Ransom makes the call for the Ohio State Buckeyes
Don't underestimate the power of Ohio State Buckeyes recruiting under first-year head coach Ryan Day as they have gone out to the state of Arizona and pulled another top-100 player.
The Buckeyes have struck again in the state of Arizona, this time landing Rivals100 safety Lathan Ransom out of Tucson (Ariz.) Salpoint high school. The newest member of Ryan Day’s class of 2020 checks in at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds and is the nation’s No. 70 player according to Rivals.com’s rankings.
Ransom went to social media on Tuesday evening to make his pledge known as he picked Ohio State out of a group of five schools that included Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma and LSU to round out the grouping. With new Pac-12 schools in the mix, it was obvious that Ransom was set on going out of state and out of the region and the Buckeyes checked off all of the boxes.
Ransom joins quarterback Jack Miller out of Scottsdale (Ariz.) as Arizona prep stars set to make the trip east to Ohio State.
The Buckeyes had the final crack at Ransom before the July dead period with an official visit on the weekend of June 21st. It was Ohio State’s largest weekend to date in terms of number of official visitors and it has paid off quite well in terms of recruits so far for the Buckeyes.
A lot of credit has to go to first-year coach Jeff Hafley for the Buckeyes in making this one happen. His NFL pedigree has opened the eyes of a lot of defensive backs and while the Buckeyes have been one of the biggest producers of DBs for the league in recent years, Hafley’s addition has not gone unnoticed as well.
“Coach Hafley came from the NFL so he really knows what the NFL is looking for and he knows what defenses the NFL runs so that could really prepare me,” Ransom told Rivals.com earlier this month before making his decision known. “They have a great education, too, and it really feels like a family there. (Hafley) is very impressive.”
Of course you can’t talk about Ransom without talking about his high school teammate, running back Bijan Robinson. Robinson is just a few short weeks away from his own declaration and the Buckeyes appear to be in a great spot to pull the two-fer in landing each of the Rivals100 teammates.
The Ohio State class now currently sits at 21 commits and the Buckeyes sit firmly in the top-five of the Rivals.com team rankings. With decisions from Robinson, Kourt Williams and Jaylan Knighton all schedules in the coming weeks, the Buckeyes are in good position to make an assault on the top spot in the team rankings.