Is Ohio State football’s 2025 recruiting class on verge of making history? Buckeye Talk podcast

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State football’s 2025 recruiting class is currently the number one class in the country with 13 commits, including three five-star recruits as it’s gotten off to a hot start.

But the question is whether it’s on track to reach heights that the Buckeyes have only reached one other time. On this episode of Buckeye Talk, Stephen Means and Andrew Gillis map out what would need to happen for the 2025 class to match the success of the 2021 class. That class featured 24 players, with seven being five-stars and seven others being top 100 recruits as the nation’s No. 2 class behind Alabama.

But first, a conversation about OSU’s latest representation at the prestigious Elite 11 quarterback competition.

Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

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Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.

Stephen Means (00:07.589)

Welcome back to Buckeye Talk. I’m Stephen Means and that’s Andrew Gillis. And it’s your Wednesday Buckeye Talk as Ohio State prepares to once again be represented in the 2024 NFL draft. But we’re taking a quick break from the NFL draft to do a recruiting pod, a little bit of news and a little bit of just overall analysis on where Ohio State’s 2025 recruiting class is currently 13 commits. It’s the number one class in the country. 13 commits, three, five stars, and then one other top 50 recruit and a couple other top 100 recruits along with that. Off the bat,

One of its five star recruits is continuing something that’s becoming a tradition at Ohio state. And that’s Tavian St. Clair, the number 17 player, the number four quarterback in the country out of Belfort, Ohio.

Andrew, you were out there on Sunday, Elite 11. It used to go up to Massillon because they have the indoor facility when they came to Ohio, but they came to Columbus, Ohio over the weekend. And you were out there with Tavian St. Clair as he got his invite to the elite prestigious Elite 11 competition that’s held out in California. For starters, just what did he have to say about getting that invite? And then also, what did he look like in terms of, I mean, this is the first time you’ve seen him throw in quite some time here. How did he look?

Andrew (01:17.746)

Yeah, you know, one of the things that he said afterwards was, you know, hey, look, this is kind of a full circle moment for me. You know, we talked about growing up and watching the old Elite Eleven videos with his dad. And, you know, we mentioned Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. You know, one of the other writers was there and, you know, he was kind of talking to us about, you know, those, those battles many years ago, Steven, I don’t know if you were on the beat at this time.

when Fields and Lawrence were going through this high school circuit. But he talked about watching that and watching the talent that was kind of rolling through. And he said he didn’t know if he was going to get a shot. And these are his words, not mine. He said because he was from a small school, because he was from an area that it’s not IMG or even like a St. Ignatius or a St. Ed’s or a Massillon or something like that. It is a smaller area school. And he said he was...

He wasn’t sure if that opportunity was going to come, but now that it’s here, it’s, um, it’s a big deal for him. Um, you know, I think that this matters a lot. Um, you know, when, when you’re talking about the national kind of perspective here, um, you know, this is a kid that I think looks the part and you saw that on Sunday and you saw exactly why elite 11 was going to offer him. I don’t think that he rolled into Sunday. Like.

needing to have a good performance to earn that Elite 11 invite, you know what I’m saying? I don’t think he needed Sunday afternoon and Sunday at Upper Arlington High School to really kind of prove that he was, you know, one of the quarterbacks that should get the invite. There’s 20 quarterbacks that get invited to that event in June out in Los Angeles. And he didn’t disappoint though. And that I think was impressive. I mean, he’s like six foot five or not six foot five. He’s like six

somewhere around the vicinity of 225 pounds. You know, I know after the season ended, he put on some serious bulk. I talked with him about that. I went out there in like January or February, and we were kind of talking about kind of the weight that he was putting on, and it was pretty significant from his, you know, from his junior season to where he was in the off season. So he just, I mean, this is a kid that looks every bit the part of a five-star. He’s got great size, you know, both in height and weight.

Andrew (03:40.598)

He’s got great arm talent. I think that was one of the most impressive things to me was how effortless it looked. And I don’t want to say, and I don’t want that to come across as, oh, Tabian just rolled out there and didn’t try. No, Tabian rolled out there and with a flick of the wrist, he was kind of dropping some dimes. And I was really impressed. I think that the accuracy matters. It was definitely not an ideal day to throw the football. Somehow I got face burn. Like, I don’t know if it’s wind burn or sunburn.

on a cloudy day in Ohio, but it was not a good weather day. I’ll put it like that. It was windy, it was cold when you were standing out there. It was not great and Tavian didn’t really seem to mind. A lot of really, really nice throws, great accuracy when he was moving. Like there was just a lot to like about what happened and it looked like I said, with just a flick of the wrist, it was pretty effortless.

and it looked pretty natural coming from him. So, you know, the talents there and it was a really impressive showing by Tavian. So we’ll see where it goes and we’ll see where it takes him in June, but, you know, big deal for him. He was very excited to get that invite officially and it was a pretty nice day for him overall.

Stephen Means (04:59.273)

So as I mentioned, Ohio State’s got a pretty good history with the Elite 11 camp. In the 2016 class, that summer of 2015, Dwayne Haskins was inducted into the Elite 11. In 2017, for the 2018 class, as you mentioned, Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence were almost the talk of that entire event. And Justin Fields ends up taking MVP honors over Trevor Lawrence. In 2019, for the 2020 class, C.J. Stroud used that event, which there’s a fun backstory behind that as well.

Stephen Means (05:29.607)

from Clemson, but DJ decided to opt out and focus more on his high school football season. And it opened up a final spot for CJ Straub. And he used that spot not only to go take home MVP honors that summer in Dallas, but also to get on Ohio State’s radar. That’s a, they left that camp and a lot of the wide receivers there, Jackson Smith, the jig, but G Scott, Julian Fleming, they went back and they told Ryan Day about him and the rest is history. Now he’s on the, ironically enough now he’s back in Texas, not in Dallas, but he’s in with Texas in 2021 for the, in that summer of 2020.

Kyle McCord.

gets inducted into the elite 11. And then the following summer, Quinn Ubers and Devin Brown both get elected until the elite 11. Quinn Ubers did so while he was still in Ohio State football commit. Devin Brown at the time was a USC commit, but both of those guys in the Ohio States roster at a time. But now Ubers obviously is Texas’ starting quarterback while Devin Brown’s in the midst of a quarterback battle with Will Howard right now. Nobody in 2022 for the 2023 class was in elite 11. So Tavian St. Claire gets Ohio State back into that mix there. Who are some of these?

other guys, Andrew, who have already gotten invites to attend that thing. And then what do you think Tavian’s chances are of taking home MVP and making it into the 11?

