Ohio

Taking Stock of Ohio State's 2026 Recruiting Class Two Weeks Ahead of Official Visit Season

Published

10 months ago

May 18, 2025

Taking Stock of Ohio State's 2026 Recruiting Class Two Weeks Ahead of Official Visit Season

We’re officially less than two weeks away from official visit season.

With 13 commits, Ohio State sits at No. 3 in 247Sports’ national recruiting rankings, but the Buckeyes still hope to add at many positions before National Signing Day in December.

Dozens of recruits will soon flock to Columbus for their official visits, but before that happens, we take a look at where Ohio State has made additions so far in 2026 and what areas the Buckeyes can still add to.

Quarterback

Commits: None

Potential targets: This summer should be interesting

Breakdown: It’s uncertain if even Ohio State knows what signal caller it wants to pursue yet for the 2026 class. But we’d bet that plenty of quarterbacks in the 2026 class will be at OSU’s recruiting camps this June, where Ryan Day and Billy Fessler will have ample opportunity to watch potential gunslingers in action. One name I’d keep an eye on if he ends up camping is Michigan State commit Kayd Coffman, who was the MVP of the Under Armour Next camp in Ohio this spring and has had brief dialogue with OSU.

Running back

Commits: None

Potential targets: Favour Akih, Savion Hiter, Jae Lamar, Derrek Cooper, Carsyn Baker

Breakdown: Of all the running back targets listed above, Akih might be the most likely to end up a Buckeye. The in-state product made four visits to Columbus in the spring and will be at OSU for an official visit with a June decision likely approaching. Beyond that, Hiter, Baker and Cooper have officials scheduled with the Buckeyes, so the second running back might come from that trio if indeed Akih ends up at OSU.

Wide receiver

Commits: Chris Henry Jr., Jaeden Ricketts, Brock Boyd, Kayden Dixon-Wyatt

Potential targets: Jalen Lott

Breakdown: With four wide receivers committed to Ohio State already, Brian Hartline can call this class a wrap if he so chooses. Still, if a top-tier talent like Lott or someone similar wanted in to the Buckeyes’ 2026 class, you’d have to think they’d find some room.

Tight end

Commits: Corbyn Fordham

Potential targets: Mack Sutter, Mark Bowman

Breakdown: Keenan Bailey already has a highly touted tight end committed for 2026 with Fordham in the fold. But the Buckeyes will take another tight end if it’s a player the caliber of Sutter or Bowman, both of whom could be game-changers at the collegiate level. Sutter has an official visit scheduled with OSU and Bowman recently put the Buckeyes in his top seven schools, so we’ll see what developments occur over the next few weeks.

Offensive line

Commits: Maxwell Riley, Sam Greer, Tucker Smith

Potential targets: Micah Champ Smith, Felix Ojo, Aaron Thomas, Darius Gray, Drew Evers, Chancellor Campbell, J.B. Shabazz, Samuel Roseborough, Da’Ron Parks, Ekene Ogboko

Breakdown: Tyler Bowen got off on the right foot with Ohio State fans by landing two key Ohio offensive linemen and adding a third intriguing developmental piece. Now, he’ll try to pull off what OSU has struggled to accomplish in past recruiting cycles: Land a big out-of-state fish. Smith, Ojo, Gray, Evers and Roseborough would all apply to that category, and each could take an official visit to Columbus this summer. Landing Ojo would be a major win for the Buckeyes, but they’ll have staunch competition from Texas for the No. 2 offensive tackle in the country.

Defensive line

Commits: None

Potential targets: Jake Kreul, Luke Wafle, Landon Barnes, Aiden Harris, Andrew Harris, Deuce Geralds, Carter Luckie, Preston Carey, Kevin Ford Jr., Jamir Perez, Keysaun Eleazer, Carter Meadows, Lamar Brown, PJ Dean, Tyson Bacon, Jackson Ford, Damari Simeon

Breakdown: Defensive line is arguably one of the biggest needs for Ohio State this class, but the good news is Larry Johnson should have no shortage of options to choose from. Wafle, Geralds, Perez and Dean all seem to have some momentum with OSU at the moment, and the Buckeyes are still firmly in the running for others mentioned above. Like Bowen, Johnson should be busy this summer as he’ll have quite a bit of official visitors on campus. Of note, OSu offered Lamar Brown on Friday, the No. 1 defensive tackle in the 2026 class. He has a commitment date set for July 4, so things would have to move pretty quickly there, but the Buckeyes are still trying to go big game hunting at this position.

