Ohio State's well-documented search for a quarterback is finally over.
In an interesting turn of events, Michigan State four-star commit Dwan Mathis flipped his pledge from the Spartans to the Buckeyes on Sunday evening during a surprise official visit that began at Friday Night Lights.
— WANNYLIVE5 (@DwanMathis) June 24, 2018
The Mathis File
- Class: 2019
- Size: 6-foot-5, 195 pounds
- Pos: QB
- School: Oak Park (MI)
- Composite Rating: ★★★★
- Composite Rank: 9 (PRO)
The 6-foot-5, 195-pound Mathis — who is considered the ninth-best pro-style quarterback and No. 251 prospect overall in the Class of 2019 — has been on Ohio State's radar for more than a year. He was without a doubt the most impressive signal caller at the Buckeyes’ one-day camp last June and again Friday Night Lights one month later — a group that included then-four-star commit Emory Jones and Arizona four-star Jack Miller III.
Mathis left Columbus both times without an offer, though, which ultimately prompted his commitment to Michigan State in September. Communication between the two sides dropped off considerably after that, as Ohio State focused most of its attention on trying to hold onto the aforementioned Jones and finding his replacement, Matthew Baldwin, late in the last cycle.
The Buckeyes have been linked to a number of different signal callers at one time or another throughout the cycle, including Arizona four-star commit Grant Gunnell and Ole Miss four-star commit Grant Tisdale. But head coach Urban Meyer and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Day have repeatedly cited the overall lack of depth at the position this year’s class and were never quite sold on either of the aforementioned names.
With that, Day circled back and finally offered Mathis a scholarship in early May.
“I just feel like it was a blessing in disguise," Mathis told Eleven Warriors shortly thereafter. "Stuff doesn’t come to you when you really want it, it comes to you when you really need it or when you don’t expect it. I feel like it’s a blessing because some guys don’t have anything. Coach Day just told me now they're gonna come at me harder than they ever did before. They're really gonna recruit me this time. I just gotta be ready for it."
Despite that, Mathis publicly remained 100 percent committed to the Spartans. He did visit campus the following weekend with some of his teammates who were in town for a camp. Michigan State has a strict no-visit policy for commits, but it wasn’t as if he went out of his way to see Ohio State again. Mathis was simply along for the ride.
This weekend’s visit is was an entirely different story, however, as Mathis showed up unannounced for Friday Night Lights. And with that, it was only a matter of time before he flipped his pledge to the Buckeyes.
Mathis becomes the 12th member of Ohio State’s Dynasty ‘19 recruiting class, joining four-star running backs Steele Chambers and Sampson James in the Buckeyes’ backfield.
