Top 100 lineman Donovan Jackson commits to Ohio State

Ohio State continues to land elite prospects early on in its 2021 recruiting class. The Buckeyes received a huge pledge on Wednesday when Houston (Texas) Episcopal offensive lineman Donovan Jackson announced for the Buckeyes over Texas, Georgia, Texas A&M, Stanford, and many, many others.

The Rivals100 lineman was on hand for Ohio State's win over Penn State in November, giving Ohio State head coach Ryan Day his verbal pledge shortly after that game. He returned home to Texas to finalize the details of how he would announce his commitment, choosing the Buckeyes at a ceremony at high school late on Wednesday afternoon.

"The state of Ohio in general has been a big part of my life," Jackson told BuckeyeGrove.com. "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."

Jackson has ties to the state of Ohio. His parents are both from Ohio and he has family still in Cincinnati. Those ties helped Ohio State get a foot in the door early on in the recruiting process but a couple of visits over the past year helped cement things for the Buckeyes. The way the Ohio State offensive line dominated all season, including during the Penn State game where Jackson was on hand, was perhaps the final bit of evidence Jackson needed to make his commitment.

"I feel like (the Penn State) game sealed the deal for me," he stated. "There was a lot building up to that, but I feel like that game did it for me. I was there the next two days so I just sat down with coach Day and I told him then."

The overall development of the offensive line was also a factor for Jackson. Ohio State has three prospects returning for the 2020 season who could be hot commodities in the 2021 draft.

"Seeing the development of the offensive line and how coach Stud develops his players as well as seeing how the whole state of Ohio is behind the team at all times (also factored in)," Jackson continued. "That's what pretty much drove me to make the decision."

Jackson joins Ohio four-star tackle Ben Christman to give the Buckeyes a formidable tandem along the offensive line to kick things off in 2021. Jackson is rated the No. 10 prospect in Texas in 2021 and the No. 56 overall player in the nation by Rivals.com.

BuckeyeGrove.com will have more analysis on Jackson's pledge to Ohio State shortly.