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“He told me that I’m a high player on his board for the 2026 class,” Jiles said. “He told me to look at all the 2025 commits they have right now and he asked me if I wanted to be just like them. I love seeing a lot of top cornerbacks buying in under a great coach. I love competition so that’s definitely a top thing for me.”
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Jiles used to be a Miami commit but decommitted from the Hurricanes in February. While he doesn’t yet hold a composite rank from 247Sports, he figures to be one of the top cornerbacks in his recruiting class. So far, he’s earned more than 20 Division I offers, including Miami, Arizona, Colorado, FIU, Florida, Kansas, LSU, Michigan State, Missouri, Nevada, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, USC, Utah, Washington and Washington State.
Jiles attends football powerhouse IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida) but is originally from Inglewood, California. Walton and Jiles first became connected in December after Walton made a trip down to his school to have an introductory conversation with him.
“Coach Walton came down to my school a few months ago and got into contact with me. That’s when I’ve been in contact with him and we’ve been in contact since,” Jiles said. “We don’t talk as much since I’m part of the 2026 class (and he can’t contact me directly yet), but as much as I’m able to call him, we just talk and catch up with each other.”
While on campus, Walton and Jiles broke down film together, and the IMG Academy product couldn’t help but notice how loaded the Buckeyes are on defense this spring.
“I was in the film room really, and I got to see how good their defense is,” Jiles said. “Tim Walton showed me his resume and the biggest takeaway I got from that is how Jalen Ramsey talks so highly of him. He said he was the best DB coach he’s ever had so that was a big thing for me. The energy every player had in the meetings was amazing, you can see how much of a brotherhood they are.”