Linebacker

Commits: CJ Sanna

Potential targets: Cincere Johnson, Tyler Atkinson, Xavier Griffin

Breakdown: Between Atkinson and Griffin, James Laurinaitis is taking a swing at landing the No. 1 and No. 2 linebackers in the 2026 class this summer. Atkinson has been on the Buckeyes’ radar since he was an eighth grader, while Griffin just came back on the market following his decommitment from USC. Of course, Johnson is a huge priority to keep in state as well and is one of the best linebackers in the class.

Cornerback

Commits: Jakob Weatherspoon, Jordan Thomas

Potential targets: Justice Fitzpatrick, Nascar McCoy, Danny Odem

Breakdown: Tim Walton added another premier cornerback to his 2026 class with the commitment of Thomas, but the Buckeyes could still add one more player here. Fitzpatrick seems to be the preferred corner of choice. McCoy could play either safety or corner at OSU. Odem was just offered by Walton this week, so we’ll see where the relationship goes from here.

Safety

Commits: Blaine Bradford, Simeon Caldwell

Potential Targets: Bralan Womack, Donovan Webb

Breakdown: By far and away the biggest remaining priority at safety is landing Womack, the top-rated safety in the 2026 class. If OSU can land Bradford, Caldwell and Womack, Walton and Matt Guerrieri should take a bow. There’s still some crucial visits coming up in his recruitment, but the Buckeyes appear to be in the driver’s seat for him at the moment. If they can’t land Womack, someone like Webb makes a lot of sense as a third piece for the class.

Source link

Ohio

Ohio State’s Ryan Day sought NFL experience in offensive coordinator

Published

3 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Ohio State’s Ryan Day sought NFL experience in offensive coordinator

When Ohio State coach Ryan Day hired Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator in January, it mirrored a staffing move from the previous offseason.

He found a coordinator with a deep NFL background

Smith had been in the league for more than a decade, rising through the ranks from a quality control coach to head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

It was a similar path to Matt Patricia, who made a splash in his first year as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator after a long career as an assistant and head coach in the NFL.

The immediate success of Patricia, who kept the Buckeyes as the top-ranked defense in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2025 despite heavy roster attrition, offered a blueprint for the other side of the ball with Day leaning into a CEO-style role leading the program.

“It allows me an opportunity to kind of step away,” Day said, “and really dive in everything else and be more present in the building with players, staff, and certainly with the NIL stuff and raising money. It’s a different mindset.”

Day first hired an established play-caller for his offense when the Buckeyes won the national championship in 2024, bringing in his coaching mentor Chip Kelly as the coordinator.

Kelly also had four years of experience in the NFL between head-coaching stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. But he had not gone directly from the league to Ohio State, having spent six seasons coaching UCLA in the immediate years before his move to Columbus.

As Day considered Smith in his latest coordinator search, he valued his postseason experience. In each of Smith’s four years as an offensive coordinator between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans, the teams made the playoffs, including the Titans’ appearance in the AFC championship game in 2019.

The expansion of the College Football Playoff has put a premium on teams peaking at the right time in December and January, requiring them to play as many as 16 or 17 games, approaching the length of the NFL’s 18-week, 17-game regular season.

“We’re trying to build an identity that carries throughout the entire season,” Day said. “When you have somebody like Arthur who has been through playoff games and played through a long season in the NFL, you have to build toward the end of the season. That’s the goal for us, because when you think about the way things are structured now, you’ve got to be building toward the end of the season.”

The Buckeyes hit a wall down the stretch last year. After finishing the regular season with an unbeaten record, they lost consecutive games to Indiana in the Big Ten championship and Miami in the playoff quarterfinals to end the year.

In two postseason losses, the Buckeyes, who averaged 37 points per game during the regular season, totaled just 24 points.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow him on @joeyrkaufman on X.

Source link

Ohio

Far fewer Ohio women could vote if top election officer gets way | Opinion

Published

15 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Far fewer Ohio women could vote if top election officer gets way | Opinion

The SAVE acronym should stand for Suppress American Votes Everywhere.

Richard Topper
| Guest Columnist

A proposed bill in the U.S. Senate, the SAVE Act, would require citizens to present a birth certificate or passport to register to vote.
Richard Topper argues this could prevent thousands of Ohioans from voting, particularly those who move, change their names, or lack access to these documents.

Richard Topper has been a trial attorney in Columbus for 45 years and is actively involved in voting rights efforts.

As chief election officer of our state, Frank LaRose should be focused equally, if not more, on how election laws affect Ohio citizens’ rights to vote as he does to the miniscule numbers of undocumented citizens who attempted to vote in our elections.

To support our right to vote, LaRose, a Republican candidate for Ohio auditor of state, should speak out against the SAVE Act pending before the U.S. Senate.

The SAVE acronym should stand for Suppress American Votes Everywhere.

The bill would require all U.S. citizens to present a birth certificate or passport in person when they register to vote. The act could prevent thousands of Ohio citizens from participating in a single election.

