As Jake Hausmann and nine others stood in front of hundreds of other high school players, the Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller product looked a little bit different than the other guys who stood next to him after earning invitations to The Opening.
There was a giant rip in the middle of Hausmann’s shirt.
“I got ripped up by a DB,” Hausmann said with a laugh following The Opening regional camp in Columbus on Sunday afternoon.
The rip in Hausmann’s shirt happened while he was trying to get open during a 1-on-1 drill with a defensive back. It appeared to be the only way defenders could slow him down all day.
Hausmann, a four-star tight end in the 2016 class and Ohio State commit, was one of the standout offensive players at Sunday’s camp. His invitation to The Opening — one of the premier high school football camps in the country — was proof of that.
Listed at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds, Hausmann has the perfect frame to be a big-time tight end at the college level. It’s for that reason, plus his skill set on the field, why he had scholarship offers from other high-level college programs like Florida State, Georgia and Notre Dame.
Still, despite all of that, Hausmann still felt like he had something to prove on the field at Sunday’s regional camp. He wanted to test himself against some of the best defensive players in the region.
With an invite to The Opening, it appears he passed that test with flying colors.
“I think I did pretty well against some of the guys,” Hausmann said. “It’s tough going against some of the best guys, but it was good to get myself out there.”
Hausmann did it on the same field he will be practicing on in the future, too. That was also important to him.
“It’s huge coming here in Columbus and impressing the guys,” he said. “I’m going to be here in a couple years and it’s a big deal for me.”
Hausmann is a key part of Ohio State’s already-loaded 2016 recruiting class which currently has 15 commits and is currently ranked as the nation’s No. 2 class, behind only Florida State. Hausmann, Jonathon Cooper and Demario McCall were three of the 10 to earn invites to The Opening and all three are committed to Ohio State.
“It’s rolling right now,” Hausmann said of the class. “We’ve got 15, 16 guys and it’s definitely a lot more than last year. I feel like we can get a few more but right now it’s looking really solid.”
And while Hausmann was certainly pleased with how his future teammates looked, he also wanted to prove to himself he was capable of playing at such a high level.
“I’m pumped, it’s what I came here for,” Hausmann said. “I was going to be disappointed if I didn’t come out of here with an Opening invite so it’s a big deal.”
