VICTORY
Ohio State beats Penn State, 20-13, in a thrilling top-five matchup at Beaver Stadium.
Michael Hall Jr. was offered a full ride to Ohio State on an early Oct. 28 Monday morning, and the Streetsboro (Ohio) High School defensive tackle had to hold back his excitement of getting a dream offer from the school that's just two hours away from him.
For Hall, a 6-foot-3, 275-pounder who also held offers from more than a dozen other Football Bowl Subdivision schools including Florida State, Michigan State, Penn State and West Virginia, it was a no-brainer where he was going to school, and on Saturday, he made it official as the four-star junior announced his commitment to the Buckeyes.
I never thought this day would come but on behalf of me and my family I am committed to The Ohio State University...Go Bucks #R2X #Buckeyes @OsuRecruiting17 @Birm @247Sports @AABonNBC @DemetricDWarren @R2X_Rushmen1 @ryandaytime @OhioStateFB @Mark__Porter @rawtalentsport1 pic.twitter.com/VTpXjRdjtn
— . (@MichaelHallJr_) February 1, 2020
Hall told Eleven Warriors in late September that he was grinding away in hopes of earning a Buckeyes offer, saying that he had gotten on their radar through Lake Erie College's Raw Talent Sports Showcase and Ohio State's big man camp.
The Hall File
- Class: 2021
- Size: 6-foot-3/290 lbs
- Pos: DT
- School: Streetsboro (Streetsboro, Ohio)
- Composite Rating: ★★★★
- Composite Rank: 19 (DT)
From there, his relationship with the coaches grew, as one of Ryan Day's first stops on that Oct. 28 morning was to Streetsboro to meet with Hall for just a few minutes and to drop off that scholarship offer.
"(Day) said he likes what he sees of me on film and I just need to keep up the good work on the field and off the field," Hall told Eleven Warriors shortly after receiving the offer. "(The coaches like) how versatile I am as a junior d-lineman and my explosiveness of getting off the ball."
| NAME | POSITION | OVERALL RANKING | POSITION RANKING | DATE OF COMMITTMENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JACK SAWYER | DE | No. 2 | No. 2 | FEBRUARY 3, 2019 |
| KYLE MCCORD | QB | No. 33 | No. 5 (PRO-STYLE) | APRIL 30, 2019 |
| JAYDEN BALLARD | WR | No. 73 | No. 12 | JUNE 21, 2019 |
| BEN CHRISTMAN | OT | No. 56 | No. 10 | JUNE 26, 2019 |
| REID CARRICO | LB | No. 121 | No. 4 (ILB) | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 |
| MARVIN HARRISON JR. | WR | No. 54 | No. 8 | OCTOBER 31, 2019 |
| SAM HART | TE | No. 368 | No. 17 | DECEMBER. 30, 2019 |
| JAYLEN JOHNSON | S | No. 363 | No. 14 | JANUARY 7, 2020 |
| DONOVAN JACKSON | OG | No. 57 | No. 1 | JANUARY 8, 2020 |
| MICHAEL HALL JR. | DT | No. 232 | No. 19 | FEBRUARY 1, 2020 |
Hall becomes the 10th commitment in the 2021 class for the Buckeyes, joining the nation's top-ranked class that has a chance to finish as Ohio State's first-ever No. 1 class in the modern recruiting era.
Not bad for Day's second class.
Hall had originally planned to commit on June 13, his 17th birthday, and even after visiting for the Buckeyes' win over Penn State on Nov. 23, he still said that was his intention.
"It definitely was hard to not commit, but I don’t know, I talked to my mom and my siblings about it," Hall told Eleven Warriors following that visit. "They were just saying weigh your options. You never know what you’ll see. Ohio State’s still my No. 1, though."
Turns out that, despite interest from some of the top programs in the country, Ohio State never wavered as his top option. He said Saturday that his recruitment is “100% closed.”
Hall becomes the first defensive tackle in Ohio State's class of 2021 and the second defensive lineman, joining five-star defensive end Jack Sawyer. He's the sixth member of the 2021 class from the state of Ohio, joining Sawyer, Ben Christman, Jayden Ballard, Reid Carrico and Jaylen Johnson.
