Five-Star Cornerback Devin Sanchez Commits to Ohio State

SAN ANTONIO — Ohio State landed a huge foundational piece to its 2025 recruiting class on Saturday afternoon, picking up the pledge of five-star cornerback Devin Sanchez. The Houston (Texas) North Shore star committed to the Buckeyes at the All-American Bowl, choosing Ohio State over Alabama and Texas A&M.

“Just going down there, the amount of times I’ve been down there, building a relationship with coach (Tim) Walton and seeing what he’s done these past two years,” Sanchez told Buckeye Huddle ahead of his announcement this week. “They’ve done an amazing job and that’s something that I want to be a part of.”

This wasn’t a rushed decision for a made-for-TV announcement, however. The five-star prospect has known for a couple of months now that he wanted to make Columbus, Ohio his home for his college career.

“After the Penn State game,” he recalled, a big visit weekend for the Buckeyes. “Sometime after that, I just about it, that this is probably the place for me. Seeing them play, what they’ve done this year, especially that game, that was a big game that came all the way down to the end and they gave up like 12 points to a team that scores 30-points per game. That was my first time seeing coach Walton in action so that pushed it too.”

Sanchez is a massive recruiting win for Ohio State. The 6-foot-2, 170-pound prospect is a prototype cornerback, considered the nation’s top junior at his position by most recruiting services.

The Buckeyes had a veteran cornerbacks room this season, but still let true freshman Jermaine Mathews breakthrough and earn playing time. Watching that dynamic was another factor in Sanchez’s decision to commit to Ohio State.

“That means a lot,” Sanchez explained. “They’re letting the little dog play too. They’re letting the freshmen get into the fire and all of that stuff and it’s good that (the veteran corners) are there supporting him and everything and now going into his sophomore year and Jermaine is probably going to be the guy there.”

With a five-star talent at quarterback driving offensive recruiting, the Buckeyes now have a five-star talent to drive defensive recruiting for its class of 2025 and Sanchez plans to take that role seriously.

“I’m going to be very active recruiting,” he added. “That’s what I’ve got to do. They tell me they want the top class in 2025 and me being the player that I am and having the pull that I may have, I’ve got to do it. They’re looking at me to help get some guys that they want, on both sides of the ball. I’m going to have a big role to play.”

One bit of comforting news for Ohio State fans will be the relationship that Sanchez has started to build with fellow big-time defensive back Dorian Brew. The Ohio native moved to Texas during the fall, causing some concern in the fan base that the move might harm Ohio State’s chances of ultimately landing Brew. Sanchez has already started working on that one.

“I talk to Dorian all the time,” he said. “I think I just talked to him (Thursday) so we talk a lot. The day I didn’t have a game, I actually went out to his first Conroe (High School) game, his first Texas game. So I went out there and watched him play. Me and Dorian have a good relationship.”

Hear more from the newest member of Ohio State’s 2025 recruiting class in our extensive one-on-one sit down with the five-star talent out of Houston, Texas.