Ohio State Football: Tim Walton is earning his keep

Let's give credit where it's due for the Ohio State football team. Ryan Day absolutely crushed the hiring of Tim Walton as cornerbacks coach two years ago and the investment is starting to pay off in a big way.

Tim Walton came into a messy situation in his position room. The talent was depleted and underdeveloped from all the coaching turnover on the defensive side of the ball. Walton immediately got to work, both in recruiting and in getting his players ready to play. The 2022 secondary was vastly better than what the '21 team had and that was all coaching. And while he did have to piece a bunch of young players into the position such as Jyaire Brown and J.K. Johnson due to injury, Walton had them ready to play.

Last season was year two under Walton and boy did it show. He got the best out of Denzel Burke and slot corner Jordan Hancock, all while hitting a home run in the transfer portal with Davison Igbinosun. True freshman Jermaine Matthews showed in a limited role that he's ready to be the next lockdown corner in Columbus. And freshman Calvin Simpson-Hunt showed flashes as well.

While Walton is doing an excellent job in coaching up his players, the recruiting at the position has been taken to a different level under his watch. Both Matthews and Simpson-Hunt were top-100 players in the 2023 class. Walton added another pair of top-100 corners in the '24 class with the signings of Aaron Scott and Bryce West. And yesterday, Walton got his biggest commitment of all when five-star, top-10 overall player in the '25 class Devin Sanchez gave his verbal. Oh, and he also has another top-100, 2025 commit in Blake Woodby.

Simply put: Not even Kerry Coombs was recruiting at this level. The Buckeyes sure got lucky when Ryan Day hired Tim Walton away from the NFL. It was hard to project how he would do as a recruiter but to date he's been tremendous. More importantly, the players under his guidance have been developed and it shows on the field.