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ATH Jaelen Gill (transfer to BC, transfer to Fresno St.)

SUPREME '18 SUMMER ENROLLEES START MATRICULATING AT OHIO STATE

JAELEN GILL

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Eight members of Ohio State's vaunted 2018 class, the Supreme 18, early enrolled back in January.

The rest of the reinforcements started arriving in Columbus Saturday with four-star defensive end Tyreke Smith, four-star safety Josh Proctor, and four-star linebacker K'Vaughan Pope marking the first wave of summer enrollees.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...r-enrollees-start-matriculating-at-ohio-state
 
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Buckeye Football Freshman Focus: H-Back Jaelen Gill

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Jaelen Gill came to Ohio State from faraway Westerville South High School, which is about a 20-minute drive from the north rotunda of Ohio Stadium.

Gill, who grew up a Buckeye fan, was the No. 30 player overall in the 2018 recruiting class and the No. 2 all-purpose back in the nation.

As a sophomore, he rushed for 1,553 yards, but missed most of his junior season with an injury. As a senior, he was featured in a role more like the one he will have at Ohio State.

Gill did not enroll early, and as an H-back, he enters OSU at one of the Buckeyes’ deepest positions.

What To Like

Listed at 6-foot-1 and 182 pounds, Jaelen Gill will add weight and get stronger so that he can be the complete H-back that Urban Meyer wants. This means lining up out wide, in the slot, in the backfield, and anywhere else a football can go. And he can make something happen from every single angle.

Fast and smooth, Gill has a natural athleticism that allows him to adapt quickly to whatever he is asked to do.

You can see this just in his highlights from his freshman season.



Gill has experience running the ball inside and out, and is also a very skilled receiver who catches the ball with his hands. He is fluid with and without the football, getting to top speed quickly.

And his top speed is pretty good.



The Potential

The similarities to current Ohio State H-back Parris Campbell are striking, and what you see from Campbell this year will give you an idea of what you’ll see from Gill down the road.

The difference between the two, however, is that Gill is a much more advanced receiver than Campbell was when he arrived. Gill has spent almost as much time at receiver as he has running back. There won’t be nearly the same difficulty in moving from high school running back to college wide receiver.

You can see his pass catching skills on display here.



Entire article: https://theozone.net/2018/06/buckeye-football-focus-jaelen-gill/
 
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JAELEN GILL “LOOKING FORWARD TO JUST BEING BACK” ON FIELD AFTER REDSHIRT, TRANSITION TO H-BACK
Colin Hass-Hill on January 25, 2019 at 10:10 am @chasshill
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Long before Parris Campbell set the Ohio State single-season record of 90 catches in 2018, he sat on the bench, where Jaelen Gill spent most of his time in the fall.

Not only did Campbell enter college as a 17-year-old freshman, but he had to change positions. He played running back for St. Vincent-St. Mary, rushing for 1,584 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior. But the combination of his 6-foot-1 frame and track speed that led him to break the 60-meter dash state record with a 6.85-second sprint made him a natural wide receiver in college. Since he didn’t play that position in high school, Campbell endured an extended transition period.

As a freshman at Ohio State, he didn’t play a single snap, taking a redshirt year. The next season, he played in four games and didn’t catch a pass. In his third year in the program, Campbell became the team’s primary kickoff returner, but still had a minor offensive role, catching just 13 passes. He finally broke out with 50 catches as a redshirt junior before his first-team All-Big Tenredshirt senior season that propelled him to the upper rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Campbell needed to take his time, take his reps, to get to where he stands today. Gill, making the same transition from running back to H-back, took his time and reps this season – in practice, of course.

After entering the program as a four-star all-purpose back – the No. 30 overall prospect in his class – who played running back in high school, Gill spent most of the season working on the intricacies of the wide receiver position. He played in just two games, sitting out the rest as Campbell and K.J. Hill manned the H-back spot.

Half a decade ago, Campbell went through the running back-to-wide receiver adjustment period. This fall, Gill has a chance to join the wideout rotation and help replace Campbell.

“I just see a lot of myself in him,” Campbell said in December. “Just the raw athlete that he is right now, he's a hell of an athlete. He makes plays all over the field.”

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Gill’s rawness stems from his position change.

As a freshman at Westerville South, he played wide receiver. Even that year, though, he knew he’d end up right back at running back, which is where he spent his final three seasons in high school.

“It's weird because my whole life, I viewed myself as a running back, but here, I'm more at receiver,” Gill said after the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 1. “Right now, I'm at H-back, so I guess, I'm more as a receiver right now.”

Gill credited wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, along with the starting H-backs, Campbell and Hill, with helping teach him the position. The “biggest challenge,” Gill said, has been perfecting routes.

“Obviously at running back, you don't have to run that many routes, the simple things, like swing routes or whatever,” Gill said. “But at H, in the slot, you have to run all types of routes. So I've had to learn the footwork for all of that.”

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Some H-back converts at Ohio State, such as Campbell and Curtis Samuel, made the move look seamless. Both had impressive athleticism, yet thrived in different ways. Campbell, who had more straight-line speed, was almost strictly a receiver, while Samuel, smaller and shiftier, moved around more.

Demario McCall attempted the same shift to H-back this season, but eventually shifted back to running back. Like Gill, he had the attitude of a running back for most of his life.

Campbell, who spent about three years adjusting before becoming a significant part of the offense as an H-back, believes the difficulty of a move to the slot from the backfield cannot be overstated.

“You go from just taking handoffs directly, having the ball handed to you, to having to catch from Dwayne Haskins, then having to run a route, having to understand coverages. It's a whole different world,” Campbell said. “To be able to run two-step cuts, to be able to have two-step top-ends from a running back who has to hit holes and hit jump-cuts, it's a completely different world. But Jaelen Gill, he's made an incredible transition. He's taken a step, he's gotten better for sure.

“It's just the little things of critiquing and becoming a better route runner, becoming just a better receiver. He's going to be a fine player, for sure. It's just that transition.”

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Gill admitted it was “tough being patient and not being able to play” as a freshman. He played just 15 snaps the entire season, reeling in one pass for 11 yards.

“I think the biggest thing for Jaelen Gill, which was the biggest thing for me, is to never get too low on yourself just because that transition is very, very hard,” Campbell said.

With Campbell out of eligibility following the 2018 season, for awhile it looked like Ohio State would lose both its starting H-backs. But Hill decided to return for another collegiate season, leaving an opening in the regular rotation and in the two-deep depth chart as his backup.

After acclimating to a new program and position as a freshman, Gill is primed to earn that spot. Having essentially no game experience at the college level, he must perform well this spring and summer to earn the playing time, but the lacking field of competitors helps him. C.J. Saunders is the most likely candidate to compete for playing time at H-back, though Gill has the athleticism advantage on him.

Gill wants the opportunity in order be part of the offense, of course, but also to simply play football again, which he didn't do much of in the fall.

“I'm just looking forward to just being back, just being on the field, being able to share those moments with my brothers and my team and just being able to keep getting better and learn from all the coaches,” Gill said. “There's still going to be some older guys in the room, so just keep learning from them and try to be the best player possible.”

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...30yozlPN0lbCaWHmr7qsTqh9dxpTWqSIyVCfK87IWmXJQ
 
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