Andrew (06:40.554)

Well, yeah, he was the seventh guy to get invited. You know, I think when you map it out, you know, there was there was a guy from Texas A&M, Houston Longstreet, which is, which is just the most Texas A&M name that I could possibly think of. He’s actually from California though. Deuce Knight, the Notre Dame commit got invited. Keelan Russell, the SMU commits invited. KJ Lacey, Texas commit. Kevin Sperry, Oklahoma commit.

and then Tramell Jones, the Florida State Commit. So, there’s a handful of guys that have already been invited. They invite 20. They definitely, somebody, one of the textures asked me a really good question. Was this basically predetermined? How much of Saturday or Sunday mattered? And like, was this a thing that, Tavian really helped himself, or are they just going off reputation? And my answer to him was yes. I think,

He proved Sunday that he was the best quarterback out there. And the way that this works is they also take into account high school tape. So if you have a bad day throwing the ball, if you don’t look like yourself, they’re not going to hold it against you completely. Right. And that’s probably the best process. So, you know, a lot of elite quarterbacks are going to get this invite. You know, they do base it off of a lot of different things. So there’s a lot going on.

you know, with, with how they, how they do this and, and how they kind of finalized the list, but, um, Tabian had pretty much locked up, uh, an invite going into the day. There, there wasn’t really any concern about that. And then the official notes came through, which was kind of a nice moment for him. His family was there. So, um, you know, really cool for him and, and cool for the other quarterbacks to kind of be, you know, kind of with that, there was a Virginia Tech quarterback that was there. Um, there was a quarterback from Hawaii that was there, which I thought was really interesting.

I think he won the most accurate passer award. I would have to go back and check that. But there were other college quarterbacks that were there and obviously they didn’t really look close to Tavian. So, and Steve, what are your chances of winning? So I think they’re pretty high, but you also gotta remember that there are a lot of other really good quarterbacks that are gonna go into this class, right? You can be a great quarterback.

Stephen Means (08:49.153)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew (09:02.518)

Um, and we all think Tavian St. Claire can be, um, but you also got to remember like Bryce Underwood is the number one player in this class. He’s committed LSU and there’s George McIntyre, Tennessee commit. And, you know, for, you know, Tavian St. Claire’s number 17th overall player in the country. Uh, the long street kid that I can mention he’s number 40 overall deuce night, number 64 overall. Uh, there’s a kid from, uh, Missouri, Matt Zoller is number 74 overall. Who could get invited.

which if you’re a Cincinnati Bengals fan, that’s the name that you probably don’t wanna hear about a quarterback, but Achille Smith Jr., he’s an Oregon commit, number 75 overall. There’s a lot of really talented football players that are gonna be there. So I think he’s got as good of a chance as anybody because you see the talent, you see the arm talent, you see the size, you see the mobility, you see the athleticism, it just works for Tavian. So we’re gonna have to look at the invite list once it gets settled. Like I said, they’re not even halfway done with filling it out.

But I think Tavian’s gonna be one of the favorites to win it just because, again, he’s one of the more talented quarterbacks in the country. And when you stack him up against those other players, that should still shine through.

Stephen Means (10:14.741)

So that’s the latest Ohio State football news. Once again, Ohio State’s quarterbacks being represented in the Elite 11 competition, the most prestigious quarterback competition in high school football. Get the text 614-350-3315. Andrew was out there watching every throw that Tavian took place in. Maybe he’ll be out there in California too when Tavian goes through the competition, but we’ll see. We’ll put a pin in that for now. Get the text 614-350-3315. We’re gonna take a quick break here. And when we come back, we’re gonna map out Ohio State’s 2025 recruiting class.

map it out in terms of predicting the commits. We’ll do that later on this summer. We’ve already done 1.0, 2.0 is coming soon. But more just there’s a chance it might be on a trajectory that only one other class since Ryan Day took over the program was on at this point in the cycle. And we’re going to see if Ohio State’s 2025 class can surpass that class by signing day when we come back here on Book I Talk.

Stephen Means (11:10.665)

So back in the spring of 2020, we were all stuck inside as the world dealt with real world issues. Everybody was trying to adapt. That included college football that was trying to adapt how they were going to recruit in a world where nobody could go anywhere. Everybody had to sit in the house. Ohio State seemed to be the only school in the country who had it all figured out already.

as they were building their 2021 recruiting class. Obviously that class was started by Jack Sawyer and Kyle McCord as the quarterback and Jack Sawyer as a five star edge rusher. But during that spring, they brought in Trevion Henderson, J.K. Johnson, Michael Hall Jr., Evan Pryor, Trevion Henderson and Evan Pryor were like within weeks of each other.

Tiley, no, not Tiley Williams, Andre Tarentine, Jansen Dunn, Denzel Burke committed that spring, Jalen Johnson. I think Sam Hart committed that spring. They were just racking up the commits at that point. And it reached the point where we got to May. We were looking around and.

JT Tuyumaloa was still out there. You still got Jordan Hancock, who still at that point committed to Clemson and hadn’t flipped yet to Ohio State. Reed Kerkel’s in the class. Don Jackson’s in the class. That’s a highly rated guy. Marvin Harrison Jr. is already on board. Emeka Buka’s not on board yet. He committed closer to signing day. But we were thinking, could this be the highest rated class on Ohio State football history? And then it transformed to, can this be the highest rated class ever?

It ended up top four.

Stephen Means (12:46.877)

Texas A&M put together a quality 2021 class. Alabama, I think, holds the record for that year, what they were able to do in 2021. But it was the fact that Ohio State’s 2021 recruiting class, even if you take Quinn Uris out of it because he reclassified so late, you got one, two, three, four, five, six, five star recruits. So that’s six of the top 30 players in the country. That’s JT Twiemoloao, Jack Sawyer, Emeka Ibuka, Donovan Jackson, Treyvon Henderson, and Kyle McCord.

Stephen Means (13:17.331)

Jordan Hancock, Evan Pryor, Reed Carrico, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jayden Ballard as top 100 recruits as well. So pretty...

Andrew (13:24.546)

They had seven five stars, by the way. They had seven five stars in their 247 composite. Oh, you did not include, I apologize. All right, go ahead.

Stephen Means (13:27.889)

I didn’t include Quinn Eward. Yeah, I said, yeah, Quinn Eward was not originally a 2021 guy, he showed up two weeks before, he showed up two days before fall camp opened. I don’t count him in this conversation. So six five-star recruits, and then another bevy of top 100 recruits produced the second best class in the country in one of the four highest rated classes of all time.

Andrew (13:37.186)

For sure. I understand. It makes sense.

Stephen Means (13:51.677)

And Andrew, we are here today to decide if it is at all possible for a class of 2025 that already features three five star recruits plus one, two, three, four, four other top 100 recruits and one other guy in London mayor who’s sitting right outside the top 100 and is the number one class in the country right now. Can they match it? So let’s run down the list.

What needs to happen? Let’s what’s like the number one thing that needs to happen for Ohio state to repeat is 2021 success.

