Five-star Cornerback Elias Ricks to Transfer to IMG, Play Next to Lejond Cavazos

Five-star LSU cornerback commit Elias Ricks announced via Twitter that he will be transferring to IMG Academy to play his senior year in Florida next to his close friend and Ohio State commit Lejond Cavazos.

BEST CORNER DUO IN HIGHSCHOOL FOOTBALL. #IMG2OSU https://t.co/k12KODz6l3

— Lej (@lejondaryy) July 10, 2019

Ricks was going to announce his transfer July 18, and even tweeted about it earlier Wednesday afternoon, but a roster update to IMG's 2019 MaxPreps roster showed an "Eli Ricks" playing cornerback and graduating in 2020. Ricks pulled the trigger on the announcement a week early.

Ricks is making the transfer from Mater Dei after he was notified that the school would not be accepting his dual credits, which would have allowed him to graduate early. At IMG, he will be able to play in the fall and early enroll into a college program. Which program he will be enrolling into is the next question to be answered for Ricks.

Playing next to Cavazos is significant because Cavazos is one fo the top Ohio State commit-recruiters in the 2020 class and hasn't been shy about his desire for Ricks to join him in Columbus.

Ricks was close with former head coach Urban Meyer before Meyer left the program, and both Cavazos and Ricks told Eleven Warriors that if Meyer wouldn't have left, Ricks would be committed to Ohio State.

“Me and Urban talked every single night," Ricks said. "That was my guy, and when I heard he was leaving, I was hurt. If he was still there, it would’ve been a whole other story. We were ready.”

Cavazos, who decommitted Dec. 4 after Meyer left and re-committed in April, said for him, it was just getting to know the new staff that sold him on pledging to the program again. Ricks has extended his recruiting process into the late-fall, as he has visits planned for USC on Nov. 2 and Ohio State on Nov. 22.  He will also visit LSU, Alabama and a fifth school yet to be named.

Ohio State already has two of the top 2020 cornerbacks committed, in Cavazos and No. 3 cornerback Clark Phillips, but Ricks said it doesn't matter to him how many cornerbacks are committed or on the roster.

“It could be 500 cornerbacks committed,” Ricks said. “If that’s the school for me, I don’t fear competition. I always think I’m going to be the top dog wherever I go. I’m always going to come in thinking I can beat these guys out, and those are my guys. But that’s not going to affect me.”