It has been just over a month since a high school football prospect joined forces with Ryan Day's program, but that all changed on Saturday.

Just moments ago, Indiana-based offensive lineman Zenuae Michalski announced that he will be strapping up the pads as a Buckeye at the next level. He is now the 20th member of Ohio State's 2021 class, which is one more pledge away from usurping Alabama for the top spot in the Rivals Team Rankings.

For Michalski, however, his recruiting process took some twists and turns given the unusual circumstances we are in. In the story below, Michalski spoke with BuckeyeGrove about his offseason, how his on-field play a few weeks ago led to an offer from Ohio State and his recent trip to the school.

Currently listed as a three-star prospect, Michalski did not have a wealth of options at his disposal until he was past the halfway mark of his junior campaign.

Indiana State was the first program to offer him back in February, which was eventually followed by offers from the likes of Cincinnati, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State and Louisville.

A big reason for this boom in his recruitment was due to the amount of work Michalski put into reshaping his body frame during the offseason. This featured a lot of time improving his strength in the gym, coupled with consuming roughly six or seven meals a day.

“It’s been a long, long road of hard work this offseason,” Michalski said. “[Ohio State] had been looking at me last year on my junior film, but didn’t know how I’d put on weight or how much I put on or how I’d look with new weight. They kind of waited to reach out until this year mainly because they had seen I had put on 70 pounds and they wanted to see how I played with that 70 pounds.

“They really loved it. They love my athleticism, footwork and everything like that. It was a really surreal moment for me, mainly, because ever since that first game, they’ve been watching each game from start to finish, every week, to see how I was doing and progressing."

Even though he committed to Louisville nearly half a year ago, offensive line coach Greg Studrawa and the rest of the staff did not stop their consideration of Michalski. This eventually culminated in him receiving the green light from the Buckeyes less than four weeks ago.

For Michalski, getting the word that he had the option to play at a school that he has described as prestigious was an incredible experience for him.

“It was really cool when coach Day finally, on that Zoom call, told me I had a scholarship,” Michalski said. “He explained it as I really earned this because… a lot of those top national power schools just offer five-stars just to get in the game and they don’t take as long to offer just because they had to get in the game with those kids. They said I earned every part of the scholarship and that was a big thing for me.

“It was crazy. As soon as he said it, I was like freaking out. We were in my room with me and my step-dad on a Zoom call with everybody and definitely, like I said, surreal. It just means a ton that a program like that… I never thought I’d get to this point in my football career. It just means an absolute ton for them to want to take me like that.”

Some may be wondering: What exactly led to Ohio State extending an offer to Michalski so late in his recruitment? What was the turning point?

Well, to answer that question, you need to go back to Friday, Sept. 4, a day that saw Elder High School host Michalski and his teammates from Floyd Central High School.

It was not a competitive matchup as Elder ended up winning 42-14, but that was not a knock on Michalski. The 6-foot-6, 285-pounder caught Ohio State's attention as he was exceptional against Elder, which produced current Buckeyes Jakob James and Joe Royer in the 2020 cycle.

“That was a big game because they had taken two kids from Elder last year, and they’re freshmen there now,” Michalski said. “They know the level of that competition and they know how good Elder is and their d-line, all that. Their linebackers and defense as a whole.

“So, that was a really big test for me and them to see how I played against that competition. That was one of the best games I’ve ever had, so I was really with how I played there. That was a big thing and after that game, that Tuesday, they let me know that I had a scholarship and it was awesome.”

The athleticism and footwork were there for Michalski as he checked off all the boxes for Ohio State's staff. What also impressed the coaches, however, was how he continued to compete despite the deficit his team was facing.

“I think just seeing how I played under pressure,” Michalski said of his performance. “A big thing that they talk about is toughness because we were losing by quite a lot because they’re a really good program. They just said I was going 100 percent every play, even in the fourth quarter, and giving everything I had for the team, mainly.

"They just wanted to see how I competed against that competition and they said I dominated a lot of the line of scrimmage.”

Ohio State cited that game against Elder as what sold them on Michalski, but Michalski needed to be sold on the school as well.

Given the dead period and inability for prospects to take visits, however, he was not able to utilize any of his official visits. This was a huge blow for Michalski, especially since new offers from the Buckeyes, Florida State and Penn State had poured in recently.

Michalski did not let this prevent him from getting a taste of Columbus and what Ohio State has to offer as he made his way out to the school a weekend ago. Following that visit, Michalski was convinced that Ohio State would be his home for the next three-to-five years.

“It was awesome,” Michalski said of his visit. “We got on campus and it was beautiful, the city was beautiful… campus is almost like it’s own little college town and five minutes away, you got the big city. It’s like a perfect mixture. Campus is huge, which is nice. It’s all just perfect for me.”