Andrew (14:26.55)

Well, yeah, there’s a lot of different angles that we could take into this, but I think we’ll start with the five stars. I think that’s probably the best way to do it. And then we can get to the top 100 guys later. So Ohio State currently has three five stars in its twenty five class. You’ve got them at premier positions, too. You’ve got Devin Sanchez, number five overall corner. They flip flop those guys randomly. I don’t know the rhyme or reason when there’s not football going on. At first, it was, you know, Devin Sanchez was in the corner.

And then Naheem Offord, who is also an Ohio State commit and a five star player, was the number one corner for a little while. They’re both five and six. They’re the number one and two corners in the country. They’re very good. But just know that they are five stars. They’re top 10 players. They’re in the class. Devin Sanchez has shut down his commitment. Devin Sanchez has basically just said, I’m not taking any more visits. I’m done. I’m good. So that’s a big deal for Ohio State. We’ll get to something about that later. But

Tavian St. Clair, five-star player. He has kind of risen up the rankings pretty rapidly over these last, I don’t know, a couple of weeks, a couple of months. He’s now the number 17 overall player, as we talked about during the rivals, or during the Elite 11 stuff. Number 17 overall, number four quarterback. That’s the kind of position you want, right? So three five-stars are a big deal, right? Three five-stars do matter. However,

When you get into the 2021 class, and I know Ubers reclassified, but like he still counts for the points. Ubers was a five star player. He’s the number one overall prospect in the country. JT Tumaloau, Jack Sawyer, they had three top five players, one quarterback and two defensive ends. Now, could Ohio State end up with a quarterback in the top five and two defensive studs? I think that that’s possible.

because Devin Sanchez and Nehema Alfred are basically there and Tavian St. Clair still has another year to rise through the ranking. So I think that that’s completely possible. Then you get to Emeka Iguuka, five star player, number 10, so four top 10 players. Donovan Jackson, number 19 overall, five star. Trevion Henderson, number 23 overall, five star. Kyle McCord, 28 overall, five star. So you really load up. So if Ohio State wants to get...

Andrew (16:48.022)

to this level that the 2021 class was at in the 2021 season, 2021 cycle, they’re gonna need some high-level talent. They’ve already got Devin Sanchez, they’ve already gotten Hima Offer, they’ve already got Tavian St. Clair, but they need more. So basically, what does that mean? Okay, well, there’s a few guys that are on this list. Wide receiver Jamie French. He’s the number 18 overall player. He’s five star out of Florida. Ohio State.

is in fairly solid position with him, but that recruitment’s going to be a battle. Brian Hartline, if you hadn’t heard, does pretty well in Florida and does pretty well recruiting receivers. Ohio State kind of has to like where you’re at in that position. There’s one, so that would get you to four or five stars. Then there’s De’Korey and Moore, and he’s going to be the more difficult prospect to flip because he’s already committed somewhere. He’s number three overall prospects. He’s committed to LSU right now.

So you have to not only convince him to come to your school, you have to convince him to decommit from the school he already committed to. Now I know he’s down to four schools, obviously the Buckeyes are among them, they’ve been working hard on it. Tavian St. Clair said after the illegal 11 event that they’re working on him, but that’s gonna be a big swing. So that would be five if you’re able to pull French and then flip more. I would probably say that percentage is a little less than 50-50 right now, like a little worse than 50-50 for Ohio State to do that.

Because not only do you have to, like I said, bring in a guy who’s uncommitted, you have to flip somebody. Um, and there are other programs that have good receivers too. There are other programs that have talent too. And for as much as Ohio state has really talented receivers, LSU is nothing to laugh at in terms of receiving talent that they have had go through in these last couple of years, Malik neighbors is going to be drafted in the top 10, almost assuredly in the next like 48 hours. Uh, Jamar chase. Very good.

Justin Jefferson, the best receiver in the NFL. I mean, it’s easy to forget, but Terris Marshall was a really good college receiver who just kind of hasn’t worked out in the NFL. Like LSU has had a lot of really good receivers too. So that’s a difficult poll for Ohio State. But even if you flip those guys, there’s five. So then you get to five five-stars, and then you’re at safety Trey McNutt, who is currently a five-star player. He’s the number 24 overall prospect in the class. You swing him, the kid out of the Cleveland area.

Andrew (19:13.942)

That’d be six. And then you gotta win in a place where you’re not expected to. You gotta go get David Sanders Jr., the number two offensive player, or the number two player overall, and the number one offensive tackle in the class out of Charlotte. Ohio State impressed him during his visit. Sounds like the visit went well, but that’s still gonna be a tough swing to pull him out of North Carolina. So you have to win there, or you have to win

Um, you know, like, so like if you get the two receivers in McNutt, there’s six, then you got to go win David Sanders Jr. Or you got to go win Jonah Williams, like the five star linebacker safety hybrid out of Texas. He’s the number 10 overall prospect. Uh, both of those options don’t feel likely. I would say that it’s, you know, probably less than 50 that Ohio State gets one of those guys. So do the math and kind of take two of them. But

Ohio State’s gonna have to win in an area that they’re not expected to win if they wanna get that high level talent. Like if they wanna get that five star talent, unless something else pops up, like those are the guys that are really high on the board right now. So whatever you value that at, basically you would need to pull a parlay of Jamie French, De’Corey and Moore, Trey McNutt, and then one of David Sanders Jr. or Jonah Williams, and that gets you to seven.

And that gets you to where Ohio State’s 2021 class was. Now, I do understand, like you were saying, Stephen, that Quinn Ewers was kind of cheating. You know, the Quinn Ewers math did kind of help out Ohio State’s 2021 class. But hey, that’s what we’re talking about, right? Like if Ohio State wants to bring in that level of talent again, you know, if they want to bring in that high level of a recruiting ranking again, he counted, right? He counted in the rankings. So you have to include him. So.

Ohio State is going to have to do something in either Texas or North Carolina if they want to do this and even Florida that they might not be expected to do right now. So it’s going to be a tough road to hoe for Ohio State to get five star prospects, though I don’t think that necessarily slams the door on the 2025 class definitely being worse than the 2021.

Stephen Means (21:25.861)

just mapping this out here. But even if you take Quinn, you are as well. It’s still six, which is still the most Ohio states had the modern day error recruiting. So it’s still a lofty task here. So what you’re saying is. Ohio State would need to get currently the number two player in the top offensive tackle in the country and David Sanders. The number.

Andrew (21:45.066)

Yeah, let’s say him because it’s either him or Jonah Williams. So let’s say him. Let’s say David Sanders Jr.

Stephen Means (21:48.837)

Okay. Just because that’s probably the more likely of the two. De Corrin Moore, the number three player and the top wide receiver in the country. Jamie French, the number 18 player and the number three wide receiver in the country. And then Trey McNutt, who is the number 24 player and the number one safety in the country. So that was. Okay.

