Former Salpointe standout safety Lathan Ransom was the leading topic of observations made by Cleveland.com writer Nathan Baird on Sunday ahead of Monday’s national title game between Ohio State and Alabama.
Baird details Ransom, a freshman playing the nickel back position for Ohio State’s secondary, reaching out to senior consensus All-American cornerback Shaun Wade for advice on how to master his position.
Ransom’s role with Ohio State has steadily become more important.
He played 12 defensive snaps in Ohio State’s first five games, per Eleven Warriors’ tracker. Ransom matched that season total in the Big Ten championship game against Northwestern.
He then played 28 snaps against Clemson in the national semifinal game. He contributed to Clemson’s leading receiver Amari Rodgers finishing with 54 yards receiving with no touchdowns on eight receptions out of the slot.
Ransom, who played just 24 total snaps in Ohio State’s first six games of the year, was on the field for every one of the Buckeyes’ nickel plays against Clemson as the fifth defensive back, primarily lining up as a slot cornerback. He played the most snaps on defense or offense of any Ohio State freshman in the Sugar Bowl.
Ransom was named the AllSportsTucson.com Athlete of the Year in 2019. He was also the 2019 4A Kino Region Defensive Player of the Year as determined by AllSportsTucson.com.
Ransom’s sister Jalynn was a junior member of Salpointe’s state-champion volleyball team.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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