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Ohio State football’s transfer portal history: How past pickups have performed
The college football portal reopens to all players on Monday, allowing them to put their names in the online database in order for other schools to contact them about transferring.
A wave of movement is to follow as players are now permitted under NCAA rules to transfer multiple times with immediate eligibility as long as they remain in good academic standing.
Ohio State football portal history
The Buckeyes began using the portal soon after it went live in October 2018, picking up quarterback Justin Fields as a transfer from Georgia.
But even as the NCAA has loosened restrictions on transfers, they have remained selective.
Best Ohio State football transfer portal pickups
Ohio State has not added more than nine transfers in a cycle, and among the 18 schools in the Big Ten, only Iowa, Northwestern, Penn State and Rutgers added more last offseason, according to tracking by 247Sports.
Among the most prominent players Ohio State has acquired:
- QB Justin Fields, from Georgia.
- S Caleb Downs, from Alabama
- C Seth McLaughlin, from Alabama
- QB Will Howard, from Kansas State
- RB Quinshon Judkins, from Mississippi
- S Tanner McCalister, from Oklahoma State
- CB Davison Igbinosun, from Mississippi
- RB Trey Sermon, from Oklahoma
Notable players who left Ohio State
Kyle McCord was the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback who transferred to Syracuse last year. Jameson Williams, a starting wide receiver, left for Alabama in 2021.
What did Ohio State do last year in the transfer portal?
Ohio State signed these players in the portal last year:
- QB Will Howard, from Kansas State
- QB Julian Sayin, from Alabama
- RB Quinshon Judkins, from Mississippi
- TE Will Kacmarek, from Ohio
- C Seth McLaughlin, from Alabama
- S Caleb Downs, from Alabama
The Buckeyes lost these players in the portal last year:
- QB Kyle McCord, to Syracuse
- RB Evan Pryor, to Cincinnati
- RB Dallan Hayden, to Colorado
- RB Chip Trayanum, to Kentucky
- WR Noah Rogers, to North Carolina State
- WR Julian Fleming, to Penn State
- TE Joe Royer, to Cincinnati
- TE Sam Hart, to Colorado
- DB Cameron Martinez, to Boston College
- OL Vic Cutler, to Louisville
- OL Jakob James, to Toledo
- DT Jaden McKenzie, to East Carolina
- DE Omari Abor, to SMU
- CB Jyaire Brown, to LSU
- DB Kye Stokes, to Cincinnati
- S Ja’Had Carter, to North Carolina State
- LB Reid Carrico, to West Virginia
- DB Ryan Turner, to Boston College
- LB Nigel Glover, to Northwestern
- WR Kiyon Graves, to California
- S Cedrick Hawkins, to Central Florida
- K Parker Lewis, Arizona State
- P Jesse Mirco, to Vanderbilt
- RB Will Hartson, to Southern Illinois
When does transfer portal open?
The transfer portal opens on Monday.
How does transfer portal work?
After the portal reopens on Monday, it will not close until Dec. 28, giving players 20 days to submit a notification to transfer to their school’s compliance staff.
How long is the transfer portal open?
After the portal reopens on Monday, it will not close until Dec. 28, giving players 20 days to submit a notification to transfer to their school’s compliance staff.
There are exceptions, though.
If teams remain in the College Football Playoff or appear in a bowl game past the closing of the window, they have five days following the end of their postseason to decide whether to enter the portal.
Is there a commitment deadline?
No. The transfer windows only regulate entry into the portal. Players who enter the portal can commit to transfer to schools any time.
Must players transfer after entry?
It is not a requirement, though common. Ohio State saw 26 scholarship players enter the portal during the previous spring and winter windows, and only wide receiver Bryson Rodgers withdrew from the portal to remain with the Buckeyes.
Can they remain on the team while in the portal?
In some circumstances. Former linebacker Teradja Mitchell entered the portal weeks before the Buckeyes met Georgia in a semifinal in 2022, but he remained with them for the playoff. Most players who enter the portal move on.
Who could leave Ohio State?
At least three Ohio State players have confirmed they will enter the portal.
Wide receivers Kojo Antwi and Jayden Ballard and linebacker Gabe Powers announced their plans this week, and more are inevitable in this era of churn.