Andrew (22:04.311)

Mm-hmm.

24.

Andrew (22:12.81)

Yeah, they have him listed as an athlete, but he’s a safety.

Stephen Means (22:17.573)

So just for the sake of a comparison here, Ohio State’s 2021 class, the 2018 and 2017, even if you don’t include Quinn Ures in 21, each of those classes had three players who were ranked as the number one player in their respective class and at their respective position. If you don’t quit, you were back in the mix. Obviously, the 21 class goes up to four in this world or predict that would have to happen. Ohio State would get

Three more, David Sanders, DeCorean, more and Trey McNutt to go alongside Devin Sanchez, who’s already the number one cornerback in the country, or Naeem Hoffer, depending on what they are talking about. It looks like Ohio State’s gonna have the number one cornerback in the country. That’s probably a safe bet, unless something crazy happens over the next eight months here. And then we’ll see how high Tabian St. Clair rises up, right? Maybe the elite 11.

could be the difference between if he’s the number one quarterback in this country or if any of those other five stars you name like Julian Lewis and Bryce Underwood, if any of those guys are in this competition as well. So that’s okay, point one, get more five stars. That’s the number one thing. And the five stars.

Andrew (23:22.509)

Yes.

Stephen Means (23:28.637)

that are more most likely to join along, though. Obviously, it’s going to be a pool because one of them is already committed elsewhere. Excuse me. Yeah, one’s already committed to LSU, which also has the number one quarterback in the country, which just like Ohio State could have a top 10 draft pick at wide receiver literally tomorrow. As we’re recording this, you’re listening to this on a Wednesday. So tomorrow, LSU is just as likely to have a top 10 draft pick at wide receivers. Ohio State is. Plus, you’ve got the number one quarterback in the country. So that’s a hard pool with the Korean market that

The other guy is David Sanders, which at we’re, we’re still waiting for Ohio state to go get an offensive lineman. They weren’t supposed to get, and David Sanders would fill that. So let’s write and then Trey McNutt, who’s from your backyard. And then Jamie French, who’s a wide receiver from Florida, which apparently that’s where Brian Hartline gets all his wide receivers from now. Apparently. So let’s do most likely to least likely with these four guys. No, they most likely to least likely to end up being an Ohio state

Andrew (24:30.21)

I would say most likely Trey McNutt. I think Ohio State’s in good position with him. I am curious how that safety recruiting does map out because there is somebody that we’re gonna talk about when we get to kind of the next level of recruiting here that would kind of maybe change this. I’m not sure how this math would work out, but I think Trey McNutt would be number one. I would say...

Andrew (24:57.186)

Jamie French would be number two, the five star receiver out of Florida. He’s obviously uncommitted right now, but Brian Hartline has shown no aversion to go into Florida and not only go into Florida, to go into Florida and win. So Jamie French would be number two. I would probably say De’Corey and Moore number three over David Sanders Jr. I think the Ohio State poll would be big for him.

Because you got to understand with the Cory and more. I know there’s a lot of Ohio State fans sitting there thinking, well, it’s wide receiver you, you know, don’t you want to come play for Brian heartline? Don’t you want to come play with a great quarterback? Don’t you want to play, you know, for national championships? Well, every coach at LSU since Nick Saban has won a national championship, Nick Saban won a title, uh, less miles, won a title at Oh, won a title. Like LSU is a really good program too.

They’ve got the number one quarterback in the country. We mentioned their receiver history. So that is a tough sell to try and get him to leave LSU. But I actually think with Ohio State’s history, that does matter. So I’m gonna put him third, and then I’m gonna put David Sanders Jr. fourth. We just haven’t seen it with the offensive line. Pulling him out of the South would be hard. Pulling him out of the South would be a really, really big swing for the Buckeyes. I don’t know what...

a commitment from David Sanders Jr. would kind of entail. I don’t know what it would look like, but I mean, it would be like, aside from quarterback and maybe one of the corners, that’s one of the more consequential commitments they would have had in a very long time. So I’ll rank them in those four in that order.

Stephen Means (26:43.005)

So basically the more the more likely they are to commit, the lower they are in the rankings. You went 24 18 number three and number one. I think part of the good thing about it is three of the four guys you’ve mentioned are being recruited by the two best recruiters.

at Ohio State and maybe in the country or at least on a short list of guys, right, with Brian Heartline, with Jamie French and DeCorey and more. And then Trey McNutt, the Tim Walton guy was obviously Matt Guerrero. That’s his position coach. But Tim Walton will definitely have his hand deep into that one as well. The David Sanders one was probably going to be a lot riding. He’s expected to take his official visit on June 21st. Devin Sanchez, the aim offered Dorian Brew also expected to be there. So I’m sure Devin Sanchez and the aim offered, along with trying to get Dorian to come back home in Ohio,

on Davis Sanders Jr. like Whitehall Rice through that entire week and trying to make something happen there. I think that’s always an interesting conversation that we’re obviously getting to as we get closer to the summer here, but.

Do you want the first visit or do you want the last visit of the summer in Ohio State’s chosen the last visit of the summer with David Sanchez this, this off season? Okay. So that’s number one on our list of things. Get more five stars. The good thing is we know who those four or five stars potentially are. Now the work is, can you just go get it? And to your point of every coach that’s been hired at LSU and since the change in the millennium has won a national championship, except its most recent hire at head coach and that’s Brian Kelly. Every coach who has been,

Andrew (28:11.822)

It’s been like two, three years, about two years.

Stephen Means (28:13.789)

That’s what I’m saying. No, I’m saying that like, it’s kind of the same concept at Ohio State where it’s like every coach who’s been hired at Ohio State has won a national championship except the most recent coach.

Andrew (28:18.734)

That’s fair. I will say though, at Ohio State, there has been stability. Whereas at LSU, it feels like Nick Saban leaves and everybody’s mad and the program’s gotta rebuild. And then Les Miles is kind of just driving, like conducting the train that’s going 110 miles an hour. And right before it derails, he won a national championship. That happened with Edo too.

Stephen Means (28:26.206)

for sure.

Stephen Means (28:31.687)

Ayyy, of course.

Stephen Means (28:37.244)

Yeah.

Stephen Means (28:41.573)

Yeah, for sure. It’s just but all three at Ohio State have at least played for a national championship. Jim Dressel did it three times. Urban Meyer did it once and Ryan Day lost to Bama in 2020. That’s number one. OK. Second most important thing that has to happen for Ohio State to have its most impressive class is 2021.

