The Scarlet and Gray

[toysoldier00]

Ohio State Lands Late-Rising DB Mafu Rau as Buckeyes Add Needed Depth Before Signing Day
By Colten Brooks on December 2, 2025


Cathedral Catholic (San Diego, CA) corner-back Mafu Rau was a virtual unknown in scouting circles, but blew up in his senior season.



With Signing Day a little more than 6 hours away, Ohio State added another piece to what has become a quietly massive defensive back haul in the 2026 class, securing a commitment Tuesday from Cathedral Catholic (San Diego, California) defensive back Mafu Rau.

Rau is listed at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds and is currently rated a 3-star prospect, ranked No. 1,128 nationally, No. 109 in California and the No. 84 cornerback in the class.

The numbers don’t scream “classic Ohio State take” at first glance, but the timing and the context make this one feel like a staff-driven evaluation win, the kind where the Buckeyes are betting on traits, development and a ceiling that recruiting services might not have fully caught up to yet.

Rau’s story is a big part of why Ohio State likes him. He was born in New Zealand and is Māori, and while he moved to Southern California as a kid, his path to this moment hasn’t been the typical blue-chip, early-offer arc.

Rau wasn’t even a starter at Cathedral Catholic until this season. Once he finally got his opportunity, he played well enough to earn real exposure, and that late emergence is exactly what Ohio State is buying into: the idea that he’s still early in his football development and has more growth ahead than behind.

“People didn’t really know who I was until this year,” Rau said. “But I’ve always felt like once I got my shot, I could show what I can do. Ohio State believed in me off what they saw, and that means everything. I want to go there and prove I belong.”

As a prospect, Rau fits the mold of a modern, versatile defensive back. He’s long and rangy, built like a corner, but with enough size that the Buckeyes can keep options open. At 195 pounds already, he looks like a player who can hold up on the boundary, but could also grow into a safety or nickel role depending on how his body develops and where the staff sees the best matchup value.

Ohio State is clearly comfortable projecting him across multiple spots, and in a class where the Buckeyes have prioritized defensive back quantity and flexibility, Rau makes a lot of sense as a late-cycle addition.

His commitment also says something about where Ohio State’s 2026 defensive back class stands on the eve of Signing Day. The Buckeyes were determined to stack talent in the secondary after recent cycles left less margin for error, and they’ve largely done it.

Ohio State already has two safety commitments in St. Thomas Aquinas’ Bobby Jackson-Ruud and Toledo Whitmer’s Landon Bishop, plus two corners in Huber Heights Wayne’s Teion Cherry II and Greenville (S.C.) High School’s Tremayne Shepley. Rau gives them another defensive back, and, importantly, another body with real upside, in a class that needed to be deep.

The timing, of course, will invite obvious speculation. Ohio State has been in pursuit of Erasmus Hall (New York) five-star safety Sterling Hodel for what feels like forever, and Hodel is expected to announce his decision tomorrow morning.

The Buckeyes taking Rau now doesn’t necessarily mean anything definitive about that recruitment, teams can make room in different ways, and Ohio State has shown it will take the players it believes in regardless of outside noise, but it does reinforce one thing: the staff didn’t want to go into Signing Day with only one possible outcome at defensive back.

Rau put it simply: he didn’t commit to be a backup plan, and Ohio State didn’t take him like one.

“They told me they love my upside,” Rau said. “They told me they see what I can become. I’m not coming to sit back, I’m coming to work.”

In a week that’s all about star ratings and splashy announcements, Rau’s commitment is the kind Ohio State has built a program on, too: identifying traits, trusting development, and stacking the room so the future doesn’t hinge on any one decision.

Rank	Pos	Name	Height	Weight	High School	Home Town
	QB	Tyree Figurs	6'3"	190 lbs	Mission Hills	Mission Hills, CA
	HB	Jahkay McCallum	6'1"	190 lbs	Liberty	Bakersfield, CA
	WR	Ashton Ramsey	6'3"	190 lbs	Loyola Academy	Chicago, IL
	TE	Jordan Ivory	6'5"	235 lbs	Culver Academies	Culver, IN
	OT	Marcus Okam	6'7"	285 lbs	Pickerington Central	Pickerington, OH
	OT	Grady Austin	6'6"	305 lbs	Princeton	Cincinnati, OH
	OT	Derron Merriman	6'6"	300 lbs	Hilliard Bradley	Marysville, OH
	OT	Alex Jordan	6'7"	280 lbs	Paramus Catholic	Paramus, NJ
	IOL	George Crecelius	6'4"	285 lbs	Cy-Fair	Cypress, TX
	IOL	Thaddeus Roe	6'4"	290 lbs	Avon	Avon, IN
	IOL	David Weeks	6'4"	300 lbs	Janesville Parker	Janesville, WI
	DE	Deontae Savage	6'6"	240 lbs	Avon	Avon, IN
	DE	Ornell Mack	6'5"	240 lbs	Winton Woods	Cincinnati, OH
	DT	Vondree Eagles	6'3"	345 lbs	Reynoldsburg	Reynoldsburg, OH
	DT	Dillon Bridges	6'3"	290 lbs	Snider	Fort Wayne, IN
	LB	Pauly O'Dwyer	6'5"	215 lbs	Washington	Massillon, OH
	LB	Emmanuel Wooden	6'2"	210 lbs	Westerville South	Columbus, OH
	LB	Jaylen Smalls	6'2"	210 lbs	Glenville	Cleveland, OH
	LB	Avondre Lincoln	6'1"	200 lbs	Princeton	Cincinnati, OH
	CB	Teion Cherry II	6'1"	175 lbs	Wayne	Huber Heights, OH
	CB	Tremayne Shepley	6'1"	185 lbs	Greenville	Greenville, SC
	CB	Mafu Rau	6'1"	195 lbs	Cathedral Catholic	San Diego, CA
	S	Bobby Jackson-Ruud	6'1"	190 lbs	St. Thomas Aquinas	Fort Lauderdale, FL
	S	Landon Bishop	6'0"	195 lbs	Whitmer	Toledo, OH
	P	David Procter	6'5"	170 lbs	Elder	Cincinnati, OH

