PLANTATION, Fla. – American Heritage high school is absolutely stacked when it comes to college-ready talent on the football field and the Buckeyes have already landed one piece of the puzzle from the program with running back Mark Fletcher.
It is easy to spot Fletcher on the field, standing at 6-foot-1, 225-pounds and possessing a look that reinforces a young man that takes his football seriously.
But you turn on the cameras and Fletcher loosens up and displays a sense of humor and a winning personality. Fortunately for football fans, that winning carries over right to the field as well.
It has only been a couple of weeks since Fletcher pulled the trigger and committed to the Buckeyes and the excitement is still high on making such a big decision and landing with Ohio State.
“It sounds great,” Fletcher said of being labeled an Ohio State commit to start off things.
Ohio State may be picking (or already have) the reputation of being Wide Receiver U, but deep in its DNA it will always be a place that produces great running back and in charge of that for some time now is coach Tony Alford, and the chance to play and develop under Alford meant a lot to Fletcher as he was making his decision on where he wanted to play at the next level.
“When I first met him, you knew his approach and everything was different from a lot of coaches,” Fletcher said. “They say not to fall in love with coaches, so I decided to take the visit and that was just the cherry on top and just sealed the deal. I knew that was the place for me.”
Now Fletcher gets to play recruiter after being a recruit and he does not have far to go with a couple of teammates that are on the top of many recruiting boards with receiver Brandon Inniss and safety Daemon Fagan. There are limits on how much coaches can reach out to players and how communications have to be initiated, but Fletcher is not bound to those types of rules.
How often does he remind his teammates about how much he personally is in with Ohio State?
“Every single day,” Fletcher joked. “Because we say that right now that we are chasing greatness, let’s go to the next level and chase greatness.”
Time will tell if those recruiting efforts pay off on his teammates, but Fletcher is all in. Often players will commit somewhere, only to take more visits down the stretch.
“I’m committed, I’m committed,” Fletcher stated. “Hear it now, Mark Fletcher is committed to The Ohio State University.”
Check out more of what Fletcher had to say in our exclusive Southern Swing interview and don’t miss a single thing.
