'He just fell in love': Jontae Gilbert becomes first 2025 commit for Ohio State football

Jontae Gilbert felt at home the first time he stepped onto Ohio State’s campus.

The 2025 cornerback out of Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta remembers walking around the facilities, seeing the way the Ohio State football coaches bonded with their players. He left with the intention of committing right then and there.

But Gilbert continued to wait, knowing how early it was. He wanted to make sure the Buckeyes were the right fit.

Less than two months later, after talking weekly with Ohio State cornerbacks coach Tim Walton, Gilbert couldn’t wait any longer, committing to the Buckeyes and becoming the first member of the program’s 2025 class.

“The way he kept it 100 with me, he didn’t sugarcoat nothing," Gilbert said of Walton. "He got straight to the point. He liked me. He said he wouldn’t be recruiting me if he didn’t like me.”

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It was the same potential Stanley Prichett saw in Gilbert from the moment he first stepped into Douglass’ weight room, seeing a “tremendous athlete” that gives everything he has on the football field.

“He had so much potential because he liked to always work,” Prichett said. “He was always in the weight room, always the first one in the weight room.”

Prichett believed in Gilbert’s path to playing college football. He just didn’t believe it would happen so soon. But with a young team in 2021, the 2025 cornerback found his way onto the field and never left.

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In the second game of the season against Wesleyan, Gilbert recorded 13 tackles, two pass breakups and an interception. It was the moment he realized he could play at the highest level.

Modeling himself after former Ohio State and current New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore, Gilbert became what he described as a “great ball-hawking cornerback” that got the attention of Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Arkansas.

But when Walton first visited Douglass in March, Prichett said he could tell that Ohio State felt different for the 2025 cornerback.

“I think Ohio State speaks for itself,” Prichett said. “You can just look at the product they put on the field. They put the best talent on the football field at the college level, and those guys go on to the NFL. The product speaks for itself.

“He just fell in love with it. I think it’s a good fit for him.”

While his commitment comes early in his high school career, Gilbert knows more attention is coming.

“I feel like other schools are just probably going to offer me just to offer me instead of my real talent and say all that other stuff,” Gilbert said. “But coach Walton didn’t sugarcoat nothing. He told me the truth. He was one of the coaches that kept it truthful with me.” 

Prichett thinks Gilbert will remain with Ohio State for the long haul, saying Gilberttold him he’s “100% committed” while knowing that other schools are going to come in and try and put pressure on him. 

When Gilbert committed, he remembers Walton telling him that he couldn’t visit any other schools or talk to any other coaches, with the program coming off losing four-star cornerback Dijon Johnson in the 2023 class. 

To the 2025 cornerback, that’s not even a possibility. 

Moving forward, Gilbert said his sole focus is on development, continuing to hone his technique and getting stronger, while also shouldering the pressure of representing the Buckeyes’ 2025 class as its first member.

It’s a level of potential Prichett believes Gilbert can match.

“Shoot, the sky’s the limit,” Prichett said. “Now the bull's-eye’s on him, so he has to continue to work hard.”

cgay@dispatch.com 

@_ColinGay

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cornerback Jontae Gilbert begins Ohio State football's 2025 class