Ohio
Second Ohio State tight end taken in 2026 NFL Draft
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WKBN) – Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the 3rd Round, Pick 87 of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.
Kacmarek is the second OSU tight end taken so far in the 2026 NFL Draft. Buckeye teammate Max Klare was taken in the 2nd Round by the Los Angeles Rams.
The Buckeye played in all 14 games this past season and scored two touchdowns. Last season, he caught 15 passes for 168 receiving yards
Kacmarek started his college career at Ohio University before he transferred to Ohio State in 2024.
Ohio
St. Peter’s student places third in Ohio coloring contest
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USA TODAY
Antonio Brent, a second grader at St. Peter’s School in Mansfield, has won third place in the 2026 Imagine Engineering Coloring Contest.
Brent’s drawing was selected from a record-breaking 10,269 entries from second graders across Ohio, according to a community announcement. He will be recognized at an awards luncheon June 13 in Columbus.
Brent’s drawing depicts an engineer visiting a construction site. The central figure, wearing personal protective equipment, reviews plans and specifications while a crew works with heavy equipment in the background.
As a third-place winner, Brent will receive a National Geographic Mega Science Lab with 75 STEM experiments.
Imagine Engineering program introduced in 1999
The Imagine Engineering program was founded by the Engineers Foundation of Ohio in 1999. Since then, the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers has enlisted its members to visit local classrooms and explain what engineers do for a living.
The program is designed to help second graders understand what engineering is and how it impacts their everyday lives. It also aims to inspire students to consider careers in engineering by introducing them to real engineers and hands-on experiments.
In 2021, EFO updated the program by adding an educational resource video titled “Imagine Engineering.” The video features Ohio professional engineers who explain engineering at a fundamental level and demonstrate hands-on experiments that support the second-grade curriculum.
In 2023, EFO received a grant from the P&G Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to expand the program to include Ohio’s Spanish-speaking second graders. The Spanish translation of the video includes a Spanish-speaking engineer to narrate the lesson and subtitles for the experiments.
“Imagine Engineering is a children’s program that is unique to Ohio, having been created by the Engineers Foundation of Ohio in the late 1990s,” EFO President Joe Cherry said in the announcement. “Over the last quarter of a century, Imagine Engineering has helped ignite the imaginations of tens of thousands of children statewide, encouraging them to focus on math and science – and perhaps a career in engineering.”
For more information about the Imagine Engineering program, visit ohioengineer.com.
This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
Ohio
Miami moves past Ohio State, climbs in national team recruiting rankings
Miami has moved up in the Rivals Industry national team recruiting rankings.
The Hurricanes added a big piece to the puzzle when Top 100 Dothan (Ala.) High cornerback Ai’King Hall flipped his commitment from Oregon to Miami on Sunday afternoon.
With Hall now in the fold, Miami jumped up one spot from No. 7 to No. 6 in the rankings.
Miami surged past Ohio State and boasts the No. 1 recruiting class in the ACC.
The Hurricanes are less than a point behind No. 5 ranked Notre Dame.
At 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Hall is ranked as the No. 7 cornerback and No. 39 overall prospect nationally, per Rivals. He is also ranked as the No. 1 overall recruit in the state of Alabama this cycle.
Miami now has 12 commitments in the 2027 recruiting class — Hall, five-star Long Beach (Calif.) Poly cornerback Donte Wright, five-star Miami (Fla.) Carol City wide receiver Nick Lennear, Top 100 Lombard (Ill.) Montini Catholic quarterback Israel Abrams, , Rivals300 Houston (Texas) Langham Creek defensive lineman Ezekiel Ayangbile, Rivals300 Poplarville (Miss.) High running back Ty Keys, Rivals300 Fort Pierce (Fla.) John Carroll offensive lineman Sean Tatum, four-star Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Cardinal Gibbons tight end Demarcus Deroche, four-star Davie (Fla.) McArthur defensive back Jaylyn Jones, three-star Gainesville (Ga.) High offensive lineman Tyler Ford, three-star Key West (Fla.) High defensive lineman Josh Johnson and three-star Davie (Fla.) McArthur defensive back Sherrod Gourdine.
Miami will have a chance to keep moving up the rankings as it gears up to host several top targets for official visits this summer.
Ohio
Maybe Ohio State AD Ross Bjork should sit in regular-guy seats, wait in line, etc.
Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com. Letters are lightly edited for clarity.
On Ohio Stadium
Mr. White: My wife and I are longtime OSU football season-ticket holders, and after receiving the survey email from OSU, reading Rob Oller’s comments regarding the stadium restrooms and, finally, your published letters, I have a few comments. Rather than having our athletic director and his entourage review the consolidated survey responses from ticket holders and view the recommendations of potential actions to take, why don’t they personally experience what we season-ticket holders do? This coming season I suggest they divide up and sit individually in the seats we common folks sit in (no premium seating or seats between the 20-yard lines) and experience what it’s like to stand up to let other ticket holders pass by for their seats, standing in line for concessions and the time they had to wait to use the restrooms. At a game last year, I left my seat with three minutes left in the first half to use the restroom and get my wife and I some snacks and bottled water. The lines were so long that I returned to our seats halfway through the third quarter. My wife attempted to contact me, but the weak Wi-Fi did not allow her messages to go through. I believe an experience such as this would provide the AD and his staff more valuable feedback than a filtered survey.
