CB Sanchez, top-10 recruit in ’25, picks Ohio St.

Blake Baumgartner, ESPN Staff WriterJan 6, 2024, 03:16 PM ET

Ohio State bolstered its 2025 class Saturday with a commitment from four-star cornerback Devin Sanchez.

Sanchez (No. 10 in the 2025 ESPN 300), the second-best cornerback in the next cycle, made his pledge official during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio and will be on campus beginning in January 2025.

“My plans are to just come in [with my] head down, just work because I know I’m not going to be at the top of the depth chart when I get there,” he told ESPN last month. “I’m coming in and [competing with] guys that already have been there, been in that system. So I’m ready to work in the weight room, on the field.

“I know me and how I am. And with this football stuff, especially, you know, I don’t want to be on the bench. I don’t want to be behind nobody. I want that starting spot, so I’m going to do whatever [I have] to do to get that starting spot and keep it, because college is not like high school.

“I don’t want a coach to have second thoughts on me.”

In choosing Ohio State over Alabama and Texas A&M, Sanchez stressed that the communication with cornerbacks coach Tim Walton and safeties coach Perry Eliano was a primary selling point.

As a junior for North Shore High School in Houston, the 6-foot-2, 170-pound Sanchez recorded 32 tackles (12 solo) with 11 passes defended and five interceptions (one TD) for a team that won its first 15 games before losing to Duncanville High School in the state championship game.

He joins a class for Ryan Day that features four ESPN 300 prospects, including St. Frances Academy (Maryland) cornerback Blake Woodby (No. 27 overall in 2025), who decided for Ohio State on Oct. 14.

Sanchez added that he silently committed to Day and the Buckeyes in early November, shortly after taking in the Buckeyes’ 20-12 victory over Penn State on Oct. 21 — a change from his original timeline of later this fall.

“I don’t really like to lose,” he said. “I may have lost the state championship, but I may lose maybe one or two games a year. I don’t really like losing. I don’t really like losing three, four, five, six games. I don’t like that. I mean, Ohio State’s not going to lose no more than two games. So, I mean, that’s what I want to be a part of.

“And then, you know, it’s just the relationship part. I went to Ohio State and then I was supposed to go to Alabama for the Alabama-LSU game a couple weeks later. But it just didn’t happen. So I just pulled the trigger and then I just felt like I should be a Buckeye.”

Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ unit set a different tone in his second year since coming over from Oklahoma State during a 11-2 campaign in 2023 — finishing third in the country in total defense (265.4 YPG) while owning the FBS’ top passing defense (145.9 YPG).

But the Buckeyes’ seven interceptions tied Illinois for fewest in the Big Ten.

And that’s where Sanchez says he can help. “What Coach Knowles and Coach Walton is doing in the back with the guys [stands out] and I like how they play,” Sanchez said. “And I think the scheme fits me. They play a little off, and I think I could play off and run with anybody.

“But they’re also pressing and being physical at the line of scrimmage. That’s my type of ball right there.”