Ohio State football picks up preferred walk-on

Ohio State picked up a preferred walk-on Friday, with Michigan native Cayden Saunders announcing the news via Twitter.

It’s awfully tough to make it as a significant in-game contributor to a program like Ohio State as a walk-on, but it does happen more than you’d think. Across this great country of ours, there are all sorts of stories in big-time college football where a walk-on gets his foot in the door and earns a scholarship. Heck, Baker Mayfield made it all the way to Heisman Winner.

While Mayfield’s story is an extreme outlier, walk-ons can still be an integral part of the program, especially when it comes to game-prep, practice, and special teams.

So maybe, Ohio State just got one of those inspiring stories with the news of on Friday. According to a tweet by the 5-foot, 10-inch, 177-pound running back/middle linebacker out of Northville, Michigan, OSU has a new preferred walk-on. Welcome aboard Cayden Saunders.

There isn’t a profile or ranking on the major recruiting websites, but Saunders was a team captain of his Northville High School team. His dad (Cedric) also played for Ohio State and is now one of Dwayne Haskins’ agents. Also, did we mention we’ve seen walk-ons bust through all the adversity before?

Well, another guy with the last name of Saunders (C.J.) has a little recent history of that.  Congrats Cayden and good luck!

Ohio State football recruiting 2021 commitment tracker

 

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

Download the USA TODAY SportsWire app to follow Buckeyes Wire and your other favorite teams in the Apple Store for iPhones and Google Play for Android devices.