The 11W Futures series introduces new names to the Ohio State recruiting world.
With only 125 students, you'd be hard-pressed to find many public schools in Ohio smaller than Sciotoville East in Portsmouth. The small student body doesn't necessarily mean there aren't some large student bodies on campus, however. Thankfully, for the Tartans, a majority of those big bodies line up along the offensive line for Todd Gilliand and James Gifford — the head coach and offensive line coach at East — respectively.
A line that averages 6-foot-3 and 290 pounds and anchored by Ohio State 2016 commitment Tyler Gerald, it's the pride of the Tartans football team. While Gerald, the 4th-ranked guard in the 2016 class, gets most of the attention, it's a little known — for now — center-will-turn-tackle freshman who could eventually become the showcase.
"There's a freshman we have, Blaine Scott," Gifford told Eleven Warriors. "He could be better than (Gerald) when it's all said and done. He may not be as 'nasty' as Tyler, but he's really smart, a great athlete and an awesome student. He's 6-foot-5, 305 pounds and averaged 27 points a game in junior high school in basketball last year. He didn't play football the last couple years, but he's started at center for us all year long."
For Scott, the decision to get back to football was a business one.
"I have always loved basketball, I played on the 5th-ranked AAU team in the nation, out of Huntington, West Virginia, and I am a big fan of Duke basketball," Scott told 11W. "About two years ago, I started thinking that I had a good chance of going somewhere, doing something, if I played football. That's when I really started following Ohio State and loving football."
That could be quite the fortuitous decision for the 15-year-old. Yes, 15-years-old and 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds. Still a relative unknown in the recruiting world — Scott doesn't have a Rivals.com, Scout.com, or 247Sports.com profile yet — the attention is coming soon for Scott, according to his coach.
"Schools haven't really started to notice Blaine yet," Gifford said of his protégé. "Ohio State and Virginia Tech each wrote down his name at camps this past summer, so he'll get some good exposure this summer."
From no football to big-time college football exposure, the whirlwind is coming. Scott seems to be taking everything in stride.
"At the start of last summer, I really didn't know anything about football other than the basics. Coach Gifford and Coach Gilliand have helped me so much," Scott said. "Tyler and Nick Basham help me a lot, too. They constantly push me every day to be my best, especially Tyler. Who better to help teach me how to get to the college level than someone who is so close to already there? I know right now that I'm pretty coachable, and I'm told that right now my strength and my footwork are what I do well. I'm good at hitting a defender with a first punch and driving my feet."
"I need to take care of business this off-season in the weight room," he continued. "This spring I'm going to take a class called PEC, and that will help with footwork, speed, quickness and agility."
It would appear that Scott recognizes fully the need for diligence if he wants to continue improving. His freshman season has shown plenty of success already.
"His first week, he graded 88-percent," Gifford said of the freshman. "Since then, he's been over 100-percent every week. Two weeks ago he was the offensive lineman of the week and graded out at 139-percent."
As Scott stated, it's been Gerald, the Buckeye commit, who has been especially gracious with advice and help preparing for what's to come.
"Tyler just tells me all the time 'don't be satisfied with where you were the day before,'" Scott said of his teammate. "Before the season, I was just happy firing off the ball and making contact with someone. Tyler took me aside one day and was like 'Don't be happy just hitting him, put him on his back.' Since then, I've had the attitude I'm going to manhandle everyone I play against. In the weightroom he challenges me to not be satisfied just being the strongest freshman, but to work to be stronger than him. Being average isn't an option and being a freshman isn't an excuse."
He may not be as nasty as Gerald yet, but it appears the groundwork is there a big-time future for Blaine Scott.