The position to watch is quarterback as the Buckeyes have a crowded room of passers even with Will Howard moving on.
With only two years of eligibility left, would backup quarterback Devin Brown leave if he is not in line to replace Howard? Or Air Noland, who was behind the other four scholarship quarterbacks on the depth?
The Buckeyes kept all five through the spring window last April, but that could prove more the exception than the rule.
How will Ohio State use the portal?
It seems certain the staff will target offensive linemen, addressing one of the biggest holes on the roster.
The Buckeyes suffered issues with depth during the regular season after center Seth McLaughlin and left tackle Josh Simmons went down with injuries.
McLaughlin was also one of three senior starters on the line, and Simmons is forgoing his remaining year of eligibility to leave for the NFL.
As right guard Tegra Tshabola projects to be the only returning starting offensive linemen from when the Buckeyes broke training camp in August, they will need to rebuild in the trenches.
Attrition is expected as well on the defensive side of the ball. Eight of the 11 starters against Michigan were seniors with expiring eligibility. The Buckeyes will need help as a result.
Special teams is a wild card. Will the Buckeyes continue to rely on kicker Jayden Fielding, who missed field goals of 34 and 38 yards against Michigan, or explore another option?
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com.
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The Ohio Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at May 10, 2026, results for each game:
Pick 3
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at 12:29 p.m. and 7:29 p.m., except Saturday evening.
Midday: 8-6-2
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Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
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Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at 12:29 p.m. and 7:29 p.m., except Saturday evening.
Midday: 9-4-7-0
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Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
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Midday: 1-7-3-7-4
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Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
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Ryan Day will have some very familiar competition in the Big 10 soon.
The son of the Ohio State football coach, R.J. Day, announced his commitment to Northwestern for the Class of 2027 on Sunday.
Northwestern plays in the same conference as Ohio State and the schools will face each other.
R.J. Day, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound quarterback from — not surprisingly — Columbus, Ohio, has started for three years at St. Francis DeSales HS as he heads towards his senior season.
According to reports, the younger Day had other offers from Purdue, Syracuse, Cincinnati and South Florida, as well as others.
Northwestern has eight quarterbacks on head coach David Braun’s roster.
And the offensive coordinator for the Wildcats is Chip Kelly, who served in the same role for Ryan Day at Ohio State when the Buckeyes won the title in 2024.
Kelly, the former head coach at UCLA and Oregon, was also the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire when Ryan Day was the team captain from 1998-2001.
Most recently, Kelly was the OC with the Las Vegas Raiders before he took the job with Northwestern.
“It’s really surreal when you think about the relationships that we’ve had with those two as a family over the years,” R.J. Day told ESPN earlier this month. “Coach Kelly coached my dad in college, so that adds another layer to it.”
Cincinnati Reds legend and well-known gambler Pete Rose was possibly more than just curious about Ohio State football’s 2012 season when he texted Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer.
Appearing on “The Triple Option” show with Alabama running back Mark Ingram May 6, Meyer told a story about his relationship with Rose.
After OSU hired Meyer, the Reds asked him to throw out the first pitch at a game. Meyer threw to his son, Nathan, and walked into the dugout, where Rose, MLB’s all-time hit leader, was waiting to greet him.
“I couldn’t get enough talking about ‘Big Red Machine,’ and he wanted to talk college football,” Meyer said on the podcast, explaining how the two spoke for hours and exchanged numbers.
Meyer said that during his first season, Rose texted him early on. He wanted information about the team, like news on Braxton Miller’s shoulder injury.
“I told that to someone, and they said, ‘You’re an idiot. Do you know he’s trying to get information from you for gambling, and you could get in trouble?’ ” Meyer said.
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Though Meyer asserted that he never disclosed much, he started to steer the conversations clear of college football after he realized Rose potentially wanted information for gambling.
The two had another conversation in Las Vegas, where Rose told Meyer he gambled daily after retiring.
Rose was banned from baseball for betting on the sport, something he admitted to in his 2004 autobiography. Rose was reinstated in 2025 and so is considered eligible for the Hall of Fame.
Still baseball’s most prolific hitter (4,256 hits), Rose died in 2024.
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