It seems like it didn't take long for Ohio State to make an impact on four-star linebacker Daelin Hayes, a former USC commitment who made his official visit to Columbus this weekend. After all, the Buckeyes had backed off of the 6-foot-4, 235-pounder for almost a year following his pledge to the Trojans, but that wasn't necessarily the plan.
"It's funny," Hayes told Eleven Warriors. "After I moved to California, I changed my number and only a few schools had it, like Notre Dame and Michigan State. Ohio State had been sending me stuff but it wasn't until after I decommitted that they found out they had the wrong number. Kerry Coombs said they'd been trying to call for a while."
When the Buckeyes were able to get back in touch with Hayes, it was Coombs and another assistant coach – Tony Alford – who worked to get the Ann Arbor Skyline star on campus. It was the existing relationship with Alford that helped Ohio State close what was, at one time, a fairly large gap.
"(Tony) Alford is the one who's really been recruiting me," Hayes said. "I've known him since I was a sophomore and he was at Notre Dame."
The visit went as well as it could have considering it was Hayes' first trip to Columbus since he was a child.
"It was my first time being at Ohio State," he said. "I've never seen the stadium, I've never seen the school, I'd never spoken to (Urban) Meyer in person. I had a great time, and the visit lived up to everything I hoped it could be. I left there in awe. Ohio State is bigger than any campus I've ever been to. It was like its own city."
It wasn't just the linebacker who was impressed; he made the trip with his parents and his younger brothers and the family was pleased with the trip.
"My parents loved Urban Meyer," he said. "I've had the chance to talk to him a lot on the phone lately, but like I said, it was the first time for me in person. Everything about Ohio State got answered and the coaches were incredibly thorough and transparent."
With this visit, the Buckeyes are right in the thick of things for the country's 8th ranked linebacker. The challenge now becomes holding on to that momentum as Hayes prepares to take three more official visits – to Michigan State, Oregon and LSU – over the next three weeks.
"I don't have an official date for a decision," he said. "But I am enrolling early so it's gonna be after the next few weeks, I'll announce a date when I know."
