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OT Zen Michalski (transfer to ???)

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MICHALSKI PEER RECRUITING
Zen Michalski has officially been a part of the 2021 class for only two weeks now, but he's already seen how close-knit the group is. He's already been welcomed into it with open arms, and he's already become a part of the group by starting to do what many of the other commits have done – peer recruiting.

He's already hitting the ground running in that department, and it's not something he's uncomfortable with as he had already been doing that at the school he decommitted from.

“That’s what I did a lot at Louisville,” Michalski told Eleven Warriors. “I was kind of a recruiting guy for us, and I loved doing it so I hope I’ll get to do it again.”

Michalski has already started doing that, and he will probably grow more comfortable in that role as we progress over the next few weeks.

MICHALSKI EXTRAS
Just some extra snippets here from my interviews with Michalski and his parents last week:

I spoke with Michalski's father, Lennon, and his mother, Tamara Ware, about how blown away they have been my this whole process and how surreal the past 2-3 weeks have been.

“Oh, my gosh. I am just in awe,” Ware said. “It’s taken me a while to comprehend just how incredible it all is, and I’m still – my jaw is dropped every day on the floor. When I see him and he walks in the room, I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh. That’s my baby. My first-born.’ He’s incredible.”

Michalski's grandfather, on his mother's side, played football at Wayne State on a scholarship, and Ware played tennis on scholarship for a year at Eastern Kentucky.

Meanwhile, Michalski's grandfather, on his father's side, is a massive Browns and Buckeyes fan who is heavily invested in both teams. So when Michalski was even offered a scholarship by Ohio State, “our whole family was just shook by it,” Lennon said. “We can’t believe he’s going there. When you see something like that from afar for so long, you can’t believe that you’re gonna be a part of it.



Lennon is the one who accompanied Michalski on the impactful four-hour visit to campus and the city of Columbus that helped cement his decision to commit to the Buckeyes.

But that wasn't Michalski's first-ever visit to Columbus. His dad is actually from Ohio (and still has a lot of family that lives in the area) and took Michalski to Columbus when he was 3 years old to see his great grandmother. That was the last time he had been to the city, but when he made his return trip that sealed the deal.

“As we were walking around and just loosely talking, he was like, ‘Dad, I can really see myself here. Not just for the football but for the campus and learning as well,’” Lennon said.

One of the biggest selling points (other than Buckeye Donuts, of course) was seeing the history at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, even if he could only look at it from the outside.

“Seeing the trophy room, he’s big into history. He’s big into knowing that it’s coming from some sort of bigger place and being part of that history and seeing all those trophies and how much they’ve achieved, he feels like he has that opportunity to excel. Not just for himself but bringing others with him,” Lennon said. “We were starting with these small schools at first, and we would always tell him, ‘It’s OK if we don’t get to the Ohio State level.’ And next thing you know, I still can’t believe it, he says, ‘Ohio State just contacted me.’ He’s been talking about them for a while as something that could maybe, possibly happen. But probably not. And now that it’s here, he’s pretty overwhelmed with it.”
 
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WHY MICHALSKI PICKED OSU
Why Michalski ultimately decided to come to Ohio State was a fair question to ask him. He had been a commit to Louisville – a school less than 30 minutes away from his Floyd Central (Indiana) High School – since April before flipping to Ohio State in November. He had the opportunity to go to the Cardinals and potentially see the field as early as his freshman or sophomore season, possibly even becoming a starter in his second season.

So why pick Ohio State? Why pick a place where you realistically won't see the field until at least year three but quite possibly year four?

“At Louisville, the coaches were telling me – and I don’t know how much of this is true – I could’ve been on the field as a freshman or been a backup and start as a sophomore because they were in dire need of linemen,” Michalski said. “But I’d still much, much rather have quality over quantity in years playing and be the best I could possibly be for one or two years instead of being mediocre and not develop and not really be ready to be on the field for four years. I really want to get a shot at going to the league after college. Obviously, the best place to get developed and get ready for that is at Ohio State.”
 
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