Coach | Top 2022 ATH CJ Hicks Among The Best He's Coached

Ed Domsitz has been around for a while, so the Archbishop Alter High School head coach has the ability to put the early success of 2022 Ohio athlete CJ Hicks‍ into proper perspective.

“I’ve been head coach for 44 years and I’ve only had a handful of kids who played varsity as freshmen,” Domsitz says. “He was not only on the varsity, but he started for us in the secondary as a freshman.

“He still makes some mistakes even as a sophomore. I keep telling myself even though he’s got a year of experience, there’s still a learning process. That’s what we’re seeing. But he’s a gifted athlete.”

At 6-4, 200 pounds, the Dayton native already has the size, but it goes beyond that.

“He has a good football sense,” his coach says. “He could be anything from a linebacker, he could be a strong safety, he could be a corner and we’ll also use him at running back.”

Domsitz is hoping the Knights won’t have to use him much at running back this season, but knows he may not be able to avoid that before Hicks graduates.

“With the kids we have on offense, we’re hoping we won’t need him full-time this year,” says Domsitz. “Maybe for his senior year, that might not be the case. We might have to use him full-time as a senior.”

Several top colleges have already made pitches to be Hicks’ stop after that with schools like Notre Dame, Iowa, Purdue, Miami, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, NC State and Kansas State having already offered.

Archbishop Alter has produced several Division-I players during Domsitz’s tenure, including Malik Zaire and Chris Finke, who both played at Notre Dame. But the coach needs to go back even further than that to find the best comparison for Hicks.

“He’s probably the best athlete we’ve had here at Alter since Jeff Graham,” Domsitz says. “Jeff went on to play Ohio State in the 80s and went on to play with the New York Jets and the Steelers and had a nice NFL career.”

But Domsitz and the schools recruiting Hicks understand it’s still very early.

“I think a lot of the coaches recognize that right now, we’re talking about a 10th-grader,” he says.

Domsitz sees Hicks ending up at safety at the next level, but again, it’s still very early.

“We’ll see,” the coach says. “We’re talking about someone who just finished their sophomore season, so it’s probably something that a year from now and we’re having a discussion, I could probably do a better job of gauging where he’s going to be on the college level.

“Being 6-4 and being able to move the way he does, we do a lot of blitzing, so he could end up at a linebacker spot.”

Domsitz and Hicks’ mother are more focused on making sure Hicks takes care of his business now than looking a few years down the road.

“His mother is very much interested in his school,” the coach says. “She stays on top of him in terms of grades and behavior and so forth. She’s very much involved. We certainly saw some improvements from his freshman to his sophomore year and we expect to see even more this year.

“One of the things I’ve discussed with him is that I want to see him improve in terms of leadership. I think next year and 2021, he needs to be one of the leaders of this team. It’s an ongoing process whether you’re in high school or college in terms of developing those skills and relationships and learning how to deal with people.”

Domsitz is pleased with Hicks’ development off the field and hopes to see that trend continue.

The offer from the Irish certainly got the attention of Hicks and his mother, according to the coach.

“When he got the offer from Notre Dame, I think they were both very excited and that he would be very interested. Once again, in terms of the fit, I’d probably have a little better accuracy after I see his junior year.

“We know quite a bit about Notre Dame. We’ve had kids there, so we know what Notre Dame requires. We know what the expectations are. And it is different. It’s different than many of the other schools. But the kind of joy and satisfaction you get from attending Notre Dame, playing for Notre Dame and coming away with that Notre Dame diploma is special.”

Domsitz expects Hicks to hit the road this spring and summer to see some schools and Notre Dame could end up on the list.