It was purely coincidental, Jae’Sean Tate said, that two of his best friends are at or headed to Michigan and that he chose this particular week to let them and everyone else know he won’t be joining them.
The Pickerington Central junior was at his kitchen table with his father on Monday night, discussing whether it was time for him to commit to a college basketball program, when he received a text message from Ohio State coach Thad Matta asking if there was a good time to talk.
Matta and assistant Jeff Boals were in Illinois watching their latest commitment, 2014 forward Keita Bates-Diop, who had pledged to the Buckeyes on Sunday. When Matta called Tate about 11 p.m., Tate told him he could pencil in another prospect for the class.
“My dad had approached me on it (Monday) and asked me if I knew for sure what my decision was going to be,” Jae’Sean said yesterday. “With Keita committing and there being only a couple more scholarships left (for 2014), I just didn’t want my dream to slip by.”
Ohio State coaches are targeting two wings, a point guard and a center for the 2014 class, Tate said, “and when Keita committed, that took away one of the wing spots. I didn’t want the other one to slip away.”
Tate, a 6-foot-5, 190-pound wing, helped Pickerington Central win its first Division I championship last season. Two of his teammates were Caris LeVert, a freshman guard at Michigan this season, and Taco Charlton, headed there to play football next season. Tate’s choice was between Ohio State and Michigan.
“Of course, there’s always going to be that Michigan-Ohio State battle,” Tate said, “but they support me and they’re happy for me, and I’m happy for them.”
Tate’s father, Jermaine, was a two-year starter for Ohio State before he was among three players dismissed from the program in 1997 for what newly hired coach Jim O’Brien said was a “failure to live up to their obligations as student-athletes.”
Jermaine Tate finished his career at Cincinnati and played professionally overseas for 10 years. He has no hard feelings over how it ended for him at Ohio State.
“It’s all new people there all the way up to the top,” he said. “I’ve known Thad and (assistant coach) Chris (Jent) for a while, so I’m comfortable with my son going there.”
But Jermaine said he was shocked when he asked Jae’Sean a few months ago if he had a favorite and his son responded, “Ohio State.”
“It was just Michigan at first showing me a lot of love. I had writers from Michigan calling me every day,” Jae’Sean said. “But there was just something about Ohio State. Every time I went up there and every time I talked to coach Matta, I just got that feeling and I just knew.”
Tate played in some open gyms during the offseason and said Ohio State players “were friendly and accepted me. I just felt like part of the family.”
Tate’s coach at Pickerington Central is former Ohio State forward Jerry Francis. He said Tate will bring “great energy, an outstanding motor and a great passion for the game” to the Buckeyes.
“I can see him in the same role as a (Sam) Thompson or a (David) Lighty,” Francis said, “a utility guy who can guard multiple positions and score in multiple ways.”
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