Devin Royal explains why it was important to stay at Ohio State amid other offers

With the NCAA Transfer Portal available, college athletes usually have to justify why they stayed at or left for a given program. However, for Ohio State’s Devin Royal, the decision to come back to Columbus was an easier one for him.

When recently speaking to the media, Royal first answered why he was back for a junior season with the Buckeyes. That started with his connection with Jake Diebler, who was one of the lead recruiters of him when he committed to the program under the previous tenure before he became their interim and now full-time head coach as of last year.

“I just feel like, the chemistry I have with my coach and, just the love we have for each other and the team. I feel like that’s the main reason I stayed,” said Royal. “You know, we just click.”

Royal also noted the team’s plans for a positional change with him, playing more of wing role at the three than necessarily an inside one as a four, was also important to him. He has liked where it has him through this point of the summer with him developing and adding to his game.

“You know, helping me move to three is also a big reason why I stayed too,” said Royal.

“I mean, I just like everything about it. It’s helped me be more versatile, (will) help me play more further in my career and just be able to do everything,” Royal said. “So, I feel like I love it, in my opinion.”

Royal has averaged 9.1 points (52% FG, 24.4% 3PT) and 4.6 rebounds in 64 appearances through his underclassman seasons at Ohio State. He then improved those stats in 31 games, 27 being starts, as a sophomore this past season, posting 13.7 points (52.5% FG, 27.6% 3PT), a team-high of 6.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and nearly a steal per game. He’ll now look to take another step, in a different role seemingly, this next year for the Buckeyes.

Again, a player like Royal could have hit the open market if he chose and had a lot of value in the portal. Instead, with the plans that Diebler has for him next season, he’s happy to be back for year three for him at Ohio State.

Jake Diebler challenges Royal to be ‘okay being uncomfortable’ this summer

Devin Royal took a step as a sophomore this past season for Ohio State. To take another as a junior, though, Jake Diebler needs him to be ready to do some different things for the Buckeyes.

Diebler recently spoke on what the next step in the development of Royal would be in Columbus. He said that would start with some discomfort for him over this offseason as he learns and adjusts to a different role they’ll be asking him to play than he has in the past.

“Yeah, he’s got to be okay being uncomfortable this summer. And, listen, he can do it,” said Diebler. “The one thing about Devin, he’s got a really high basketball IQ and, at the end of the day, he’s going to find a way to be productive. He’s always done that in his entire career at every level. So, that production has got to look a little different but it can’t be completely, we can’t completely go away from some of the things that makes him special.”

Diebler doesn’t expect Royal to be ready to play in an all-new way and do it well immediately. It’s going to take time with plenty of it as there’s four months still until they take the floor again after the summer and fall. Still, with his versatility, namely on offense with more to work on with defense, Diebler thinks it’ll only be a matter of that time for Royal.

“Like, he doesn’t have to be perfect at it yet. We’ve got to build him up to where he can do it but, I’m very, very confident he can do it,” said Diebler. “In fact, I don’t really have a whole of worry offensively. Defensively, it’s going to be an adjustment for him. You know, he’s been able to wrestle with guys inside most of his career. Now he’s got to be able to be on the perimeter more, identify different – it’s a different type of coverage, right. It’s a different type of action he’s going to see. So, that’ll just – he just needs reps. He needs experience. Because, again, he can see it, he’s plenty athletic enough. As he learns to use his size and length well on the perimeter, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to be able to do it.”

“So, yeah, we may still throw the ball to him in the long post but it may be a different way for him to get there. He may be driving it from the perimeter to get there instead of him hanging around the basket and then cutting to get there,” said Diebler. “I was really impressed. He worked really hard to improve his three-point shooting. You know, the last, I don’t know, 15, 16 games? You can fact check me on this but he was mid-30s, I think, from three. So, significant improvement as to where he started the season, right. And he’ll go up from there. It’s no question in my mind. He has shot the ball really, really well. He’s been training with Bruce. He’s been training with some of our perimeter players all spring. We were intentional about that.”