The local prospect is the son of the late, great Will Smith, who played for the Buckeyes from 2000-03.
The NCAA-mandated recruiting dead period came to an end on Friday morning, and Ohio State wasted no time offering Dublin (Ohio) Coffman three-star defensive end Will Smith Jr.
Smith Jr. – who doesn’t yet have a composite ranking for the class of 2023 – is none other than the son of the late, great Will Smith, who played for the Buckeyes from 2000-03, helped the program win the national championship during his junior season and was a team captain, first-team All-American and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.
Smith went on to have a nine-year career in the NFL after being selected by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft, which included a win in Super Bowl XLIV and a Pro Bowl appearance. He was tragically shot and killed following a traffic accident in New Orleans in 2016.
The younger Smith – who wears the same No. 91 his father wore with the Saints – attended numerous Ohio State games as a fan growing up, but made his first visit as a recruit for the blowout win over Maryland in early October. He then returned for the victory over Purdue in mid-November.
The 6-foot-3 and 260-pounder had been in contact with director of player personnel Mark Pantoni, defensive line coach Larry Johnson and former linebackers coach Al Washington early in the recruiting process. New defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, meanwhile, opened the lines of communication on Friday after taking the job back on Jan. 2.
While Smith Jr. now holds double-digit offers from schools such as Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Northwestern and West Virginia, there’s no doubt this was the offer he longed for. Perhaps it won’t be long before he follows in his father’s footsteps and commits to the Buckeyes?
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