If Marcus Williamson wants to head over to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to meet up with Ohio State’s coaching staff, all he has to do is hop in a car and make the short 15-minute drive over from nearby Westerville. As a 2017 commit for the Buckeyes, Williamson plans on doing just that whenever he has the chance.
“I live 15 minutes away so I was here last week for my little brother’s camp just hanging out with the staff,” Williamson said Tuesday while on an unofficial visit during Ohio State’s one-day positional camp. “It’s just going back to that building relationships kind of thing. When you get here you wanna be comfortable so it’s all about that.”
Williamson is one of six commitments Ohio State already has in its 2017 class. He’s a four-star prospect who is ranked as the country’s fifth-best cornerback.
“I’m a well-rounded player,” the 5-foot-10, 180 pounder said. “I can catch, I can run, hit and that’s what I take pride in.”
The fact Williamson is from the Columbus area is an added bonus for the Buckeyes coaching staff. He didn’t work out during Tuesday’s camp, but he just walked around the facilities with 2018 Ohio State target and Westerville South teammate Jaelen Gill. The two spent time chatting it up with some of Ohio State’s coaches, as well as fellow recruits who were either participating in the camp or were also on unofficial visits.
Having that luxury is something Williamson enjoys.
“These coaches, they do a good job with their recruiting,” he said. “They’re getting some good classes so it’s just good to come up here and meet some of the other recruits and build relationships with them.”
Williamson said right now the Ohio State assistant he speaks to most is Kerry Coombs: the Buckeyes’ cornerbacks coach and Williamson’s future position coach. But he also talks to the majority of the defensive staff, as well as Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.
“Just trying to build relationships with the staff,” he said. “(Coombs) is energetic, he’s funny, he’s someone you wanna play for. He’s a great man, family man, somebody that I’d want to be my dad you know what I mean?”
Williamson said he plans to be a frequent visitor this summer, as well, and also has intentions of participating at the Friday Night Lights camp in July. After all, being just a short drive away makes visiting a lot easier.
Williamson committed to Ohio State pretty early in the recruiting process back on April 18. He still has two years left of high school football and said he has high hopes for the upcoming season.
All along, though, he had a feeling he’d wind up at Ohio State.
“I’d say the Ohio State-Michigan game, I came, and I know I committed in April, but that’s when I made up my mind,” Williamson said. “That winter I kind of put it in the back of my head, but I had known where I wanted to go.”
