John Mobley Jr. is coming home.

A former Reynoldsburg resident whose family moved to Las Vegas when it looked like COVID-19 would shut down his entire freshman season, the four-star combo guard in the 2024 class has issued a verbal commitment to his “dream school” – Ohio State.

As he prepares for his final two seasons at Bishop Gorman, Mobley said a conversation with current Ohio State freshman Brice Sensabaugh while on his official visit helped seal the deal.

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“I met with the coaches in the room and they had the plan for me and were telling me their style of play, what I’d come in and do and how I’d help the team,” Mobley said. “I talked to one of the players at the football game and he was telling me, ‘Coach Holtmann, you can trust him. Everything that he told me while I was being recruited has happened.’ Him saying that, me and my family, we’re big on trust. After him saying that, that’s when I talked to my family and made the decision.

“Ohio State was my dream school. When I got Ohio State, it was unreal.”

Ohio State was in the running for John Mobley Jr. with Creighton, USC, Xavier and others

That player was Sensabaugh, and by the time his visit during the weekend of Sept. 30 was complete, Mobley knew where he would be playing his college basketball. Prior to the visit, he had released a list of his top six schools that included Arizona State, Creighton, LSU, Ohio State, USC and Xavier.

Mobley only took official visits to Creighton and Ohio State.

“I kind of came out of the (Ohio State) trip knowing where I was going,” he said. “I just feel like I’ve got to keep working. That’s really it. This was the best part. I committed. Now really I’m just getting ready for college. Now all my workouts, watching film on them, what they do best and me getting better and getting ready for two years from now.”

A 6-2 combo guard, Mobley is a four-star prospect ranked No. 43 nationally in the 247Sports.com composite database for the 2024 class. He’s also listed as the No. 7 point guard and No. 3 player from his state, and he projects as a guard who can both run the offense and shoot the ball when he gets to college.

Born in Rochester, New York, Mobley said he moved to Central Ohio when he was four. As the 2020-21 season approached and Ohio’s plans for a season during the COVID-19 pandemic were unknown, the decision was made to move to Las Vegas to try and ensure that he would be able to play games as a freshman. Instead, Ohio wound up having a season while Nevada’s was canceled. The Buckeyes started to recruit him after his sophomore season and offered him a scholarship in late June.

“It was a crazy thing, but we stayed out here and was grinding, getting ready for my sophomore year,” he said. “(Las Vegas) feels like another home. I got comfortable with it. At first, it was a little shaky but I feel like I’m in a great spot now. It felt crazy. I mean, knowing that you put all this work in and your dream school offered you, it was really just unreal and blessed.”

The Ohio State official visit allowed Mobley to spend some time with family and friends who still live in the area, he said. It was one of several highlights on the visit that helped solidify his decision.

“Oh man, it was fun,” Mobley said. “It was good being back home, seeing my family and friends but I loved the (basketball) practice,” he said. “I loved how if somebody would make a mistake, coach (Chris) Holtmann, he would help them through the mistake. He wouldn’t yell at them or punish them for what they did. I thought that was pretty cool. Man, the fans are crazy. It was a football game at 3:30 and fans were waiting in line at 10.”

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Mobley is the first verbal commitment for Ohio State’s 2024 class, and it’s unknown how many players could eventually join Mobley on campus. The Buckeyes are set to sign a four-man 2023 class in November that is ranked No. 5 nationally.

As for the plan that Holtmann laid out for Mobley: “Come in and show my strengths,” he said. “I shoot real well. I can come off of screens shooting shots, creating for my teammates, also coming off doubles, shooting. Stuff like that.”

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State lands commitment from 2024 guard John Mobley Jr.