Football

Jaelen Gill Announces He Will Transfer To Boston College

Jaelen Gill Ohio State H-back Buckeyes

Former Ohio State wide receiver Jaelen Gill now has a new home.

Tuesday, the former Buckeye announced that he would transfer to Boston College.

Boston College is coached by former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who spent last year seeing what Gill was capable of doing in practice.

Gill spent two seasons as a backup at OSU. He played in just six games in 2019, catching six passes for 51 yards. Gill scored his only career touchdown against Rutgers, on a 32-yard pass. He had one catch for 11 yards as a true freshman in 2018.

Gill came to Ohio State with sky-high expectations. He was ranked the No. 30 player overall in the class of 2018, just outside the range of a 5-star prospect.

He started his high school career at Westerville South as a running back, but transitioned to more of a wide receiver role as a senior. That led many to expect that he might have a smoother transition to the college level than other “running back to H receiver” prospects like Parris Campbell.

However, Gill was stuck behind Campbell, KJ Hill, and CJ Saunders at H in 2018, and only played sparingly behind Hill in 2019.

This spring, the Buckeyes moved sophomore standout Garrett Wilson to H, meaning that Gill would likely be facing a limited role for 2020 as well.

Now, he’s headed to Boston College where he may have an easier path to a starting job. He is applying to be eligible for 2020 and Ohio State is not expected to stand in his way.

With Gill gone, Wilson will almost certainly be the clear-cut starter at H. Saunders has applied for a sixth season of eligibility, but has not officially announced whether he was granted one.

If he can’t play, then the Buckeyes would likely turn to some combination of their talented freshman receivers behind Wilson. Players like Mookie Cooper or Jaxon Smith-Njigba are two possible options in the rotation inside.

The official departure of Gill leaves the Buckeyes’ at 86 scholarship players for the fall, including Saunders, whose status is still unclear.

3 Responses

  1. Enough about saunders already. Hasn’t been healthy in 3 years. And when he was he played sparingly.he was just a coaches novelty. He can comeback on his own dime. Jalean Gill is soft. He should just hang up the cleats and concentrate on medical school.

    1. That is a little crass. I wish Jalen nothing but the best. He is a very solid kid. And Boston College is a great school. And how many years of B1G football did you play?

  2. always useful to follow ex players and coaches that ‘leave early’ and/or why….

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