JAKE SEIBERT WAS LEFT WITH NO CONNECTION TO OHIO STATE, COMMITTED FIVE MONTHS LATER
Ohio State kicker commit Jake Seibert lost all of his connections to Ohio State in January, except for Drue Chrisman. That was all he needed to become the next kicker for the Buckeyes.
There was a point in
Jake Seibert’s recruitment when he lost all connection to Ohio State.
Seibert had been in talks with the Buckeye staff dating back to Taver Johnson’s time on staff. The two had developed a good relationship, and Seibert was feeling positive about his chances at playing for his home-state’s school. Then it was announced in early-January that Johnson would not be returning to the Ohio State staff.
Once Johnson left Columbus for his job with the Oakland Raiders, Seibert’s connection to Ohio State was effectively eliminated.
Now, just six months later, Seibert
is committed to be Ohio State’s kicker from the 2020 class, and the No. 2 kicker in the nation has only one goal in mind before he hits campus in Columbus.
“I’m hoping to be better than Mike Nugent was,” Seibert told
Eleven Warriors. “I want to be the best kicker to ever come through Ohio State.”
Only a year ago, the Cincinnati kicker wasn’t thinking about kicking collegiately yet. He was working with a local specialists trainer – the same trainer that still works with Ohio State punter Drue Chrisman from time to time – trying to be the best kicker he could be for La Salle High School.
Then, he attended a small-scale camp ran by former Cincinnati kicker Andrew Gantz, who was entering his graduate transfer year at Northern Illinois in late-spring 2018. Seibert won the camp, and soon after, Gantz became his new trainer.
After winning a free Chris Sailer Camp admission, Seibert traveled to Las Vegas and competed well there too. But it was the next camp – the national TOP 12 Chris Sailer Camp in Los Angeles – where Seibert realized exactly how good he was.
Out of 45 kickers and punters at the camp, he was one of few 2020 prospects to be invited. When the time came for Sailer, a former All-American punter at UCLA and one of the top specialist evaluators in the nation, to name a top-12, Seibert was included. He was the only 2020 recruit to make the cut. He also made the cut last week in Los Angeles at the same camp for 2019 and owns a five-star rating on
ChrisSailerKicking.com.
“Not really,” Seibert said when asked if he considered where his ceiling might be as a kicker during those camps. “I’m nowhere near as strong as I could possibly get. I know the Ohio State strength program will get me much bigger than I am. I can get so much stronger and so much more flexible.”
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