Signed: Five-star offensive lineman Donovan Jackson

The Texas-to-Columbus pipeline officially continued today as five-star offensive lineman Donovan Jackson just signed his Letter of Intent to Ohio State.

On their roster, the Buckeyes currently have eight players who are from the Lone Star State. With Jackson making things official with the program today, that means Ryan Day’s staff has signed a player from Texas with a 6.0 Rivals Rating or higher in all three cycles Day has been the head coach.

Prior to announcing his decision to commit to the Buckeyes back on Jan. 8 of this year, Jackson had narrowed his recruitment down to five finalists. Included in the mix was obviously Ohio State, as well as Georgia, Stanford and the in-state Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies.

In the end, Jackson knew Columbus is where his heart was. He only visited the school a couple of times, but the No. 13 overall senior on Rivals is very familiar with the Buckeye State as he has family in Cincinnati and his parents are both from Ohio.

Another key part of Jackson’s decision was the way Ohio State played against Penn State last year, a matchup in which he was in attendance for. He went on to note that this gamed “sealed the deal” for him.

Day’s staff and Buckeye Nation are going to have to wait a few months, however, for Jackson to get on campus. He’s unable to graduate early from his school, so a summer enrollment is the plan for Jackson.

"The state of Ohio in general has been a big part of my life," Jackson told BuckeyeGrove following his decision. "With my parents being from there and meeting there, and just having a lot of family there. In terms of my recruitment, coach Stud is probably the coach that I have the best relationship with. When coach Day signed on, I believe since day one that I've clicked with him. It was just a gut-feeling at that point, I didn't feel the need to drag this on."

Fellow recruiting analyst Andy Anders recently did a full breakdown of Jackson’s senior campaign, which you can find HERE. Here is a short snippet of what he had to say before I give my thoughts on Jackson.

"Jackson stands at an imposing 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, a weight I had trouble believing when I looked up because he has incredible feet at offensive guard,” Anders wrote. “On blocks, his legs revolve faster than a cold car engine, constantly chopping at considerable speed. This is a great sign of an elite line prospect. Such footspeed helps for blocks that aren’t head on, pass blocking and blocks in space.”

From what I’ve seen, Jackson is a physically imposing presence in the trenches who never gives up on a play. It’s not fun for opposing d-linemen or linebackers, but you have to like how Jackson stays engaged with defenders throughout the whole play and drives them to the ground.

He lined up at tackle in the highlight reel above, but Jackson’s ability to pull and deliver blocks at the second level, as well as his work in the run game, shows you why he should fit in well at the guard spot with the Buckeyes. In my opinion, I believe the top-ranked guard on Rivals is capable of playing anywhere along the offensive line, so his versatility will give Greg Studrawa and company a lot to work with when he gets on campus.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.