WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Jaelen Gill was always going to commit to Ohio State.
Sure, he continuously said he was open to any and all options throughout the recruiting process. He visited a handful of schools outside of the Midwest. He traveled out west to see USC and UCLA on his own dime. But even during the 10 seconds he stood on stage Wednesday during his commitment announcement donning a Bruins shirt, people still thought he’d wind up pledging to the Buckeyes.
That’s just what prospects from Ohio — especially ones from a school 20 minutes away from Ohio State’s campus — do. They go to Ohio State.
And that’s exactly what happened Wednesday afternoon. Gill officially became the Buckeyes’ fourth member to their 2018 recruiting class.
“I’ve always wanted to do something different for myself, but at the same time, it’s really hard to pass up an opportunity like this,” Gill said afterward. “You have one of the best programs in the country, if not the best, and it’s just an overall great school."
"Growing up an Ohio State fan, it’s kind of hard not to.”
So while it always seemed like this was a done deal from the moment Gill — a four-star prospect and the No. 32 overall player in the country — was offered, Wednesday was so important to Ohio State because it actually became official.
The Buckeyes weren’t necessarily off to a slow start building their 2018 recruiting class — they already had commitments from three players, all of whom rank in the top-60 nationally — but Ohio State wasn’t quite building at the same speed it did a year ago.
Adding a player of Gill’s caliber to the class, and one who is an in-state prospect, helps the Buckeyes in a unique way.
“I made the decision about a month ago to come to Ohio State and we needed a little bit of momentum,” Gill said. “We’ve lost a couple of recruits, so me committing since I already knew I was coming would help build some momentum to get some of the recruits.”
Pledges from the likes of five-star quarterback Emory Jones, four-star safety Jaiden Woodbey and four-star running back Brian Snead are great, but they can only go so far in helping Ohio State build a class. All three are from out of state — Jones from Georgia, Woodbey from California and Snead from Florida — so while they can actively sell the program and speak to other prospects, the fact of the matter is they can’t be around Ohio State as much as they’d probably like to. It’s just too far away right now.
That’s where Gill comes in. He’s from Westerville South High School and lives just 20 minutes from Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes are getting ready to begin spring practice, which is a popular time for prospects to take visits.
Guess who’ll they’ll likely run into when they come to campus.
“Since I live so close, about 20 minutes from campus, my house is always welcome to anybody that wants to visit,” Gill said. “They can come and stay over or whatever. It’s just a family at Ohio State and they really stress that.”
That’s why Gill opted to make his decision public when he did. He’s known for a little while now he’d be a Buckeye, as did Ohio State’s staff, so they had a recent discussion about letting the rest of the recruiting world know where Gill would officially be playing.
“I visited last Monday and we kind of talked about it,” Gill said. “I hadn’t planned on [announcing] yet, but we had talked about how we had lost a couple of recruits — the linebacker from Gorman [Palaie Gaoteote] — so it was basically just to jump start.”
“We have Emory and we’re going to get some more guys that I can’t say yet, so it was just to kind of jump start everything and get everything ready.”
That process already started, too.
It began long before Gill made the announcement everyone knew was coming.
“I’ve been recruiting guys for a while now. I’m already trying to flip people,” Gill said. “Me and Jaiden Woodbey, the safety from California, we talk about it every day. We’re trying to flip a few people and maybe you can think of some of those guys. We’re trying our best, we’re already recruiting and I’m excited."
“The 2018 recruiting class, if it’s not as good as 2017, I think it might be better.”
