Ohio State announced head coach Urban Meyer’s retirement at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, and less than 12 hours later, 4-star Florida safety Lejond Cavazos announced his decommitment from OSU.
Cavazos had been committed since June 27, but with Meyer’s retirement, his recruitment has now been reopened. He will still consider Ohio State moving forward. Cavazos tweeted out his decision.
“First off, I would like to start by thanking Coach Urban Meyer and the rest of his staff for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to play the sport I love at the next level,” he wrote.
“Playing for Coach Meyer has always been a dream of mine that I always wanted to fulfill. I wish him nothing but the best and everlasting success. I would also like to thank Buckeye Nation for supporting me throughout my junior season.
“This has been put into consideration a couple of times and most definitely wasn’t an easy decision to make. But with God, my family, and friends, I would like to announce that I am decommitting from The Ohio State University.
“[Ohio State] will remain a top school of mine, but I feel the need to explore my options and take a closer look at other Universities. Please respect my decision as this was not an easy choice for me to make…”
Cavazos (6-0 186) is the No. 183 player in the nation per the 247Sports Composite and the No. 9 safety in the 2020 class overall.
The Buckeyes will have the opportunity to continue recruiting Cavazos, and new head coach Ryan Day will be on the road Wednesday touching base with a number of top prospects.
For the most part, recruits have been receptive to Day’s ascension to head coach.
Being a 2020 propect, Ohio State has roughly 13 months to re-convince Cavazos that Ohio State is where he wants to be.
I don’t blame the kid. If he aspired to play for Meyer first and a Buckeye further down the list, I can understand he would want to re-assess. Ohio kid pulling out would be tougher to take. This is a major decision, the kid should take some time to make sure he is where he is meant to be.
This morning 7 kids said they are not changing their minds and will still sign with OSU. Lejond is a 2020 recruit. We still have time to change his mind.
I personally would like to see OSU get more recuits that want to be Buckeyes first. They need to go back to closing the borders of Ohio and getting more in-state recruits. I watched Akron Hoban have a dominate OL who is going to TTUN and the have a TE going to Bama…why are those kids leaving Ohio?!
Good luck to this kid, but if he doesn’t want to be a Buckeye…see ya.
And it begins…sigh