Andrew (29:00.462)

Top 100 recruits. So we just mapped out the five stars and we just said, okay, well, what if they get this guy? What if they get that guy? What if they get this guy? What if they get that guy? Then, then, then

Andrew (29:28.078)

it’s I mean, these rankings are kind of funny to look at because like, Jaden Ballard was 99 and Marvin Harrison Jr. was 97. You know, so basically what to like, they’re the 14th ranked receiver and the 15th ranked receiver. So sometimes like these rankings, you know, that you can, I know, you can go back and kind of laugh at it. And obviously, if anybody if everybody had known Marvin Harrison Jr. would have been the number one receiver in the country, but that was where the 2021 class was at. So if

Stephen Means (29:41.301)

It’s a deep wide receiver class, man. That’s all that means.

Andrew (29:56.074)

If you’re not gonna match them in five stars, it’s one of those questions of, okay, well, the 2021 class had seven five stars, and they had 14 four-star players, and a total of 14 in the top 100. So, if you’re not gonna get the seven five stars, right? Like, if you’re not gonna get that high level of talent, and the 14 four-stars,

that’s, or the 14 players in the top 100, that’s where that comes into play, where you’re going, well, what if they just got like 16 or 17 players in the top 100? Like they got like five or six five stars, and then you get like 16, maybe, top 100 recruits. Like would that matter? And I think it would, because I think you map this out and there’s a handful of players that can work for, right? So, you know, let’s say that Ohio State

ends with, let’s be generous here, and let’s say they end with six five-star commits. By the way, I wrote about this for the site, so if you’re maybe a more, maybe someone who learns better by reading, go check that out on the website. But let’s say Ohio State brings in six five-star commits. So that’s Jamie French, Trey McNutt, and then use your imagination here. They pull one of David Sanders Jr., they flip to Corian Moore, they bring in Jonah Williams, whatever it is, they get six.

that’d leave them with 10 prospects in the top 100. So 10 prospects in the top 100 that, okay, that’s a big deal, right? Like that’s a really nice class. And I mean, how many other classes in the country wouldn’t take that? I mean, I don’t even know if Georgia or Alabama are turning that down. Like that’s a good haul. But that also means that Ohio State would have some room to go if we’re gonna compare this to the 2021 class.

So like, let’s say McNutt is one of those guys. I think one of the guys that, again, you go back to the flip-flopping, maybe this dude ends up as a five-star player. It’s important to note that we’re doing this in April. So the rankings can fluctuate. We’ve mentioned Tavion St. Clair’s rise. Sometimes players go down. That’s just the way that this works, right? If somebody goes up, somebody’s gotta go down. And sometimes a kid who’s committed to Florida might shoot up the rankings and that might push an Ohio State guy down.

Andrew (32:22.306)

So that might matter. So those four stars safety, Fahim Delane, to go with Trey McNutt, be a great safety tandem. That gets you to 11. And the list that I had was this. If you’re gonna get to 11 and you wanna break 14 top 100 recruits, you’re gonna need to pull at least four of, four star linebacker Riley Pettijohn, all these guys are four stars, Riley Pettijohn, linebacker Madden Ferrymoe, lineman Douglas Utu.

wide receiver Vernell Brown, who Tavian St. Clair said that he is working on trying to get to Columbus. Running back Bo Jackson, who is from the Northeast Ohio area. Offensive lineman Micah DeBose, who grew up in Cleveland, now lives in Alabama. Running back Jordan Davison, who lives in California. So you gotta pull some of those guys. You gotta pull four of them, at least, and that would get you to 15, along with Delaine, who I think they’re in really good position for. So...

including Delaine, that’s another big pill to swallow. That’s another kind of tall task that you’re gonna have to do. Now, there are some maybe variables here, and we’ll get into this third, because I think that there’s probably three big reasons, and this is the second one. They’re after a defensive lineman still. They’re after other defensive linemen, and Damian Shanklin, a kid out of Indianapolis,

is a player that has once again kind of risen pretty highly up the ranks. And, you know, he’s I think he said he was going to make his decision in September. What if he forces his way into the top 100 and Ohio State is the school that he decides to commit to or Justin Hill, the kid out of the Winton Woods area, Winton Woods in the Cincinnati area. What if he forces his way into the top 100 or wide receiver? Philip Bell is a player that Ohio State wants and he gets into the top 100. Like there’s a lot of players here.

that can rise up into the rankings that I think, possibly could rise up into the rankings. I think Shanklin might be the most likely there. And I like where Ohio State stands with Shanklin. So there’s a lot to kind of process here, but the simple fact of the matter is, Ohio State would need to pull some big time names. Now, like I said, I think they’re in good spot with Fahim DeLane. I think they’re in a good spot with Vernal Brown.

Andrew (34:42.11)

I think they’re in a good spot with Bo Jackson. I think they’re in a good spot with Jordan Davison. There’s guys here that would make this a lot easier than it sounds, but you’re gonna have to go win a battle for Douglas Utu, kid out of Nevada. You’re gonna have to go win a battle down south for Micah DeBose. You’re gonna have to go win a battle down south for Riley Pettijohn. Like you’re gonna have to win a battle or two, sound familiar from the five star conversation? You’re gonna have to win a battle or two that you are not expected to win. Now, like you said,

you feel pretty good about maybe winning a battle for Riley Pettigon or Matt and Ferry Moe, one of those two guys, because you have James Laurinitis recruiting him. Right? You know, you feel pretty good about, you know, a receiver jumping into the top a hundred because you have Brian Heartline recruiting them. So you’re going to have to win some battles that you were not currently expected to win, but you’re going to be close either way. I mean, this is kind of shaping up to be a photo finish in terms of the 2021 class versus the 2025.

Stephen Means (35:44.669)

Classes offensive lineman and defensive lineman. So I would put, I’m not sure if they’re gonna get into the linebacker in this class. I don’t know if they also don’t know if they need one necessarily. I don’t, I don’t know. I’m not 100% sure they’ll get another one in this class. And I don’t think that’ll be a bad thing if you just end up with Eli Lee and then TJ Allford, the top 100 recruit. I think that would be a fine first class for James Lauren not just to build on in the future there. But I do think.

Andrew (35:54.804)

I think it depends on who it is.

Stephen Means (36:12.173)

Of the names you mentioned, Micah DeBose, just cause he has a hot strong Ohio ties and you’ve already proven, you can go down to the South and go get somebody at another position with, with offered. I think I would have him high on my list, right? Cause they will imagine pairing that with, you know, David Sanders or imagine pairing that with just what you already have in the class with Carter Lowe. Right? I think that would still be a quality offensive tackle class. Have you just had those?

Andrew (36:36.966)

Wait, so are you saying on the wish list or on the likelihood list? Wish list. Right. Yeah. I was going to say of that list, I think Micah DeBose might be number one. Like he might be number one on that, on that list of four stars.

Stephen Means (36:40.753)

This wishlist right now, I think.

