BETTER KNOW A BUCKEYE: THAYER MUNFORD
This year's
Better Know a Buckeye concludes with a profile of Thayer Munford, an offensive tackle from Cincinnati by way of Massillon who has the distinction of the final addition to Ohio State's 2017 recruiting class.
THAYER MUNFORD
- Size: 6-6/325
- Position: OL
- Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
- School: Massillon Washington
- 247 Composite: ★★★★
- National Ranking : 276
- Position Ranking: 28 (OT)
- State Ranking: 13 (OH)
Munford's story is far different than the standard one I tell in these profiles. In most circumstances, life events are treated as tangential to a prospect's recruitment if I mention them at all. Munford's different. His recruitment is secondary to major changes in his life that saw him move from Cincinnati to Massillon before the end of his junior year and become legally adopted by Massillon's head coach, Nate Moore. Amid all this, Munford's recruitment saw him acquire a few major offers (Alabama, Ohio State, Tennessee) before choosing the Buckeyes on signing day.
I retell this story below. Thereafter, I provide a scouting report of a raw offensive line prospect with a ton of upside. I close with a projection of a redshirt in 2017 and highlight film for the reader to watch at the end of the feature.
HIS RECRUITMENT
Thayer Munford's recruitment is unique among all the
Better Know a Buckeye profiles ever published on this site. His recruitment was almost secondary to major life changes that happened to Munford in high school.
Munford's adjustment to high school was rough. He was in danger of failing almost all his classes out the gate, which would've resulted in academic expulsion as a freshman. He lacked basic supplies; his high school head coach, Nate Moore, bought him his first backpack for school and began a relationship with Munford that better approximated "father and son" than "coach and player." Munford came from a home in which his biological father, now deceased, spent important parts of his youth in jail. Munford's mother was supportive and caring, but has a physical disability that precludes her from leaving the house for most things. In addition, special education workers diagnosed Munford with a learning disability that necessitated an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
The early intervention allowed Munford to flourish as a sophomore and resulted in a few scholarship offers as well. He started receiving attention from college programs like Bowling Green, Cincinnati, and Louisville. However, it was a minor miracle that Munford was even receiving that kind of serious attention by this stage in his life.
More offers came after Munford's junior year, including noteworthy offers from schools with high academic profiles like Maryland and Pittsburgh. However, the spring of 2016 saw some important life events that made his recruitment a secondary matter. Nate Moore, his high school coach at La Salle, left for Massillon in early 2015. Munford did not take the news well and found it difficult to follow through on the progress he made with his IEP after Moore left. His grades fell. He had made some progress expanding his portfolio of college offers but was jeopardizing that with sagging performance in the classroom. On top of that, two shootings in his Lincoln Heights neighborhood, one reportedly involving a family member, left Munford's mom feeling helpless about her son's current predicament.
Entire article:
http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-...06/83164/better-know-a-buckeye-thayer-munford
