Ohio State makes initial trimmed list for On300 cornerback Mark Zackery
COLUMBUS — If there is one position Ohio State is recruiting well defensively, it’s cornerback.
Ever since Tim Walton took over the room as the Buckeyes’ cornerback coach, all he’s done is transform the unit from an afterthought to one of the best in the country.
That’s paying dividends on the recruiting trail. Four-star Indianapolis (Ind) Ben Davis cornerback Mark Zackery has taken notice of that too. The 6-foot, 155-pound cornerback released his top 10 on Monday and Ohio State made the cut.
Cincinnati, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Tennessee and USC round out the schools for Zackery.
The Hoosier State native is the No. 133 overall prospect, the No. 16 cornerback and the No. 1 Indiana prospect in the On3 Industry Rankings. Those numbers adjust to No. 218, No. 25 and No. 3, respectively, by On3.
Zackery has called Ohio State his ‘dream school’ and the Buckeyes are making a push for him. He grew up a Buckeyes fan and has spent many Saturdays in front of the television watching the scarlet and gray do its thing. Ohio State has two cornerbacks in its 2025 class already — Devin Sanchez and Blake Woodby — and it looks like a third — Dorian Brew — is on the way.
But make no mistake, there is room for a fourth.
Walton visited with Zackery in December at one of his basketball games and it went well. The On300 cornerback is expected to visit in the spring.
Lettermen Row has notes about some of the other contenders as well.
The Contenders
All 10 schools are real contenders, but intel points toward two other schools as being the main competition for the Buckeyes.
Notre Dame and Michigan both have a high interest in Zackery. Especially the Irish. They have made a strong push for their in-state cornerback. He is visiting South Bend this weekend and spoke with Blue and Gold’s Kyle Kelly about Notre Dame.
“They treated me more as a priority for them,” Zackery told Blue & Gold after his latest visit on Sept. 23, which took place for the Ohio State game. “I got to talk to Coach Freeman a lot more before the game. I was first the first guy he talked to. It showed they are super interested in me, which I already knew from going there previous times.”
And on the Michigan front, this comes from The Wolverine’s Zach Libby.
“They run their program like the NFL,” Zackery said. “How we handle business at Ben Davis is what they do at Michigan. Chris comes back all the time and says that there’s no difference between Ben Davis and Michigan. They have the same work style and there wasn’t really a change (for him). So, the work I put in now would transfer if I was to go to that school.”
