The future stars of Ohio State football officially begin their Buckeye careers as standouts from all over the country put pens to their National Letters of Intent.
Alabama thought it landed its next shutdown cornerback when it signed Kendall Sheffield in February of 2015.
A five-star prospect and the 20th-ranked player in the country coming out of high school, Sheffield had all the tools college coaching staffs look for at the position. With Sheffield and fellow five-star cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Crimson Tide had a pair of future stars coming to Tuscaloosa to lock down opposing wide receivers for the next few years.
THE SHEFFIELD FILE
- Class: 2017
- Size: 6-foot, 185 pounds
- Pos: CB
- School: Blinn College (Brenham, TX)
- Composite Rating: ★★★★
- Composite Rank: 1 (JUCO CB)
Except Sheffield never played a down at Alabama. He redshirted during his freshman season and then opted to transfer in the middle of fall camp of his second season on campus.
Rather than be forced to sit out a year — which would have been the case had Sheffield opted to transfer to another Division I program — Sheffield decided to go the junior college route. He enrolled at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas where the plan was to play for one season and then find a new home.
Upon completion of his season at Blinn, Sheffield, once again, became a highly-coveted prospect by many of the top programs in the country. Ohio State was one of them.
A native of Missouri City, Texas, there was plenty of discussion surrounding Sheffield's recruitment that his second big-time school would be much closer to home than Alabama. Texas A&M, TCU and Texas all offered the nation's No. 3-ranked JUCO prospect and No. 1-rated corner. Sheffield officially visited the Aggies and Horned Frogs in addition to USC.
But Ohio State also got Sheffield to visit officially in November and head coach Urban Meyer paid him a visit shortly thereafter. Things started to trend in favor of the Buckeyes, but there was still the hometown draw of Texas A&M.
Eventually, on Jan. 10, Sheffield committed to Ohio State. The process certainly went quickly.
Sheffield spoke to ESPN about his decision to pledge to Meyer, cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs and the Buckeyes.
"After a great season at Blinn College, and an exciting recruiting process, I have decided to finish my collegiate career at The Ohio State University. I am excited to join Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes, and look forward to helping Buckeye Nation return to the College Football Playoff."
Sheffield has three years of eligibility remaining and, after Ohio State lost both of its starting cornerbacks early to the NFL Draft, there's a great chance he comes in and competes for one of the starting jobs.
Ohio State's 2017 class is loaded at defensive back, but Sheffield is two years removed from high school and may be more advanced than some of the other players in this class at his position. That could give him a leg up in the competition.
The signing of Sheffield makes it two straight years Ohio State's recruiting class included a junior college transfer. The Buckeyes inked offensive lineman Malcolm Pridgeon in their 2016 class. Pridgeon was injured in fall camp and missed the entire season.
In Sheffield, Ohio State hopes it has an instant-impact player at a position of need.
