Ohio State Buckeyes cornerback transfer Dominick Kelly comes from the Georgia Bulldogs with rotational experience under head coach Kirby Smart, defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann, and defensive backs coach Donte Williams during his one season in Athens. That's infamously hard to do as a freshman, but Kelly was able to crack UGA's corner rotation in a year he took a redshirt.
By the looks of it, Kelly will be a rotational player once again in Columbus, with Bucknuts' Dave Biddle seeing a definite role for the former IMG Academy star. Per Biddle on Saturday, "Third-year sophomore corner– a transfer from Georgia – looked really good today. Broke up a couple of passes and nearly had a great INT when he jumped a route. Kelly is a big corner at 6-2, 190. He's gonna play. He'll be a backup, but he will play and add good depth to the room."
Famously, the Buckeyes stole Caleb Downs away from the Dawgs following his transfer from the Alabama Crimson Tide in the wake of Nick Saban's retirement. Kelly comes to central Ohio with fewer accolades and far less proven than Downs, but it's another notable win for OSU in UGA's home region.
Dominick Kelly could be the future of the CB position at Ohio State
Kelly will be Jermaine Mathews Jr.'s primary backup as a boundary corner this coming season. Devin Sanchez will be the starting field corner. After this coming season, it's possible that Mathews is off to the NFL, and Kelly is opposite Sanchez. That's the plan, anyway.
Kelly has four years to develop into the kind of corner Tim Walton can develop into a pro, but also someone who can be a stalwart on the Buckeyes' defense for several years. If he replaces Mathews next year, he'll have to fill a leadership void as well.
Of course, it's somewhat worrisome that Kelly went from one massive brand to another in the span of two years, but that's to be expected from an IMG Academy alum. And frankly, there's nowhere to go but down from Ohio State in its current form. Fretting about another transfer next January is a fool's errand at this point.
Kelly is the Buckeyes' future, in a perfect world. We'll see if it all plays out that way, starting this fall.