‘Authentic’ pitch brings OSU’S Walton recruiting success
Tim Walton’s recruiting pitch is simple and it’s authentic and it’s honest, the Ohio State secondary coach said. He doesn’t shy away from the fact that players will have to come in and compete for a spot.
And with that pitch, Walton landed two top-100 cornerbacks in the 2023 class in Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Calvin Simpson-hunt.
That pitch also resulted in a threeman 2024 class with two Ohio “bookends”, Aaron Scott and Bryce West, along with Miles Lockhart.
But it’s early in the 2025 recruiting cycle, that Walton’s pitch has vaulted the 26-year coaching veteran into the conversation as one of the top recruiters in the country.
Walton has helped secure commitments from five-star prospects Devin Sanchez and Na’eem Offord – the top two cornerbacks in the 2025 class according to the 247Sports’ composite rankings – and top-100 four-star recruit Blake Woodby.
“One thing I love about coach Walton is he’s not going to kiss your butt because you’re the No. 1 recruit, No. 2 recruit,” Kaorie Offord, Na’eem Offord’s father, said shortly after his son committed. “He knows what he’s bringing to the table. That’s one thing I love about him, and I feel like I trust him with him making (Na’eem) a better man off the field. That’s the most important thing.”
‘Real relationships’ bring Walton success in Ohio State recruiting
Returning to Ohio State after an 11-year stint as an NFL assistant coach for the Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams, New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars, Walton, a former Buckeye defensive back, said relationships were always going to be how his room was built.
It’s been an atypical journey to this point. Allocco signed with Princeton and watched as the Ivy League canceled the 2020-21 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In what amounted to his redshirt freshman season, he averaged 4.1 points per game, and then played a prominent role in Princeton’s run as a No. 15 seed to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
In 2023-24, the 6-4, 197-pound guard averaged 12.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He became the ninth player in NCAA history to shoot at least 50% from the field (126 for 248 for 50.8%), 40% from 3-point range (70 for 77 for 42.7%) and 90% (70 for 77 for 90.5%) from the free throw line while averaging at least 10 points per game and playing at least 30 minutes per game.
It’s the kind of career Brett Norris, Bradley’s coach, said he envisioned for Allocco. After all, while at Bradley, Allocco worked so much on his shot that Norris said he actually told Alloco to get out of the gym and take a break.
“To think back on the number of college coaches I spoke with that wouldn’t recruit him because of his shooting,” Norris said. “Those of us that knew Matt knew he was going to put in the time to get through that shooting glitch he had there.”
Now that the glitch is gone, high-major schools are taking note. That includes Ohio State, which hosted Alloco for a visit and has offered him a scholarship.
“I think they’re on the, call it a very short list of who Matt is really homing in on,” Gregg Allocco said. “Ohio State is certainly right there on that short list for sure. It’s Ohio State, Notre Dame, Villanova and Butler, I think, are the ones that he’s really zeroing in on.”
Within the week, Matt Allocco plans to trim his list down to no more than three schools, his father said. From there, he will finalize official visits so he can interact with players and get a better, in-person feel for the programs recruiting him.
“I am pretty confident that Ohio State is going to be definitely one of the official visits, for sure,” Gregg Allocco said.
When it comes time for his son to make a decision, Gregg Allocco said there are a few factors that will be most important: He wants to play, and he wants to play for a winning program.
“At this point, I just think he doesn’t have an interest in just being necessarily a piece or a complementary guy, so to speak,” he said. “He has ultra confidence and belief in who he is and what he can bring to a team. He wants to lead. He wants to compete and really get an opportunity to be a key guy that’s going to contribute to a team that really has an opportunity to win.”
ajardy@dispatch.com