Downs, a 'pro,' has delivered for Ohio State

COLUMBUS – Coaches say it. Teammates say it. Ohio State sophomore safety Caleb Downs is a pro. It's a compliment. It's a prediction. And it's no surprise if you peruse his genealogy chart. Downs, a sophomore who jumped into the transfer portal to come to Ohio State from Alabama just days after Nick Saban retired as the Crimson Tide's coach in January, became a unanimous first-team All-American this week. He was named the Big Ten's Defensive Back of the Year the week before last. In his one season at Alabama he led the Tide in tackles with 107, was first-team All-Southeastern Conference and was a second-team All-American. Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles describes Downs as "a great player with a great football mind and football intelligence." "He's a coach's dream. He understands everything, he takes the meeting room to the field. He's locked in during meeting. He takes great notes. He's a pro," Knowles said. Downs combines great athletic talent with an ability to anticipate formations, schemes and individual tendencies, skills that are one part instinct and one part the result of countless hours of film study. Ohio State cornerback Jordan Hancock said after a 38-7 win over Michigan State that Downs "feels like a coach on the field." Downs and OSU's other starting safety Lathan Ransom quickly became friends and each refers to the other as "my brother." "He came in here and handled himself like a pro, asking a lot of questions and learned as much as he could at a fast rate," Ransom said earlier this week. "He's someone I can constantly compete with and he makes me better by that. I think we're always in competition with each other. I think we support each other more than anyone else in the building. Just having a brother like that who I can compete against at such a high level with and also having the support from him is extremely special," he said. When asked to summarize his first season in scarlet and gray so far, Downs said, "The expectation was to come in here and contribute and find a way to push the team to win games at a high level and for them to be better than they were last year and for me to play better than I was last year, just to grow with myself and the team. "That was my big goal and I feel like I've done a good job and the team has done a good job of progressing through the year and getting better." Downs once estimated he received more than 100 phone calls the first day he was in the transfer portal. Ohio State and Georgia were among his other top choices during his high school recruitment and many people thought he would pick Georgia over the Buckeyes and stay in the SEC when he entered the portal. Ryan Day and several assistants went to visit Downs at his family's home in Georgia but it might have been a three-hour session with Knowles when he and Downs did a deep dive into OSU's defense and how he would fit into it that made the difference. "You look to recruit someone like that who understands the game the way he does, it's like a job interview. It's like game day," Knowles said earlier this season. "My job is to explain the defense in detail so that he understands that I'm going to be able to coach him and make him better." Caleb Downs' father, Gary Downs, played seven years in the NFL as a running back. His older brother Josh Downs is in his second season as a receiver for the Indianapolis Colts and an uncle, Dre Bly, played cornerback in the NFL for 11 seasons. The expectation, of course, is that after next season Caleb Downs will not just carry himself like a pro but will be one.