Stephen Means (36:47.213)

Yeah, this is just seeing how the class has already kind of shaped out here. I think Larry Johnson has gotten off to a quality start with some of the edge guys. He probably just needs interior guys at this point.

And offensive line, they just kind of got to get going because everywhere else, even if they haven’t gotten going, it’s for a good reason. But Brian Hartline, you’re not worried about whether or not he’s going to get good wide receivers while Carlos Loughlin just got here like three weeks ago. So the fact that he is still in, you know, I wouldn’t say introduction mode because you’re talking about two top 100 running backs with Bo Jackson and Jordan Davis. And maybe you can throw Marquise Davis in there as well as a guy who was borderline top 100 recruit. He’s had relationships with those guys already

coming from some D2 program, he’s coming from Oregon, which recruits these guys as well. It’s just, he’s in the process of kind of transitioning who he’s recruiting for. So I wouldn’t expect any of those to pop, but I think this is a solid good list. I called it best of the rest because to your point.

And some other classes here who we would even put in this category of greatest classes, Ohio State’s had the modern day recruiting era, which is really just since Urban Meyer got here. 2017, that class finished second in the country at four or five stars. It had three guys who ranked as the number one player in the recruiting class. And that’s six other top 100 recruits. 2018 had three, five stars, three players ranked as the number one player at their position and had 10 other top 100 recruits. And as you mentioned, seven, five stars in 2021 and then seven other top 100 recruits.

a company you’re trying to put yourself in. And right now, the 2025 class three, five stars, so it’s already on pace with the five stars. It just only has four other top 100 recruits, but also it’s April.

Stephen Means (38:28.997)

24th as you’re listening to this podcast and they have 13 commits in a class that might be north of 21, 22 guys. So they’ve got plenty of time to continue to build this. Let’s take our last break here and then we’ll get into the final other reasons, other things that Ohio State needs to do if it wants to ensure a chance at competing with that 2021 class, which was both deep in quantity and deep in quality of football recruits here on Buckeye Talk.

So so far as we’re mapping out.

Ohio State’s chances of repeating its 2021 recruiting success, that 2021 class was second in the country behind Alabama. It was where three hundred and twenty one point seventy eight points and also had an average star rating of ninety five point zero five. Both of those numbers are the highest Ohio State has had in the modern recruiting era. Both of those were considered among the best in Ohio State football. And excuse me, in college football modern day recruiting era at the time that class signed. And that was it. And some of that really

thrown off a little bit because Quinn Ures hadn’t reclassified yet and JT Tui Maloa wasn’t a part of this class on some during the early signing period. So it was still rated that highly and you were missing two of the top five players in the country. That’s how good that class was. So now we’re trying to see if this 2025 class can repeat it so far. Two things on the to do list according to Andrew, they need to get more five stars. They’ve only got three right now. They’re trying to get up to six or seven. And then the number two thing was best of the rest, which is more top 100 recruits, which is

So far Andrew’s list is really just keep doing what you’re doing because you’ve only got 13 commitments So just keep on the trajectory you’re on Andrew What’s another thing Ohio State needs to do if it wants to ensure that it can repeat its 2021 success?

Andrew (40:14.87)

But yeah, I was laughing as you were saying that because you were just like Andrew’s list on how to get the best recruiting class. You got to get a lot of five stars and then you got to get a lot of top 100 recruits. A plus, good job. Like, thanks Andrew, you did good. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, so take that Buckeye Talk listeners, just take that home with you in your car, at home, wherever, on your walk.

Stephen Means (40:25.33)

Oh.

Stephen Means (40:28.629)

I mean, it sounds like a solid plan to me. How to put together a good roster, get good football players.

Andrew (40:43.882)

wherever you’re listening to it, just know that the best way Ohio State can have the highest recruiting class is by getting good football players. You heard it here first on Buckeye Talk. No, there’s a third reason and the last reason I’ll get to. I want to give some honorable mentions first. Number one is you flip somebody and I don’t want to speculate as to who some names could be, but I’m not even talking to Cory and more because we already talked about him. I’m talking what if the 65th overall player from, you know,

Notre Dame or Michigan or Penn State or Texas or Alabama or whatever. And you just you start working on flipping one of those dudes. You flip a lineman, you flip a defensive tackle, you flip some. I don’t know. You flip somebody. I didn’t think that was worth a discussion on its own, because again, you don’t I mean, some of these names we either don’t know of yet or just won’t know of ever. So I didn’t want to speculate on that, but flipping that’s obviously a possibility. The second honorable mention is players just rise up the rankings.

I mentioned Damian Shanklin and Justin Hill, those players are ranked 108 and 126 right now. They’re both edge players. Nate Roberts, he’s number 129 and number five tight end. Can he get up into the top 100? Is that possible? Is it possible for Philip Bell, the number 151 overall player to commit to Ohio State and then rise up the rankings? There’s Byron Lewis, 200, Marquise Davis, 166. There’s players that...

Stephen Means (41:53.269)

Mm.

Andrew (42:07.122)

can rise up the rankings and you want players to stay in the top 100, you want players to rise up the rankings. Those are definite, those are definite options, but again, that felt pretty self-explanatory. So I didn’t think that they deserved a whole conversation on their own. But the third reason, or the third point, I should say, is the way of the college football world today, you gotta hang on to these dudes.

You gotta hang on to the players that you got because Devin Sanchez has shut down his recruitment. Tabian Sinclair hasn’t said it officially, like publicly. Tabian Sinclair is going to be a Buckeye. Like Tabian Sinclair is coming to Ohio State.

Stephen Means (42:47.185)

He’s not he shut down. He shut down his recruitment. If you had seen the way him ending up in the class played out, that dude’s recruitment is has been shut down. He hasn’t visited another campus since last summer before he came to Ohio. I was the day he committed to Ohio State. I actually talked to him maybe a couple of maybe 20 minutes before he made it official that he was committing to Ohio State. And we talked about it a little bit, but he showed up to a seven on seven.

Andrew (42:59.326)

Yeah, his

Stephen Means (43:17.501)

competition at Ohio State, which Andrew will be at this summer. So get the text 614-350-3315. He showed up there. It was his entire high school football program. His entire family was there. It was like a big thing of, it was, it was a legit rollout for how this was happening. He spent some time with Corey Dennis right after the seven on seven ended former Ohio State quarterback’s coach, where they worked out a little bit. And then maybe like 30 minutes.

After it was all over and everybody’s headed home. He commits to it was a whole rollout They wrapped everything else up before they did all this. So it’s that kids Listen the craziest thing in the world would have to happen for Tavian saying Claire to flip somewhere else

Andrew (44:02.366)

Yeah, like Ohio State’s football program ceases to exist. They just decide like one day, you know what guys, we don’t want to play football anymore. We’re going to become a men’s hockey school and we’re going to play some really great women’s soccer. You know, those are the two things that would have to happen. So that’s not going to happen. So, hooray, you got Devin, you got Tavian. Those guys are locked in. But if we’re going to talk about Ohio State trying to flip DeCorey and more.