The number far outweighs the 167 noncitizens whom, according to LaRose, “have appeared to cast a ballot in (over 15 elections) since 2018.”

How will the Save Act affect you?

Let’s say you’ve lived and worked in Ohio all your life but decide to move.

To vote, you’d have to re-register in person at your county board of elections and show them your birth certificate or passport. If you have neither, you will be unable to vote.

For Ohioans who’ve changed their name due to marriage or remarriage, it becomes even more difficult to prove your citizenship with a birth certificate.

This will affect Ohio women’s right to vote, since 70% change their name when they marry.

Every person who wants to vote in Ohio for the first time, who moves to Ohio, or who moves within the state will need to have a birth certificate or passport to vote.

In 2023, close to 1.2 million Ohioans moved within or to Ohio. Under the SAVE Act, every one of those Ohioans is considered a non-citizen until they prove otherwise.

Not everyone has or can get access to a birth certificate.

An argument that sinks

A study by the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement showed over 9% of voting-age citizens, or 21.3 million people in the U.S., cannot timely obtain a birth certificate or passport. In fact, only 37% of Ohioans own a U.S. passport.

The argument that too many non-citizens vote holds no water.

In 2024, Secretary LaRose required poll workers to challenge voters whose driver license read “non-citizen.”

Of the 5,851,387 people who cast ballots in 2024, only five alleged non-citizens attempted, but were not able to vote that day. One in a million. Nationwide, the figures are similar.

Kansas legislators tried their own SAVE Act. The 67 non-citizens who registered to vote paled in comparison to the 31,000 Kansans who were denied their right to vote.

Ohioans need Frank LaRose to take a stand

LaRose should focus his attention on what the SAVE Act requires and how this will affect the average Ohioan.

In the past five years in his chief election officer position, LaRose decried costly and non-participatory August elections, then supported an August 2023 election that would have taken Ohioans’ longstanding right to amend our constitution by a majority.

He also voted in favor of unconstitutional gerrymandered Ohio legislative and Congressional districts which diminished the votes of 45% of Ohioans.

Recently, LaRose bowed to the Trump administration and supported an Ohio law which would nullify up to 7,000 legitimate Ohio mail-in ballots received during the four-day grace period after election day.

LaRose can redeem himself by supporting Ohio voters and taking a bold step to speak out against the voter suppressive SAVE Act.

Richard Topper has been a trial attorney in Columbus for 45 years and is actively involved in voting rights efforts.

Source link

Ohio

Unique migration: Mole salamanders are back in Northeast Ohio

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Unique migration: Mole salamanders are back in Northeast Ohio

It is the season for salamanders!

Nicholas Gaye, a naturalist with Lake Metroparks, said Northeast Ohio is home to about 15 species of salamander, each with their own habitat. But one of these species, the mole salamander, has a habitat unlike the others.

“Most of their time they’re spending is actually underneath the ground,” Gaye said.

Mole salamanders emerge once a year during the transition from winter to spring. This yearly migration was the delight of Lake County nature enthusiasts Saturday at the Penitentiary Glen Reservation, where nationalists shared facts about these elusive amphibians, pointing them out and guiding families along the trail.

Lake Metroparks

During these migrations, the salamanders trek to the surface in search of vernal pools, bodies of water that fill with rain and melted snow but dry in the summer and lack fish, the predators of salamander eggs.

Then, after four to eight weeks of development, the baby salamanders will emerge and spend a year or three in that vernal pool until they can survive on land.

If you missed it, don’t worry, because Gaye said the migration typically lasts for a week or two at the beginning of the season, and he expects further opportunities for viewing depending on the temperature. Mole salamanders require moist conditions to travel, so look for rainy and warm nights.

Additionally, he expects that another species, the marble salamander, will undergo its annual migration in the fall.

If you plan to join the hunt, however, Gaye asks for caution.

“As humans, we are stewards to our environment,” he said. “And it’s really important that, when we get out there to enjoy these amazing opportunities, that we’re being respectful and caring towards the critters that we’re coming across.”

47265625-Nicole Chaps Wyman.jpg — Mole Salamander

Salamanders are slow-moving, so Gaye said observers should bring a flashlight to avoid stepping on them. Then, if you intend to touch them, he said to avoid anything on your hands that contains heavy metals, such as scented lotions, sunscreen, bug spray, or other products.

“Salamander skin is semi-permeable, meaning things can get through it easily and, if those heavy metals get through, they can really hurt the salamanders,” Gaye said.

Wet hands are also encouraged, as is limited exposure to what, at the end of the day, is considered a wild animal.

Lake Metroparks also has a salamander migration email list, which you can sign up for on their website.

We Follow Through

Want us to continue to follow through on a story? Let us know.

Source link