Ohio State has picked up its third offensive line commitment in the 2021 class.
Zen Michalski, a 6-foot-6, 280-pound three-star offensive tackle out of Floyd Central (Indiana), has committed to Ohio State following his decommitment from Louisville on Monday.
Michalski's pledge groups him with five-star guard Donovan Jackson and four-star guard Ben Christman in the 2021 cycle.
10000% COMMITED #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/F9qjXf3vEe
— Zenuae Michalski (@ZenuaeM) October 3, 2020
The Michalski File
- Class: 2021
- Size: 6-foot-6/280 lbs.
- Pos: OT
- School: Floyd Central (Floyd Knobs, Ind.)
- Composite Rating: ★★★
- Composite Rank: 48 (OT)
Michalski, ranked No. 625 overall, No. 48 at offensive tackle and No. 10 in Indiana, was extended an offer by Ohio State on Sept. 8, and the moment offensive line coaches Greg Studrawa and Kennedy Cook gave him the news, he knew his entire recruitment was about to change.
He could feel it when he almost fell out of his chair.
From that point on, his recruitment to Ohio State exploded like a shot fired out of the Rutgers football cannon. Communication with the staff picked up at a lightning-quick pace, and after a month-and-a-half of constant and consistent relationship building, that all culminated in Michalski visiting Ohio State's campus last Sunday.
It's an eerily similar situation to when Bennett Christian visited campus with his dad in August. Christian saw what he needed to see that weekend, and it was enough to give him the feeling that Columbus was the place for him. Michalski's visit last weekend served the same purpose.
“We just talked about it for a moment, and it just seemed like the perfect option so we just went for it,” Michalski said of him and his father's conversation following the visit.
| NAME | POSITION | OVERALL RANKING | POSITION RANKING | DATE OF COMMITMENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JACK SAWYER | DE | No. 3 | No. 3 | FEBRUARY 3, 2019 |
| KYLE MCCORD | QB | No. 21 | No. 3 (PRO-STYLE) | APRIL 30, 2019 |
| JAYDEN BALLARD | WR | No. 49 | No. 5 | JUNE 21, 2019 |
| BEN CHRISTMAN | OG | No. 123 | No. 7 | JUNE 26, 2019 |
| REID CARRICO | LB | No. 72 | No. 2 (ILB) | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 |
| MARVIN HARRISON JR. | WR | No. 115 | No. 21 | OCTOBER 31, 2019 |
| SAM HART | TE | No. 380 | No. 16 | DECEMBER 30, 2019 |
| JAYLEN JOHNSON | S | No. 355 | No. 24 | JANUARY 7, 2020 |
| DONOVAN JACKSON | OG | No. 22 | No. 1 | JANUARY 8, 2020 |
| MIKE HALL | DT | No. 54 | No. 4 | FEBRUARY 1, 2020 |
| JAKAILIN JOHNSON | CB | No. 41 | No. 3 | MARCH 15, 2020 |
| EVAN PRYOR | RB | No. 76 | No. 2 (APB) | MARCH 16, 2020 |
| ANDRE TURRENTINE | S | No. 139 | No. 5 | MARCH 17, 2020 |
| TREVEYON HENDERSON | RB | No. 20 | No. 2 | MARCH 27, 2020 |
| JANTZEN DUNN | S | No. 192 | No. 10 | APRIL 20, 2020 |
| JESSE MIRCO | P | No. 2,037 | No. 4 | MAY 6, 2020 |
| DENZEL BURKE | ATH | No. 176 | No. 8 (ATH) | MAY 24, 2020 |
| JORDAN HANCOCK | CB | No. 66 | No. 4 | JULY 19, 2020 |
| TYLEIK WILLIAMS | DT | No. 160 | No. 10 | AUGUST 27, 2020 |
| ZEN MICHALSKI | OT | No. 625 | No. 48 | OCTOBER 3, 2020 |
Michalski's Buckeye offer had been a long time coming. After the coaches had seen his junior season tape, they wound up not offering him because they still wanted to see more, and they wanted to see him put on weight. Once he showed that he could put weight on and keep it on, Studrawa and Co. pulled the trigger.
“They told me they had seen my junior year film and thought I was a really good player,” Michalski said. “They just didn’t know how much more I would grow because the film they saw I was probably like 235-ish, 220 almost. In that range. My weight went crazy up and down throughout the season. They didn’t know much weight my frame was gonna be able to hold.
“They saw I gained a bunch of weight in the offseason and saw that I was holding it really well. That’s when I started picking up in recruiting, and they saw the highlights that I posted and liked how I moved. The thing that stood out the most, I guess, was I was blocking the defensive end and I was hooking him play after play after play (in my senior season film). They said I made it look so effortless, and that’s what I remember from that first conversation.”
The Buckeyes' 20th commitment in the 2021 cycle, Michalski gives them a three-man offensive line core with him, Jackson and Christman. Michalski is much more of a developmental prospect than either of those two, but his high ceiling is highly valued by Ohio State's staff.
