Jordan Hancock decommitment puts Buckeyes back in play

Ohio State has recruited Jordan Hancock harder than any school in the country, and on Tuesday night it took one giant step toward eventually landing the country’s No. 6-ranked cornerback.

Hancock, who committed to Clemson in March, has reopened his recruitment and decommitted from the Tigers. The move was first reported by Anna Hickey of 247Sports.com.

The Buckeyes had believed for some time that if they were able to get the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Hancock on campus in the spring that he would commit to Ohio State. That never happened thanks to the pandemic shutdown.

Instead, Hancock picked the Tigers on the same day that the recruiting world went into a standstill because of Covid-19. That commitment followed a late-February visit to Clemson by Hancock, which understandably left some questions to be answered fo the Buckeyes. Hancock, Georgia’s No. 9-ranked prospect, had long believed Ohio State was his ultimate destination for college.

“You know I was really set on Ohio State,” Hancock told Lettermen Row in March. “My family and my friends knew I was going to Ohio State. I had an Ohio State [game] controller, Ohio State blankets. In my head I was committed to Ohio State. That one visit to Clemson changed my mind.”

For whatever reason, Jordan Hancock has changed his mind again. Now the Buckeyes stand as the most likely benefactor. There is work to be done, though, because as of Tuesday night, there’s no plan for any imminent flip to Ohio State.

Georgia, Alabama, Florida State and a host of the country’s premier programs are going to try to get in the way of the Buckeyes, who are looking for help at cornerback in the Class of 2021 — especially after the recent decommitment of Ohio prospect Devonta Smith.

Ohio State has the country’s No. 1-ranked 2021 recruiting class with 18 commitments, but it has not added to that class since the late-May verbal of Arizona’s Denzel Burke.

Need more Ohio State recruiting #Stuff? Join the conversation below in the comments and sign up for Scarlet Sunrise, Lettermen Row’s morning newsletter that will get your day started with all the important Ohio State news you need to know. Prefer video? Follow Buckeyes football on YouTube with Lettermen Row. You can also get your recruiting fix by subscribing to Talking Stuff: The Ohio State Recruiting Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher.