Better Know a Buckeye: Thayer Munford

This year's Better Know a Buckeye concludes with a profile of Thayer Munford, an offensive tackle from Cincinnati by way of Massillon who has the distinction of the final addition to Ohio State's 2017 recruiting class.

Munford's story is far different than the standard one I tell in these profiles. In most circumstances, life events are treated as tangential to a prospect's recruitment if I mention them at all. Munford's different. His recruitment is secondary to major changes in his life that saw him move from Cincinnati to Massillon before the end of his junior year and become legally adopted by Massillon's head coach, Nate Moore. Amid all this, Munford's recruitment saw him acquire a few major offers (Alabama, Ohio State, Tennessee) before choosing the Buckeyes on signing day.

I retell this story below. Thereafter, I provide a scouting report of a raw offensive line prospect with a ton of upside. I close with a projection of a redshirt in 2017 and highlight film for the reader to watch at the end of the feature.

HIS RECRUITMENT

Thayer Munford's recruitment is unique among all the Better Know a Buckeye profiles ever published on this site. His recruitment was almost secondary to major life changes that happened to Munford in high school.

Munford's adjustment to high school was rough. He was in danger of failing almost all his classes out the gate, which would've resulted in academic expulsion as a freshman. He lacked basic supplies; his high school head coach, Nate Moore, bought him his first backpack for school and began a relationship with Munford that better approximated "father and son" than "coach and player." Munford came from a home in which his biological father, now deceased, spent important parts of his youth in jail. Munford's mother was supportive and caring, but has a physical disability that precludes her from leaving the house for most things. In addition, special education workers diagnosed Munford with a learning disability that necessitated an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

The early intervention allowed Munford to flourish as a sophomore and resulted in a few scholarship offers as well. He started receiving attention from college programs like Bowling Green, Cincinnati, and Louisville. However, it was a minor miracle that Munford was even receiving that kind of serious attention by this stage in his life.

More offers came after Munford's junior year, including noteworthy offers from schools with high academic profiles like Maryland and Pittsburgh. However, the spring of 2016 saw some important life events that made his recruitment a secondary matter. Nate Moore, his high school coach at La Salle, left for Massillon in early 2015. Munford did not take the news well and found it difficult to follow through on the progress he made with his IEP after Moore left. His grades fell. He had made some progress expanding his portfolio of college offers but was jeopardizing that with sagging performance in the classroom. On top of that, two shootings in his Lincoln Heights neighborhood, one reportedly involving a family member, left Munford's mom feeling helpless about her son's current predicament.

She pursued a somewhat radical proposal, asking Nate Moore and his wife to obtain full custodianship of Munford and allow him to move to Massillon with them. This was a tall order for the Moore family, but they happily obliged. They had still kept in touch despite the move to Massillon and the Moore's younger children loved having Munford in the house. Munford moved to Massillon to live with the Moores before the end of his junior year.

The adjustment to Massillon was not without major trials. One, Munford needed to lose weight. Nate Moore's wife, Becca, put Munford on a strict diet early in the summer that saw Munford's weight drop from 363 pounds to 315 pounds by time he checked into Ohio State’s Friday Night Lights camp. Further, Munford needed to take community college courses or else he would not satisfy the NCAA's initial eligiblity requirements. This resulted in some headaches when Nate Moore, on vacation in Hilton Head Island, forgot he had agreed to deliver an exam on behalf of Munford for one of his summer courses. This resulted in a 14-hour drive from South Carolina to Cincinnati, and then to Massillon to turn in the exam with a minute to spare.

More headaches followed with the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA). From its perspective, Moore's contact with and eventual full custodianship of Munford, no matter how outwardly noble, was indistinguishable from a recruiting violation. The summary to this point belies how iron-clad OHSAA's regulations are on this matter. There's little wiggle room in Bylaw 4-9-4, No. 8, which reads:

If a coach leaves a school to pursue a coaching opportunity at another school, the coach shall refrain from any communication with any students at his or her former school. Further as it relates to any student who might transfer to or enroll at the school where the coach is now approved as a member of the coaching staff, said transfer or enrollment shall create a rebuttable assumption of recruiting and render the student ineligible for one year from the date of enrollment unless the recruiting can be rebutted.

No matter the Moore family's intentions, they were in clear violation of a bylaw that OHSAA takes seriously.

Munford, whose productive summer by this point even resulted in a scholarship offer from Alabama, was initially ineligible for his senior season. This was shortened to a seven-game suspension after a lengthy appeal process with the condition that Munford had to maintain a 2.0 GPA during Massillon's fall quarter.

There was an important light at the end of the tunnel. No matter the rocky road, Munford had fluorished as a senior. Ohio State had been watching him closely too. Kerry Coombs started recruiting him when Munford was still at La Salle. Priorities switched to Greg Studrawa after Munford's move to Massillon. Studrawa also happened to know Munford's offensive line coach, Jon Mazur, who he coached at Bowling Green. Happy with Munford's progress, Ohio State finally offered Munford on Jan. 21 for his official visit. Munford returned to Ohio State a week later. He would wait until signing day, but there was never any doubt Munford would choose Ohio State with that offer in hand.

HIS COMMITMENT

Thayer Munford committed to Ohio State on Feb. 1 as the 21st and final member of what would become Ohio State's full 2017 recruiting class. He chose Ohio State over several options, primarily Kentucky and Pittsburgh. He held offers from Alabama and Tennessee as well.

#Select17 #BuckeyeNation pic.twitter.com/r5aW1547Oc

— Thayer Munford (@TMunford_64) February 1, 2017

WHERE HE EXCELS

Munford has all the measurables of a prospect who could thrive on Ohio State's offensive line.

I'm most intrigued by his punch. Munford has strong hands and delivers a quick "punch" off the line of scrimmage. This allows him to carry his block with ease, driving defenders out the play. You'll see it prominently on his down blocks.

All high school football is run-intensive but Munford shows considerable sophistication in pass-protection,certainly in the summer camps in which he participated. He slides well at the tackle position and has improved considerably since the summer before his senior year. Here, the benefits of the weight-loss program showed dividends when Munford finally hit the field for Massillon.

MUST WORK ON

Munford has a great upside but a long way to get there. That his trajectory could lead him to Ohio State speaks to this, but there was a lot of missed opportunities through high school that cost him some development time.

Further, I'm not sure he has the length for an offensive tackle. He looks like an offensive tackle who probably projects better as a guard. He still has the ceiling of an all-B1G performer at either spot.

REDSHIRT?

Munford could play as a true freshman at some of the programs he was considering. He has the frame to play for Ohio State right away. However, I don't see a viable path to the field in 2017 and a redshirt would better suit Munford for more reasons than one. Expect to see Munford compete for a spot on the two-deep in 2018.

HIGHLIGHTS

Here are senior-year highlights for Munford.