Three weeks after his commitment to Ohio State, Aaron Scott Jr. is leaving no question about where his allegiance lies.
Scott wore Ohio State gloves, arm sleeves and cleats on Friday night as Springfield High School hosted St. Ignatius in its 2023 season opener. After his team’s 27-11 win was over, Scott smiled when asked if he was happy to be done with the recruiting process.
“Yeah, for sure, for sure,” Scott told Eleven Warriors. “Because I was getting phone calls from every school every day. Now I just talk to my main coach, Coach Walton and Coach Day all the time.”
While Scott is no longer considering other schools, the four-star 2024 cornerback commit says he’s still talking to Ohio State’s coaches – namely secondary coach Tim Walton and head coach Ryan Day – as much as ever.
“It's still the same. Like they was talking to me every day, and they still talk to me every day,” Scott said. “Nothing changed. They’re still on me. Talking every day, talking about coverages and all the little things. We’re still locked in.”
Scott says he’s also in constant communication with Ohio State’s other 2024 commits, namely fellow cornerbacks Bryce West and Miles Lockhart.
“We all talk every day, tell each other good luck before the games and all that,” Scott said.
Scott says he isn’t doing much peer recruiting right now, however, because his focus is on his current team and trying to lead Springfield to a state championship.
“I just focus on our football season, let the coaches handle that,” Scott said.
Scott’s state championship aspirations are realistic. Springfield has made the Division I state championship game in each of the last two seasons, falling to St. Edward – a team that features fellow 2024 Ohio State commits Deontae and Devontae Armstrong – in back-to-back years. The Wildcats had the look of a team that could compete for a state title once again on Friday as they controlled the game against St. Ignatius from start to finish, taking an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter and ultimately finishing with a 16-point win.
“We’ve done did everything else but win state. Obviously get back to state, but this time win it all,” Scott said when asked what he most wants to accomplish in his final year at Springfield.
It was a quiet night for Scott individually, but that’s not a bad thing for a cornerback. St. Ignatius rarely threw the ball in his direction, completing just two passes against him all night. Playing in both man and zone coverage over the course of the game, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound cornerback demonstrated his physicality – laying out a St. Ignatius player in coverage on one kickoff – while his presence as a leader on Springfield’s defense was also apparent as Scott was seen communicating with his teammates and calling out coverages throughout the game.
Aaron Scott Jr.’s goal for his final year of high school is to lead Springfield to its first state championship.
Leadership is one specific area where Springfield coach Maurice Douglass has challenged Scott to grow this year.
“That’s what Coach wants from me, to be more vocal and try to put players in a position, because we got a couple players that are just now playing varsity,” Scott said. “So just to be vocal and put them in the place they need to be.”
Douglass said after the game that Scott has risen to that challenge by both being more vocal and leading by example.
“(His teammates) know nine times out of 10, he's not gonna cheat. He's not gonna cruise on the play,” Douglass told Eleven Warriors.
On the rare occasions where Scott does slip up, however, Douglass is still coaching his star cornerback hard.
“I think today one time, they caught him sleeping on one, when the kid caught a little dig route. It was only about five yards, but it was an over route, and he kind of relaxed a little bit, and that's when they get you,” Douglass said. “And so after we came off the field, I came over him and I was like ‘Don't fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep.’ Because it's easy to fall asleep on the backside when you're by yourself.”
As a recruit, Scott doesn’t have much left to prove this season. He’s already ranked as the No. 4 cornerback and No. 43 overall prospect in the 2024 class, per 247Sports’ composite rankings; more importantly, he’s already committed to Ohio State, so he just wants to keep showing “why they recruited me” with his play this season.
Scott says he doesn’t have any specific individual goals for this season, though, because he’s solely focused on trying to help his team achieve its goal.
“I feel like I got mine, I'm trying to let everybody else get theirs,” Scott said. “I'm gonna handle business regardless. I'm just trying to win state this year.”