Stephen Means (44:07.377)

Literally.

Andrew (44:31.498)

And we’re going to talk about Ohio State trying to bring him from Texas to Ohio State and from his LSU commitment to Ohio State. The understanding has also got to exist that other programs are poking and prodding at Nahim Alford, the five-star kid out of Alabama. You know, Ohio State doesn’t typically recruit Alabama. Programs are taking note of that and programs are definitely keeping an eye on him. That means that TJ Alford, the linebacker commit who just committed a few weeks ago,

who told me on the phone that he is gonna take some visits. He said he just wants to take his family around, but he is taking official visits and he’s going around to Florida. And that’s notable, right? You gotta hang on to him. He’s the number 63 overall player. You gotta hang on to Zaheer Mathis, the massive edge rusher out of Philly. You gotta hang on to Blake Woodby. We mentioned the receiver class last year. I can’t get this thought out of my head and I don’t know this, so please.

take that in mind. I’m not reporting anything. I don’t just kind of speculating. Like we went into the, we went into signing day last year where Ohio state had Jeremiah Smith and Ohio state had Mylon Graham as the receivers and Jeremiah McClellan was a top 50 recruit and he decommitted on signing day and everybody’s reaction from us to the national media, to the fan base it felt like from our textures from everybody just kind of went, it’s fine. Who cares?

And I wonder if that’s going to happen with Blake Woodby. Like Blake Woodby is a really, really good corner. And I think he’s getting not his shine because of, you know, Devin Sanchez and Naheem Offord, but I, you gotta hang on to Woodby. You gotta hang on to three elite corners. That’s going to be hard. You know, you gotta hang on to London Merritt, the defensive lineman out of Georgia, maybe he rise into the top a hundred, can you hang on to him? Like there’s players that other programs are interested in.

You know, you can feel great about Devin Sanchez. You can feel great about Tavian St. Clair. You can feel great about Carter Lowe. You feel great about a lot of these other players, but Ohio, just like Ohio States, Pocon and Proden, it’s some of these other prospects that are out there. The same is happening to Ohio State’s current verbal commits. And, you know, unless you’re going to pull a Devin Sanchez and shut it down, that possibility exists. You know, unless the next unless the top 10 players in Ohio State’s recruiting class come out and.

Andrew (46:56.618)

you know, they put on social media like, Hey guys, no, I’m not taking any more visits. We’re chilling. We’re good. Then you have to leave open this possibility. So, you know, not only do you have to go out and win all of these recruiting battles, you got to hang on to these kids, you got to make sure that they’re not flipping elsewhere. And that’s an easier or that’s a harder thing than that’s as easier said than done. That’s the words I’m looking for easier said than done to hang on all these kids because there are going to be a lot of programs that

maybe get desperate towards signing day. Maybe get, maybe they start throwing money around. I mean, we saw this with Justin Scott and I don’t wanna begrudge Justin Scott for that. Do what you do, bro. Take it and run. I hope you get all the money in the world. But things like that can happen, right? Justin Scott, you felt, oh, look, Ohio State kinda came in and they stole Justin Scott and that’s a great pull for them. And then just randomly on a Tuesday in the fall, he just decommitted.

and it just came out of nowhere and nobody really knew that it was happening. And those things can happen in recruiting. So you got to pay attention to that. You got to hang on to your recruits.

Stephen Means (48:05.785)

You seem to be more concerned about Blake will be than literally anybody else in the country. I don’t think he’s going to go anywhere. Now, I’ll eat my words if I’m wrong in this situation. But he also hasn’t been anywhere but Ohio State since like. Last summer, literally, so I think he might just be a lock, especially depending on a lot of this is going to depend on how they’re going to use him. And they’ve got three quarterbacks and.

Andrew (48:19.327)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew (48:25.458)

Right, if they’re gonna use him in the slot, then it makes sense.

Stephen Means (48:29.114)

But even if they’re gonna use him outside, if Tim Walton gets to a place with this room where he feels like he can do what Kerry Combs was doing at times when he was rotating, guys, I don’t necessarily think that’s a problem. But.

To your point, if they’ve got to hold on the guys just in general, that’s going to matter as well. In 2021, they lost two decommitments. They lost Devontae Smith, who is the number 250 player, the number 19 quarterback out of Cincinnati, Ohio. They lost him to Alabama. So the reason they lost him to Alabama, the context behind that is he Sean Alexander’s cousin. So, you know, family ties there. That’s how he was Alabama was able to, because Alabama doesn’t come to Ohio state. That’s just not what they do. They did. They don’t come to the state of Ohio, at least not under Nick Saban. They didn’t. So that’s why.

happened and the other one was to me she had a lay a who was number 39 player number nine defensive end in that class. But everything around that was just kind of weird all the time. Even when he committed back in May, it was one of those things where it felt like at a time when Ohio State was getting every commitment on the planet. Guys just wanted to jump on board and to me she jumped on board in that situation, but it never felt like it was going to last.

Ohio State didn’t go into Signing Day that year, feeling like, to your point of how Ryan Day basically exheld when Mark Pantoni came in and said, we’re good, Jeremiah Smith, the way he had to go, him and Larry Johnson had to make sure that education didn’t jump off the cliff on Signing Day, right? There wasn’t that with this 2021 class. Everybody was pretty locked in by this point, especially when you look at the higher rated guys.

for almost two years. Donovan Jackson, that’s a Texas kid with Ohio ties. He’d been locked in for almost a year. Jack Sawyer is from 15 minutes up the street. He wasn’t going anywhere. Trevion Henderson had pretty much kind of shut his thing, his recruitment down. And then Mecca Buka had just committed like a week and a half before that started. But also,

Stephen Means (50:25.305)

I think that class may be benefited from the fact that people couldn’t go anywhere. Guys were taking these things called self-guided visits because you weren’t allowed to have actual visits. So families would just drive the campuses themselves and just walk around on their own without the coaches or without the program being involved, which probably limited the number of commits scares that we were going to see that year in 2025. To your point, Devin Sanchez has shut his thing down, but what if Kaylin DeBoard?

picks up right where Nick Saban left off and Alabama is still good. And then Kayla and Naim Allford looks and go, Hmm, I’m gonna stay closer to home and still play for a procedures program. Let me think about that. Maybe Georgia still. Right. You know, in Georgia, maybe starts poking around there to your point, to hear Matthews, maybe Penn State gets a pool there as the guy who’s from there. Maybe Tavaris TJ offers the latest in the Florida.

Andrew (50:54.104)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew (51:01.866)

And all his friends start commit to Alabama, yeah.

Andrew (51:10.508)

Right.

