Ohio 2025 Offensive Lineman Jake Cook Commits to Ohio State

The Westerville North standout dedicated a year to refining his body, losing more than 40 pounds, and his technique to make himself an Ohio State-caliber prospect. 

It didn’t stop there, either, as Cook had to go through two workouts with the Buckeyes in June to be considered for an offer. After both sessions concluded, an offer didn’t come initially, leading to some disappointment from Cook.

But that changed on the Saturday before Father’s Day with one phone call from Justin Frye. 

“He called me and asked what I was doing,” Cook told Eleven Warriors in a precommit interview. “I was just chilling and had just gotten done golfing. He asked me what I got my dad for Father’s Day. Admittedly, I told him I still needed to go do that. He told me ‘How about for Father’s Day you take him to Ohio State on an official visit next week and you announce your commitment while we’re all at dinner?’ I was like, ‘What?’ He said ‘Yeah, man, you’ve got an offer to Ohio State now.’” 

Cook had grown up rooting for the Buckeyes and grew up right down the road from the school, so he needed all of five seconds to fully accept the offer. He had been committed to Louisville since February, but backed off his pledge to the Cardinals a few days after earning the offer. Cook announced his commitment to OSU on the Friday of his official visit as Frye suggested, then made it public a few days later.

“It’s a huge blessing for me, it’s every Ohio kid’s dream to be a part of the Buckeyes,” Cook said. “I’m excited to wake up and compete against the best and get coached by the best every single day. It’s a blessing and I’m ready to work. It really didn’t hit me (I had the offer) until I woke up the next morning. I was like ‘Oh God, this really happened.’”

With Cook in the fold for OSU, the Buckeyes now have two offensive linemen committed in 2025 and 18 commits total, as he joins fellow in-state lineman Carter Lowe. OSU is far from done adding to its offensive trenches for this cycle though and still hopes to take up to three more linemen in 2025. Other targets include David Sanders Jr., Josh Petty, Mario Nash Jr. and Jayvon McFadden. 

Ohio State finds its center in Cook

Per 247Sports’ composite rankings, Cook is considered the No. 616 prospect and the No. 39 interior offensive lineman in the 2025 class.

Cook has played left tackle for his high school the past two seasons and played left guard his freshman year. He’ll play center primarily in Columbus and says he plans on playing all five positions on the offensive line for Westerville North this season.

“The main thing for me at center, I can snap the ball but it’s really getting comfortable at that position obviously,” Cook said. “Every day in practice, whether in individual periods or running the second string in, I’m off on the side trying to get some snaps in. I try to get about 100 snaps in per day and practice steps, pulling, things like that.”

The 6-foot-5, 295-pound Cook says he will be an early enrollee and be in Columbus this January. 

“Besides the body composition, I’d say I’ve improved on my explosiveness and just my ability to move,” Cook said of where he’s improved the most over the past year. “I’d say wrestling helped a lot with that, wrestling got me mean as hell. It made me a tough guy.” 

With offensive line being such a developmental position at the next level, it’s fair to expect a year or two for Cook to develop into a game-ready player. 

While Cook may not have been on the Buckeyes’ radar until recently, it’s worth noting how far he’s come in a short time frame. Cook opened some eyes in May by dominating at the Under Armour Next Camp in May, being named a positional MVP. He also completely surprised Frye and Ryan Day at OSU’s first recruiting camp, leading Day to tell Cook he completely made them reevaluate their recruiting board.

If he continues the same work ethic throughout his OSU career, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him turn in a very respectable collegiate body of work with the Buckeyes.