Ohio State's Devin Royal gifts new jerseys to Pickerington Central

Not long after his first double-double of the 2025-26 season, Ohio State's Devin Royal was back on the hardwood at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

On Nov. 20, after a lopsided win against Western Michigan, Royal headed to the court to meet with the Pickerington Central boys basketball team and present them with new jerseys in a postgame event on the main floor. In a video posted to his Instagram page, Royal signs some autographs and then hands out a set of purple and another set of white jerseys for this year's team to wear.

As Ohio State coach Jake Diebler's voice echoed over the speakers inside the arena that carried his postgame press conference live, Royal posed for photos and took in the moment with the school at which he scored more points than anyone in Tigers history.

"Huge thank you to @DevinRoyal7 for blessing us with new uniforms" the Pickerington Central program posted to Twitter. "Your generosity, leadership, and the way you use your platform to uplift others means more than you know. Much appreciation and respect."

A first-team all-Ohio pick as both a junior and a senior, Royal helped lead Pickerington Central to the state title game both seasons.

The Tigers won the 2022 Division I state title and finished as runners-up in 2023. As a senior, royal was named Ohio Mr. Basketball after averaging 19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds.

Now in his third year at Ohio State, Royal is averaging 11.3 points and 6.8 rebounds this season while missing one game with a hip injury. Before handing out the jerseys, Royal had scored 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a 91-58 win against Western Michigan.

The jerseys are the latest example of Royal giving back to his community. In each of the past two summers, Royal has sponsored a back-to-school backpack giveaway at different elementary schools in the Pickerington district.

Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at [email protected], on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OSU basketball's Devin Royal gifts new jerseys to Pickerington Central