One of the more wild recruiting stories in recent memory has officially been put to bed.
Dunn Deal! Welcome to #BIA @JantzenDunn #GoBuckeyes #NationalSigningDay pic.twitter.com/owN3Em37gJ
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 16, 2020
The wild one-hour window in which four-star safety Jantzen Dunn had originally committed to Oklahoma privately and then flipped to Ohio State (again, privately) is now long in the past, and he can officially begin his Buckeye career when he enrolls early in January.
The Dunn File
- Class: 2021
- Size: 6-foot-2/178 lbs.
- Pos: S
- School: South Warren (Bowling Green, Kentucky)
- Composite Rating: ★★★★
- Composite Rank: 203 (12 S)
When he does, the crew in Columbus will be getting one of the most underrated, less-talked about recruits in the Buckeyes' heralded, No. 2-ranked 2021 recruiting class. One who is one of the most athletic, explosive talents in the entire group.
Dunn has flip-flopped back and forth between being barely ranked inside the top 200 overall and being barely ranked outside of it, but he brings one of the eye-popping athletic profiles to the Buckeyes' six-man defensive back haul.
He runs a 4.54 in the 40-yard dash, a 4.15-second 20-yard shuffle, and he combines that with a 40-plus-inch vertical, a 10-foot, 4-inch broad jump and a 22-foot, 1-inch long jump.
So when Dunn visited Ohio State in March for a spring practice, that physical skillset is what led the Buckeyes to extending him an offer. And it led to a life-changing moment for the nation's 12th-ranked safety out of South Warren (Kentucky) High School.
“That was just a groundbreaking moment for me,” Dunn told Eleven Warriors previously.
Long before that, it was the small things that Dunn took notice of during his visit that pushed the Buckeyes to the top in his mind.
“Seeing how Coach (Ryan) Day dealt with things in the spring practice. Coach (Kerry) Coombs’ intensity. Coach (Matt) Barnes’ intelligence,” Jantzen told Eleven Warriors previously, referencing why Ohio State immediately put itself as the frontrunner in his recruitment. “When I went to the spring practice, Coach Barnes told me to look at my position and imagine myself in that position and go through mental plays. Not every coach is gonna do that, you know what I’m saying?”
The Buckeye coaching staff is not quite sure what position Dunn will play, as he has the physical gifts to be either a safety or a cornerback. We believe he's likely to wind up as a safety, which is the spot where he has played at throughout his high school career.
The most important part for the staff, though, was locking that skillset down into the class.
The most important part for the Dunn family, meanwhile, was officially sending that signature into the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
“(It's) an incredible day,” Dunn's father, Mitchell Dunn, told Eleven Warriors. “This what Jantzen wanted, and that's to play with and against the best of the best. I couldn't be prouder of my son and the man he is becoming. His growth, mentally, on and off the field have been incredible.”
And now he'll get to enjoy watching his son join BIA.
