Jaiden Woodbey, the nation's No. 3-ranked athlete in the 2018 class, committed to Ohio State on Monday night in another big recruiting win for Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes, less than a week after the Class of 2017's signing day.
Woodbey, from Bellflower, California, and the No. 28-ranked prospect overall in 2018, picked Ohio State over USC and surging Nebraska after visiting Ohio State twice since the summer and USC nearly a dozen times in the last year.
"With Ohio State, I think they are going to give me the best opportunity as a college football player, and the best fit academically," Woodbey said in a post to Twitter.
THE DECISION HAS BEEN MADE... pic.twitter.com/JP7oYDd8Wz
— I AM JAIDEN WOODBEY™ (@JaidenWoodbey6) February 7, 2017
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound talent that is being recruited as a safety by Ohio State had been considered to be leaning toward the Buckeyes for months. But the hometown Trojans made a strong run in recent weeks with the momentum to end the season -- and closing out the 2017 class finishing with six ESPN 300 commitments on signing day alone.
For Ohio State, Woodbey becomes the third ESPN Junior 300 verbal commitment for Urban Meyer and staff, with all three coming from different hotbed states. Running back Brian Snead out of Florida was the first commitment for Ohio State in 2018 on July 22, followed a week later by ESPN Jr. 300 quarterback Emory Jones out of Georgia. Now there's Woodbey out of California.
Ohio State, which finished with the second-ranked class in 2017, is set up for a ninth straight top-10 class, with verbals from the three of the top 105 players in the junior class. The Buckeyes also are among the favorites to land No. 4 Jackson Carman, No. 9 Eyabi Anoma, No. 12 Teradja Mitchell, No 15 Taron Vincent and a number of others ESPNJr300s.