It's not often you see two Ohio State commits squaring off against one another, but Friday night that's exactly what happened when Gahanna Lincoln welcomed Westerville South.
The host Lions, led by 2016 five-star defensive end and Buckeyes commit Jonathon Cooper knocked off the visiting Wildcats, led by 2017 commit Marcus Williamson and 2018 target Jaelen Gill, by the final score of 20-13.
Because I had nothing better to do with my Friday night, I figured I'd head over to Gahanna and watch a pair of future Ohio State players and, potentially, a third in Gill.
Overall, the game wasn't too exciting. Gahanna scored on its opening series after forcing a fumble on South's first possession of the game and the Lions were in control the rest of the way.
Here's what I saw from all three guys Ohio State has heavy interest in.
Jonathon Cooper
Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson was in attendance to watch his future player, but this game wasn't really made for Cooper as South runs a spread offense with a pistol formation, and the majority of its passes are quick screens and slants which, obviously, do not allow Cooper to do what he does best: rush the passer.
Cooper still made some plays in the run game, though, despite the fact South ran away from him for the majority of the night. He's head and shoulders above everybody else on Gahanna's defense, so it's obviously smart to avoid him and South did as best it could do that.
Still, though, the five-star defensive end made some plays. The most memorable series came in the third quarter when South's quarterback ran a read-option to Cooper's side, pulling the ball out at the last second as Cooper crashed hard on the running back (it's what he was supposed to do). The quarterback ran for a short gain and South tried to run the exact same play on the next snap. Cooper again crashed and hit the running back, but this time he sprung to his feet and chased down the quarterback after a short game. It was a freakishly athletic play.
Overall, a solid night for Cooper in what was a game where there were maybe two or three chances he actually had to rush the passer.
Jaelen Gill
Gill got the bulk of the work for South's offense as it likes to line him up as the primary tailback in the pistol formation. He's got good quickness and vision, but, to me, he's not a natural running back, at least not right now. He's best when he gets the ball in space and can use his strengths to his advantage and he's not stuck running between the tackles behind a less-than-stellar offensive line.
That showed in the second half when his team was trailing 20-7 and Gill caught a quick pass from his quarterback and took it 67 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. Gill has got pretty good speed and put that on display on this particular run, but for the most part he was held in check by the Gahanna defense.
A decent night for the sophomore who has an Ohio State offer, but you almost want to see him used in a different way on offense because he's got dynamic playmaking ability.
Marcus Williamson
I thought Williamson had a pretty strong game even though he didn't really get involved in South's offense at all. He's going to play corner at Ohio State and that's where I liked what I saw from him Friday night.
There was a series in the first half where Gahanna ran back-to-back swing passes toward Williamson's side of the field. The first play he got up to the receiver fast enough to break the pass up in the air as he brought the receiver to the ground. The very next play, Williamson shed a block and nailed a receiver after only a short gain. He played very physical all night when plays came his way.
Williamson also showed some explosion on special teams as he took a punt back 60 yards for a touchdown in the first half to tie the game up at 7. It's a shame South can't find a way to get Williamson and Gill more opportunities on offense because both are quite dynamic.
