Dennis was spotted with St. Clair multiple times Wednesday in between games of the Ohio State 7 on 7 tournament.
He might have already known St. Clair would be his future quarterback, but the youngster did not make it official to the world until after the event concluded with St. Clair and the Chieftains losing in the final of the event to Findlay.
“Our relationship’s really strong now, so with him being back there (watching), I know that he’s confident in me and I’m confident in myself and he just kind of helps me along the way,” St. Clair said of Dennis.
“(He tells me) just keep grinding every day. Having a chip on my shoulder is the main thing he wants to see. Just keep trying to be the best player and the best person I can be every single day and keep improving.”
St. Clair is the second player to commit to Ohio State from the 2025 class, joining five-star safety Jontae Gilbert of Atlanta, Ga.
For the class of 2024, Ohio State has a verbal commitment from Air Noland, a four-star prospect from Fairburn, Ga., who is rated the No. 5 quarterback in the country. He is No. 37 overall in 247Sports Composite rankings.
The Buckeye have made a habit of stacking highly-rated quarterback recruits on a year to year basis, but St. Clair is set to be the first from Ohio since Joe Burrow of Athens in the class of 2015.
“It’s cool just because the Ohio quarterback thing hasn’t really been a big thing here in a while,” St. Clair said. “So it’s cool. It’s a major blessing.”
He still has a year and a half before he can sign a binding letter of intent, but St. Clair said he would like to take an active role in helping build his class.
“They also speak to me about if I were to be the guy,” St. Clair said before making his decision official, “building a class around me.
“Because they think they can do it, and with the help of a quarterback, they feel like if he’s high-profile, he’ll be able to get anybody that he wants. And that’s just the main focus is just to have the best team you can have.”
He is also happy to be able to bring more attention to his hometown, a 14,000-person city in Logan County that produced NBA player Don Otten in the 1940s but hasn’t exactly been a hotbed for college football talent in recent seasons.
“A dream come true,” St. Clair said. “I’ve thought about this for a long time — since I was a little kid. And now that it’s kinda happening and I’m getting the attention it’s cool because nobody has really done it from Bellefontaine. The last time we had somebody go to an FBS program was in like the 60s. The internet wasn’t really a thing, social media wasn’t really a thing, so it’s cool. Just a lot of people around the town watch the videos of interviews and all that and just think it’s the coolest thing.”
St. Clair was on the radar of Ohio State and other colleges a year earlier when the Chieftans came to Columbus for the same seven on seven competition, but his stature grew rapidly as he got bigger and developed more experience.
He said he was able to put on more than 30 pounds of good weight over the past year.
“Right after basketball season, I started working out 5-6 days a week at 5 a.m., and I really just started upping my calories and eating and stuff like that. So it really just helped to build. And the training. I got a new strength coach at my school, so she has really helped me to just build up my shoulders, back, stuff like that that I need to throw.
“I really wanted to focus on getting the strongest and really like the most physical I could be this year, so really just putting the time in the weight room. Build up my confidence as well so now I go out here and I know that I’m one of the best players out here, if not the best. So just do my thing and let the players around me play.”
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