Once upon a time, Fort Worth (Texas) All Saints teammates and friends Demetrius Knox and Daniel Gresham planned on attending the same college. It didn’t work out that way, but now both are headed home for college after Knox committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday.
Demetrius Knox commits to the Ohio State Buckeyes
The Bruins may have been the leader in June, but the home-state Buckeyes won out in the end.
A Kentucky native, Gresham is headed back to Kentucky to play for Louisville, while the 6’4, 290-pound Knox will play offensive guard for his home-state Buckeyes. Throughout the recruiting process, when asked about Ohio State, Knox would respond, “I’ll always be a Buckeye,” which will now be the case in more than just his heart.
A consensus four-star prospect who originally committed to Texas last fall to join Gresham, Knox was the first of the two to decommit from the Longhorns on April 22 after visiting Ohio State in violation of the Texas no-visit policy for recruits that head coach Mack Brown instituted after having five players decommit in the 2013 class. In June, he declared the UCLA Bruins his leader, but in the end, the opportunity to go home to play his college football trumped offers from the the Bruins and the other schools in his top five -- Miami, Florida State, and Oregon made up the other three schools -- among numerous other offers.
Even if the All Saints product and Ohio native can’t play outside in college, he projects well at guard because he’s a lean 290 pounds, with little to no bad weight on his frame. By staying lean and quick, Knox can pass set well enough to stop pass rushers in high school and show some good reactive body movement to mirror defenders while playing tackle. In the area of staying back and balanced in his cylinder, Knox can allow himself to get out on his toes at times, something he will need to correct moving forward.
In the run game, Knox has experience working out of two-point and three-point stances. Coming off the ball, he can show good leverage at the point of attack and at the second level, where he uses his flexibility to get under the pads of smaller defenders. Persistent enough to work to the whistle, Knox could stand to improve his overall punch and ability to plant smaller players on their backside, as he often ends up merely walling them off. An increase in core and upper body strength when he gets into a college strength and conditioning program should allow Knox to become more adept at relieving opponents of their footing.
The All Saints product is now the 15th pledge for the Buckeyes in 2014, joining a class that now ranks No. 6 in the nation and tops in the Big 10. With four offensive linemen, Ohio State is building a strong corps for its future on the offensive line, while the class overall has enough highly-ranked prospects that Knox comes in at No. 8 overall in the class in terms of his overall grade. When the median commit in a class is ranked 94 by 247Sports? Yeah, it might be a good one.
All Saints (Fort Worth, TX) Demetrius Knox - OL #78 (via Maxprepssports)
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