Cameron Calhoun of Winton Woods elects be latest Cincinnati Bearcat football hometown hero

FOREST PARK – Eight days after de-committing from West Virginia, Winton Woods High School cornerback Cameron Calhoun has announced he'll be a Cincinnati Bearcat football player.

From late March to early June while he was committed to the Mountaineers, he jumped from a three-star recruit to a four-star on Rivals.

The Bearcats offered him a spot on June 2. He de-committed from WVU on June 6 and made his announcement for UC on Tuesday, June 14.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 180-pound Calhoun led the Eastern Cincinnati Conference with nine interceptions. He added 61 tackles and had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for the 2021 Ohio Division II champion Warriors.

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"Cam's a great kid, a competitor, a grinder," Winton Woods coach Chad Murphy said. "He's our Deion Sanders. The dude would literally go out and get a pick every time he said it."

Murphy and the coaches would try to harness his enthusiasm on Twitter but didn't want to undermine his enthusiasm.

Calhoun had more than 20 offers including Boston College, Connecticut, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Pitt, Purdue, Rutgers, Vanderbilt and most of the Mid-American Conference. The website 247Sports.com ranked him the 14th best recruit in Ohio, while Rivals recently upped him to No. 7, just behind teammate Jermaine Mathews Jr. who is being hotly pursued by Cincinnati, Ohio State and West Virginia among others.

With that talent in the secondary, Winton Woods went from 3-3 to 12-3, reeling off nine straight wins to end the season as state champions in Canton. The Warriors have been deep at the position recently having sent Tamarion Crumpley to Pitt and Daylon Long and Caleb Tubbs to Miami University.

Originally a receiver as a sophomore, the switch to defense last season has proved productive.

Calhoun will go from former UCLA and NFL defensive back Carlton Gray coaching him as a senior corner to Kerry Coombs, who takes over UC's secondary after stints with the Tennessee Titans and Ohio State.

"There ain't nobody coached more first-round draft picks than Kerry Coombs as far as corners are concerned," Murphy said. "There's nobody walking this planet that can say they coached seven NFL draft picks other than Kerry."

With this latest commitment, 247Sports.com now ranks Cincinnati's 2023 class as No. 3 in the country behind Notre Dame and Texas Tech.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC Bearcats football recruiting picks up pledge from Cameron Calhoun