Benny Wolfinger, Powell
To Benny: Great “average fan” angle here. Have AD Ross Bjork sit with you during a game and fetch snacks for the family midway through the third quarter, then fill out the survey. Hopefully his response to y’all isn’t “Buy a suite.”
On high school football
To the editor: Thank you for the Sunday Huddle topic “Greatest of the Great“ central Ohio’s best high school football player. A comparison is highly subjective, recognizing the different era and positions as well as supporting cast. Archie Griffin was Eastmoor’s nearly total offense his junior and senior years. When the game would start, the loudspeaker announcer would say “Archie Griffin carried the ball.“ Then after two or three carries it was “Archie Griffin.“ A couple more handoffs and it was “Archie.“ He would carry about 30 times a game, with the defense knowing exactly who was carrying the ball. The only unknown was which side of the line.
Bob Weiler
To Bob: The poll is still open and getting great response. At this writing, Upper Arlington’s Jeff Backes leads with 40% of the vote, followed by Griffin (22.8%), East’s Chic Harley (8%) and Central’s Hopalong Cassidy (7%).
On hockey
To Brian: Will someone please explain to me why fighting is allowed − even condoned − in the sport of professional hockey? Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. players who engage in fisticuffs are routinely ejected from games, probably fined and possibly suspended. In hockey, fighting is simply a penalty. Witness the photo on page 4C of (the April 22) Dispatch, showing Blue Jackets’ Mathieu Olivier and Bruins’ Mark Kastelic mixing it up. Almost every face in the crowd is either smiling or laughing − no looks of disgust or outrage − and the two referees are simply standing there watching, making no move to break it up.
To those who would answer my inquiry by saying it’s just part of the game, my response is that’s why I hate it. I wouldn’t go to a hockey game if you gave me free tickets and offered to take me to the venue in a limo.
Mike Adamkosky, Columbus
To Mike: Hockey people swear by it as a great means of self-enforcement. I don’t get it. Never will.
On Ohio State football
To Brian: The recent Dispatch article citing Caleb Downs’ complaint of Michigan teaching players to hold is laughable. Of course they do, as on every team. OSU doesn’t? Has Downs actually watched any football games at any level lately? Pro, college, high school −makes no difference. There is literally holding on the line of scrimmage on every play if you watch closely. The holding call is only made when the holding is so incredibly obvious that a nearly blind person could see it, and then sometimes it still is not called. If all actual holding by players was called, the game would literally grind to a halt. It’s the same in basketball with carrying the ball or the the NBA four step in the drive to the hoop. There are rules against it, but it’s seldom if ever called. Come to think of it, nowadays there are no carrying or palming the basketball calls period.
Chet Ridenour Sr, Worthington
To Chet: I have never seen a fan base whine about holding more than Ohio State’s. And now Downs is just fueling it more. Every team holds. And they should as long as it’s not getting called.
To Brian: The Browns have had 13 head coaches (two interim) since the new era began in 1999. Kevin Stefanski could only make two wild-card slots in the last six seasons. Since Cleveland’s NFL debut in 1950, 69 different quarterbacks have started, including Baker Mayfield and former Ravens’ veteran Joe Flacco. Both got the Browns into the playoffs. The Browns overall win pct. is .503, yet only .334 since ’99 (146-290-1); just four winning seasons. A new coach or QB won’t improve their chances. The weather, injuries and inconsistency are chronic issues. So, build a retractable dome and use it for multiple events. Could a Myles Garrett-for-Quinn Ewers trade “save” the beloved Browns?
Larry Cheek, Dublin
To Larry: Weather, injuries and luck have nothing to do with the Browns’ misery. It is bad decisions, and getting Ewers for Garrett would fall right into that pile.
On Indiana football
To Brian: I was disappointed to see so many empty seats at Indiana football’s spring game. While it was on a weeknight and opposite the NFL draft, it was free and they certainly had something to celebrate. But I surprised to see enthusiasm for the miraculous success they now enjoy was underwhelming.
Dennis Singleton, Dayton
On Michigan basketball
To the editor: As a gracious Buckeye, I tip my cap to the team up north for winning the NCAA championship. Sorry, Woody, a title is a title. Hang the banner. Sure, the roster looked more like a free-agency convention than a student body. Call them transfers, call them mercenaries – call them champions. In today’s world, the line between locker room and ledger sheet is pretty thin. They played. They paid. They prevailed. Congratulations. And while I will debate teamwork and toughness, only the accountants and the IRS will know the real final score.
Michael Oser, Upper Arlington
More from the Mailbox
Are luxury boxes really what Ohio Stadium needs?
Why don’t girls wear helmets in lacrosse?
An appreciation of Muzerall’s greatness; and should dunking be banned in basketball?
Rob Oller is right, and Rob Oller is wrong
Should Rob Oller be punished for missing Ohio State football bandwagon?
Reader comes to Rob Oller’s defense, and what Is Ross Bjork doing?
What would St. Peter say to Woody Hayes, Ryan Day?
Does Ohio State really think it would beat Miami 9 out of 10 times?
Fans’ treatment of Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding is ‘unhinged’
Can Brian Hartline be focused enough for Ohio State CFP run?
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