Ohio State: 4-star 2020 wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba commits to Buckeyes
The Buckeyes third-ranked 2020 recruiting class has just gotten one man better. Texas 4-star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a 4-star prospect from Rockwall, Texas, has committed to Ohio State.
I just want to thank GOD! pic.twitter.com/brVbw7XuLo
— Jaxon Smith-Njigba (@jaxon_smith1) November 5, 2018
A 6-foot-1, 190-pound athlete, Smith-Njigba told Lettermen Row about his intentions as he landed in Dallas on Sunday night, fresh off a two-day visit with Ohio State.
“I don’t even know what it was,” Texas’Â 36th-ranked prospect in 2020 said when asked why he was committing today. “It’s just the weekend I had, and how they’ve been recruiting me. They’ve been coming at me hard since they offered, more than anyone else, and it just felt like ‘when you know, you know.’ I know it’s the place I want to be.
“The coaching staff made me feel like family and I know they want someone to get the wide receiver recruiting popping in 2020, like Garrett Wilson did in 2019. They’ve said they wanted that to be me. They want me to be a guy that says ‘let’s go get this guy’ and help bring in other players.”
Wilson, a 5-star 2019 Buckeyes commitment from Austin, Texas, was in Columbus this weekend as well. Smith-Njigba says the two spent a lot of time talking about the future.
“We were just saying, we wanted to start a new thing,” he said. “I mean, it’s not new, but Ohio State is the place to be and if you know, there’s no reason to wait. Garrett played a big role in recruiting me, as well.
“I loved Columbus. The city itself reminds me a lot of home, the Dallas Fort-Worth area. I loved everything about being at Ohio State.”
A planned trip to Notre Dame for next weekend is now off.
“I am 100-percent focused and committed to Ohio State,” Smith-Njigba said. “I will be back there a couple of times, maybe this winter and the spring. I’m not sure of when I’ll take my official visit yet.”
The biggest role, though, was played by receivers coach Brian Hartline and Ohio State Director of Player Personnel Mark Pantoni. That duo identified early that Smith-Njigba has something special, well beyond his designation as the country’s 59th-ranked receiver.
The addition of Smith-Njigba brings the Buckeyes 2020 class to seven total commits. He’s the first receiver in the group and hopes to help bring 5-star prospect Julian Fleming and 4-star receivers Rakim Jarrett and Gee Scott to Columbus with him.
Stay tuned to Lettermen Row for more on the commitment of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ohio State’s second commitment of the day. Earlier on Sunday afternoon, the Buckeyes added 2019 running back Marcus Crowley, a 3-star player from Jacksonville, Fla. who had been committed to Miami since December of 2017.
