Columbus Bishop Watterson High School senior offensive lineman Davis Seaman will be playing on Friday nights this fall at Ohio Dominican University, where the Eagles have their home games.
He already knows that in 2028 (or the following year if he’s redshirted), he’ll be playing on Saturday afternoons and nights at Ohio Stadium.
Seaman’s commitment to play college football at Ohio State was announced by his head coach, Brian Kennedy, in late April.
Seaman said he received an offer last October to join the Buckeyes and was excited at the chance to play for his hometown team, “but I also knew there was no rush to select a school because I’d gotten other offers.
“I waited until after the season so I could talk things over with my family and see who else might offer, but I always favored Ohio State,” he said. “The coaches there are really good people and I feel that’s the place I can grow most as a player. That’s the school I think I would have picked even if it wasn’t close to home.”
Watterson assistant coaches Greg Bellisari, Brady Taylor and Greg Uhlenhake formerly played for the Buckeyes, so he’s been exposed to the Ohio State influence throughout his high school career.
One Watterson graduate, Ryan Rudzinski, will be a senior safety for Ohio State this year. He made the team as a walk-on in 2023.
Other members of Seaman’s Watterson class who will be playing for Ohio State teams in the 2026-2027 academic year are Michael Boyle (wrestling), Joe Hayes (lacrosse) and Nate Henderson (baseball). Defensive end Jack Schuler has committed to Michigan State.
Seaman said he received offers from about 20 schools, including Penn State and Maryland from the Big Ten Conference; Tennessee, Auburn and Vanderbilt from the Southeastern Conference; Virginia from the Atlantic Coast Conference and West Virginia from the Big 12.
“The first couple of offers came after my sophomore year and surprised me because I didn’t think I was big enough then,” he said. “I was at about 230 or 235 pounds. I began bulking up through lots of training, paying attention to what I ate and natural growth, and it seems like all of a sudden I got to my current weight of 290,” said Seaman, who stands 6-foot-4.
That put him on the radar of national services which rank high school players. The best-known services rate him as a four-star prospect on a one-to-five scale. “Seaman was a priority target for the Buckeyes, who now keep a standout player home,” said 247 Sports, one of those services.
Seaman earned first team all-Central District and second team All-Ohio honors in 2025 from the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association and participated in January in the Navy All-American Game in San Antonio, Texas, featuring the nation’s top returning high-school seniors.
He is the 376th-ranked recruit overall and the 26th-ranked interior offensive lineman nationally and is No. 15 among all Ohio recruits, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all major nationwide recruiting media services.
Seaman and his Watterson teammates will try to win a third straight state championship this fall, and this time, in Division II. The Ohio High School Athletic Association’s competitive balance rules moved the Eagles up a division after winning back-to-back titles in Division III.
“We’re excited at the chance because we’ve played a lot of Division II teams in the past and feel we can handle the higher level of competition,” he said. “We lost a lot of key players from last year, with (quarterback) Drew Bellisari going to Miami of Ohio and (offensive tackle) Pete Eglitis to Penn State, but we’ve got a lot coming back and we have the best coaching staff in the state.
“Personally, I’ll be working this fall on improving my technique, staying low on tackles and making better use of my hands. I’ve always been told I’m really athletic, quick off the ball and pretty smart and want to grow in those aspects,” Seaman said.
Seaman has been playing football since he was a fourth-grader at Columbus Immaculate Conception School. “I always was a pretty big kid and being a lineman always was a lot of fun, but I never thought in fourth grade I could be playing for Ohio State,” he said.
He attends Our Lady of Peace Church in Columbus’ Clintonville neighborhood. “Faith is hugely important to me, especially as someone who’s gone to Catholic schools my whole life,” he said. “It keeps me grounded and reminds me there are more important things than football.”
Seaman currently is playing lacrosse for the Eagles. “Between football and lacrosse, that takes up most of my time outside of school,” he said. This will be his final lacrosse season. Like many other incoming players, he plans to graduate from Watterson early and enter college at the beginning of 2027.