Ohio State is hoping to add two more members of the East team to its 2016 recruiting class in Florida wide receiver Binjimen Victor and New Jersey defensive back Jordan Fuller. Hausmann is doing his part to help the efforts.

"I've been talking to Jordan Fuller," he explained. "I think that's going pretty well. I know Austin (Mack) and (Jonathon) Cooper have been talking to him a lot. We really want him at Ohio State."

While Hausmann won't be enrolling early as Cooper and Mack are, he still sees a tremendous opportunity for early playing time when he arrives in Columbus over the summer. Only soon-to-be redshirt junior Marcus Baugh returns with any playing experience at the tight end position.

"There's definitely an opportunity there," Hausmann said. "There's basically an open spot right now and I think it's going to be a battle between a couple of us. You just have to be engaged, listen to the coaches, make sure you're doing everything right."

Hausmann is rated the No. 3 tight end prospect nationally in the 2016 recruiting class by Rivals.com.