Stephen Means (51:15.349)

player that Ohio State got in on early, but then one of the Florida schools flipped him late because of whatever, whether it’s NIL or real reasons. London marriage, you can say the same thing about because he’s down there at IMG. I know he’s not from Florida, but he’s playing high school football down there right now. It’s, it’s always on the verge, right? With the closer you get to signing day, it does feel like the flips pick up at some of these schools. So does it feel like by the time we get to September, the chances of that happening

Andrew (51:23.621)

And I know it would be real reasons.

Stephen Means (51:44.045)

or none because so many of these players are so locked in? Or do we get close to the signing day and it’s like Tim Walton had to hold on to Naeem Hoffert the way that Brian Hartline had to hold on to Jeremiah Smith a year going on down the list.

Andrew (51:58.506)

I think it’s going to be a mixed bag. I think there’s going to be guys where it’s, you know, Devin Sanchez is, you know, wearing Buckeye gear and you’re calling him and great. Hey, look, his whole family is decked out in Buckeye gear now. And, you know, is, you know, Tavian St. Clair, he might as well be on the team right now, right? Like there, there’s guys that, you know, he was at every spring practice, I think he said, or almost every spring practice. Like there’s guys that you feel great about, and then you’re just, you’re just not going to worry about. Like...

Stephen Means (52:10.27)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew (52:27.542)

Like if Trey McNutt commits, for example, I wouldn’t really be concerned about the Ohio safety commit, kind of flipping elsewhere. Or if some of these guys that maybe take their time, like if Fahim Delane, who it feels like at any moment he could have popped for Ohio State, and it feels like maybe after the visits, if he commits, I know he said he wanted to have a commitment done by his senior year. Like if he commits in August, you probably feel better about him because,

Stephen Means (52:36.414)

Yeah.

Andrew (52:56.894)

you didn’t have that worry late, you had it early. You know, you had the, he’s taking his visits early, he’s doing this, and then he makes his decision, then you’re set. So I think there’s gonna be guys that you’re not worried about, but I really kind of struggled to look at this class and say, everybody’s gonna be locked in, you’re not gonna be worried about one or two guys at least. Because that’s just the way college football works now. Right? I mean,

It happens for the number one overall player in the country with Jeremiah Smith. And I mean, cause you said this where, you know, as long as Brian Heartline was here, Jeremiah Smith wasn’t, wasn’t really concerned about Ohio state. Like he would not be here if Brian Heartline was not here. And that can happen for the number one player in the country that could happen for the number, you know, 118 player in the country, right? You know, this happened with dominant Kirk’s.

He was committed to Washington and I understand Washington had a coaching change, but that’s part of this too, right? Like it can be good or bad. You can be impacted by a coaching change. Ohio State benefited from a coaching change with Washington and Kaylen DeBoer and, you know, maybe, you know, the in-state kid, and it just made a little bit more sense for Dominic Kirk to go to Ohio State rather than go to Washington. And you can benefit from something like that. You can benefit in a Caleb Downs way because another coach leads.

You can benefit in those type of fashions. But it’s like tetherball, it’s gonna come around at some point because you’re not just gonna keep the same coaching staff and keep adding onto it forever, right? You know, something, there’s gonna be a coaching staff change, maybe not this cycle, but maybe the next cycle, a coaching cycle or a coaching change that kind of hurts you. So, you know, it kind of goes around and it comes around. You know, there’s good and there’s bad with recruiting and there’s a lot that goes on with it, you know, in terms of...

flipping kids in terms of not flipping kids, in terms of keeping kids. It’s just one of those things that you’re not gonna know until December and even then, I think you’re gonna be sweating probably a few of these.

Stephen Means (55:02.965)

So, so far, Ohio State’s lost two commitments from his 2025 class. Jontay Gilbert, who was originally the first commit, committed super, super early, like super early. Andrew, you weren’t even on the beat yet. You were a whole year away from being on this beat when Jontay Gilbert committed to Ohio State. Number one on one player, number 11, cornerback in the country out of Atlanta, Georgia. And then Javin Boggs, number 193 player, number 23 wide receiver. Though he was quickly replaced with Desi Jones. And obviously at cornerback, you got Ne’em Hofford and Devin Sanchez and Blake Woodby since then.

If that number stays put at two, I think that’s probably a good thing for Ohio State because you lost two guys where quality players, but it does feel like they got as good or better players at both of those two positions. And it did, but to the point that I said about Naeem Hoffer, I think that one’s just interesting because Bama has to prove it’s still going to be good again. And what happens if Bama proves it’s still good?

Or is this a situation where, just like with Jeremiah Smith last year, as long as Tim Walton is in Columbus, Naeem Alfred and Devin Sanchez are coming to Columbus, and so it should be nothing to worry about. But that’s Andrew’s list of the most important things that has to happen.

for Ohio State to repeat its success of 2021 when they put together one of the highest rated recruiting classes of all time. Right now, Ohio State’s 2025 class ranks number one nationally. It’s got three five stars in it, plus four other top 100 recruits, 13 players total. But the list, get more five stars. Obviously, the top of that list is David Sanchez, the number one offensive tackle out of North Carolina, De’Corian Moore, the number one wide receiver in the country currently committed to LSU, Jamie French, the five star wide receiver out of Florida,

nut, the final, well, I wouldn’t say final, but the most important in state piece to the puzzle for puzzle for house as a top player in the state and the number 24 player top safety in the country. And then just add more top 100 recruits, but then hold on to what you got. Well, also I would add in just fill it out because you’re not just going to have a class of straight top 100 recruits. There’s going to be some other lowly rated guys as well, but quality.

Stephen Means (57:04.321)

is better than quantity in this situation when you’re talking about guys who maybe aren’t top 150 recruits, because that’s also what that 21 class had. It had guys where they weren’t top 100 recruits, like Denzel Burke wasn’t the top 100 recruit, but that’s a quality football player. Ty League Williams wasn’t the top 100 recruit, but he’s one of the best players in college football as is Denzel Burke. So that’s the list. Get the text 614-350-3315. The NFL draft is tomorrow. That morning,

We’re going to be predicting where all the players from Ohio say who are in the NFL draft may be getting picked. Obviously that’s starting with Marvin Harrison. Do we all think that he’s a lock to go to number four at the Arizona Cardinals? Or do we think there might be some stuff happening that maybe he’s not the first wide receiver taken off the board? So I’m going to hint at you right now. I’m going to say he’s the first wide receiver taken off the board. That will be interesting. We’re going to see where Kate Stover goes. Mike Hall Jr. Does anybody else sneak into the first round? How many guys get picked?

Plus more get the text 6 1 4 3 5 0 3 1 5 2 week free trial 3 99 after that for Andrew Gillis I’m Stephen means and that was Pug Eye Talk.