Ohio State offers four-star

It was difficult for Kiy Hester to not be noticeably jubilant on the phone after Ohio State offered him a scholarship. The Rivals250 athlete from Montvale (N.J.) St. Joseph's has numerous other offers from schools like Michigan, West Virginia, Arkansas, Miami, Rutgers and Maryland but he had his hopes set on this one, in particular.

"It feels good but at the same time it want it makes you want to work harder because the schools think you have the ability to play form see if the push yourself and drive yourself to make an impact on their team," said the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Hester. "This offer from Ohio State definitely puts them near the top of my list. They want me as a cornerback or a safety and that's what I like to play.

"I don't have an order yet but Miami, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State are all up there and I just started hearing from the coach at California," he said. "The Wisconsin defensive back coach came to my school also but unfortunately I was sick that day so I wasn't able to talk with them."

What is drawing Hester to these specific schools?

"All of the schools that I'm interested in have great defenses," said Hester. "I just want to go somewhere I can fit in the defensive backfield and be comfortable with the coaches."

Hester is in contact with N.C. State, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Alabama, North Carolina and Duke and he thinks two of them are very close to offering him.

"The next schools that would offer me are either Wisconsin or Vanderbilt," he said. "I've been talking to Vanderbilt for a long time and they're just waiting to get my transcripts so when that happens I'll hopefully get an offer from them."

Georgia Tech recently picked up a commitment from Ricky Jeune, one of Hester's teammates. Are the Yellow Jackets also recruiting Hester?

"Georgia Tech is also recording me hard," said Hester. "I message the coaches on Facebook like every day. That's one of the schools that's recruiting me really hard they want me to come out and visit them. They're always telling me how much Ricky loves it."

Last season, St. Joseph's went 10-2, losing in the second round of the playoffs.