Alabama Freshman All-American Safety Caleb Downs Reportedly Transferring To Ohio State

The Buckeyes have struck again with another impact addition via the transfer portal, this time reportedly landing former Alabama safety Caleb Downs.

Source: Caleb Downs is committing to Ohio State. The former Alabama safety led the Tide in tackles this season. pic.twitter.com/zCKNczi65W
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 20, 2024

Ryan Day and his Ohio State team desperately wanted Downs coming out of Hoschton (Ga.) the first time around, but sometimes you must wait for a good thing and time paid off for the Buckeyes.

The sudden retirement of Nick Saban thrust the Crimson Tide into chaos and even with it taking just a few short days to land on Kalen DeBoer as a replacement, the portal opened for 30 days upon Saban’s departure and the Buckeyes were there waiting.

Checking in at 6-foot, 203-pounds, Downs would lead the Crimson Tide in tackles in 2023 with 107, 40 more than any other member of the team. Downs would also have two picks, 3.5 tackles for loss and four PBU’s in 14 games of action for Bama.

Downs will have four years to play three after completing a full season in 2023 for Alabama but expectations are that the Buckeyes would get two years from Downs who seems to be on pace as a three-and-done if his first year is any sort of indication.

Ohio State is bringing back four of five starters from last season, only Josh Proctor is out after exhausting his NCAA eligibility. That leaves one spot open in the starting safety rotation along with Lathan Ransom, one of several Buckeyes announcing their desire to return for a final season in 2024.

Day’s Buckeyes have focused a very targeted search when it comes to portal players and have done a solid job landing quarterback Will Howard (Kansas State), running back Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss) and tight end Will Kacmarek (Ohio). Downs marks the 4^th transfer player and the Buckeyes have addressed almost every need outside of potentially adding another offensive lineman.

Downs was a consensus-top-10 player according to the recruiting services coming out of Mill Creek high school and a five-star across the board.

Be sure to keep it locked in here at BuckeyeHuddle.com for more coverage of this breaking news, what it means for the Buckeyes moving forward and more on what the Buckeyes are getting with the addition of Downs.

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