One-on-One with Paris Johnson

Five-star Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton offensive tackle Paris Johnson is one of the crown jewels of a very highly ranked 2020 Ohio State class. Ohio's top rising senior gave an early pledge to the Buckeyes but when Urban Meyer retired in December, there were a few months of uncertainty as he took some other visits and listened to pitches from other programs while trying to also continue to build relationships at Ohio State, most notably with head coach Ryan Day.

Johnson never backed off his pledge to Ohio State but he doubled down on his commitment this summer and has closed the door on other programs and visits. The way Day and the Buckeyes approached things with him was one of the driving factors in that decision.

"(Day) showed confidence about (the situation)," Johnson stated. "I feel like the average head coach, if I was committed and said I was going to explore some other options, that's when they are going to show their true colors. He could have been angry, but he was very confident about the product at Ohio State."

Johnson also made another big decision this off-season, the decision to transfer from St. Xavier over to Princeton. Johnson, who carries a 4.0 grade-point average, will be able to graduate and enroll early as a student at Princeton, an opportunity that was not available to him at St. X.

"The transition to Princeton has been great just because I'm now able to do what I want to do as far as graduating early," he explained. "It's really making this transition worth it."

The transfer to Princeton also reunited him with close friends Darrion Henry and Jaheim Thomas. Henry will be joining Johnson at Ohio State next year and the two have been competing hard against each other every day in practice.

"We've had some good battles," Johnson said. "I've won some, he's won some and we've both learned very quickly about what we could have done differently in that instance. It has definitely been really good work. I'm excited about being able to put that work in now and make that transition and do the exact same thing (at Ohio State)."

Hear more from Johnson on his decision to stick with Ohio State and the relationships he has built with the program in the video above.