Scouting Profile: Lathan Ransom - SAF - Ohio State
Sales Pitch: Downhill thumper with coverage limitations. Physical box safety who plays his best coming forward.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Lathan Ransom is a former 4-Star recruit from the state of Texas. He is a 5 year player with over 37 starts under his belt despite missing time in both 2021 and 2023 with injury. Ransom was a pivotal part of a stingy Ohio State defense the past three years, receiving All-Big 10 honors in all three campaigns.
Ransom is a physical downhill safety with good size and strength for the position. An experienced, player he is quick to key and diagnose plays in front of him and trigger downhill. Ransom is an aggressive run defender who runs the alley with speed and physicality. He has the size and strength to play through blocks at the point of attack and leverage his gap. An instinctual player he consistently makes plays from the box by shooting gaps and delivering massive hits in ball carriers. He also has a penchant for jarring balls loses with a strong punch in pursuit. Ransom is primarily a run first safety, but he has the size and strength to match up with TEs in man coverage. In zone he shows good awareness and communication skills to pass off routes. He displays excellent route recognition to close out of deep alignments and take away intermediate routes in coverage as well.
Ransom possesses a high cut frame with long legs which limits his flexibility and lateral agility. He struggles in coverage when isolated in space against WRs attacking vertically down the field. Ransom doesn’t project well as a FS due average range, and stiffness getting out his back pedal to drive on routes along the sideline. He also displays average ball skills, opting to use his strength to separate the ball from receiver as opposed to attacking it in the air to generate turnovers. Ransom’s aggressive nature leads to big hits as a tackler, but also leads to big misses. He struggles to quickly drop his weight and come in under control versus quicker ballcarriers in space. He also has short arms that limit his tackling radius when he cannot square up his target.
Ransom profiles best as a SS who plays in the box in single high looks and towards the boundary in two-high looks. His downhill instincts and run defense will fit well in a Quarters heavy system that asks its DBs to read and react to plays in front of them. Ransom projects as a late Day-2 pick for a team that needs a physical thumper at its SS spot.