[Soapy]

really painting the map with this recruiting board but still landed a bunch of ohio kids

i wish they brought back true pipelines where you had to earn them and manage to keep them

[toysoldier00]

Sterling Hodel Picks Ohio State on Signing Day, Giving Buckeyes the Nation’s Premier Safety
By Colten Brooks on December 3, 2025


Sterling Hodel made his decision live on the Pat McAfee Show on National Signing Day.



Ohio State saved its biggest move for last, landing five-star Erasmus Hall (New York City) safety Sterling Hodel on National Signing Day to cap what was already an elite 2026 class with the kind of closing punch that changes the shape of a roster.

Hodel, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound prototype who is ranked as the No. 16 player nationally, the No. 1 player in New York and the No. 1 safety in the country, signed with the Buckeyes after a recruitment that stayed high-profile for months and felt like it would go down to the final hour, because it did.

By the time Hodel made it official, the shortlist had become a who’s-who of programs that have made a habit of pulling top-tier defensive backs: Oregon, Notre Dame, LSU, plus late pushes from Texas and Texas Tech. And in the modern version of Signing Day recruiting, nobody was pretending the final decision was made in a vacuum.

Hodel spoke with every program he was still considering Wednesday morning, taking last looks, hearing final pitches, and, yes, getting clarity on what each school’s NIL plan would look like. Ohio State didn’t flinch. The Buckeyes leaned into the moment, went big, and ended up as the answer.

“I wanted to make sure I talked to everybody one last time, just to be fair to the relationships,” Hodel said after he made the announcement. “But when it was time to pick, I kept coming back to Ohio State. The plan they laid out for me, on the field, off the field, everything, it felt like the best fit and the biggest opportunity. I’m ready to go win.”

That “opportunity” is obvious when you watch him. Hodel looks like a player who should already be preparing for the NFL Combine, not showing up to a college weight room for the first time.

He has Kyle Hamilton-type size and presence, the kind that makes you feel him even when he isn’t making the tackle. And despite being built like an in-the-box enforcer, he moves like a true safety, with enough athleticism to play deep, match tight ends, erase angles in the alley and still bring real force on contact. He’s physical, he’s rangy, and he’s the kind of defender offenses have to identify pre-snap because the consequences of getting it wrong are violent.

There are still areas where college reps will sharpen him, because that’s true for everyone, safety is an instincts position, and you’d love to see a few more turnovers pop up as his decision-making speeds up. But as a projection, Hodel is about as clean as it gets. He’s not a lottery ticket. He’s the kind of player programs recruit as a centerpiece.

For Ohio State, that’s exactly what this is: a potential program-defining defender who arrives with the tools to become the next great Buckeye safety and a realistic long-term successor to Thorpe Award winner Caleb Downs.

And it matters even more in the context of this class. Ohio State already had two other five-stars committed for nearly a year, a strong foundation, but one that felt incomplete without the headliner defensive back who could tilt the back end of a defense.

Hodel is that grand prize, and the timing makes it even sweeter: the Buckeyes closed the deal on the biggest stage, with the most pressure, against the widest field of credible challengers.

He also completes a defensive back group that is deep, flexible and built with the modern game in mind. With Hodel on board, Ohio State now has six defensive back commitments: two corners, two true safeties, and two chess pieces who can likely play multiple roles in Bobby Jackson-Ruud and Mafu Rau, who joined the class late. It’s not just a “good DB class.”

It’s a volume-and-ceiling haul designed to keep Ohio State’s defense NFL-ready at the positions where modern offenses try to stress you the most.

The Buckeyes didn’t just land a five-star. They landed a statement, one that says when the biggest fish in the pond made his final calls and heard every offer, Ohio State was still the choice he couldn’t walk away from.

Rank	Pos	Name	Height	Weight	High School	Home Town
	QB	Tyree Figurs	6'3"	190 lbs	Mission Hills	Mission Hills, CA
	HB	Jahkay McCallum	6'1"	190 lbs	Liberty	Bakersfield, CA
	WR	Ashton Ramsey	6'3"	190 lbs	Loyola Academy	Chicago, IL
	TE	Jordan Ivory	6'5"	235 lbs	Culver Academies	Culver, IN
	OT	Marcus Okam	6'7"	285 lbs	Pickerington Central	Pickerington, OH
	OT	Grady Austin	6'6"	305 lbs	Princeton	Cincinnati, OH
	OT	Derron Merriman	6'6"	300 lbs	Hilliard Bradley	Marysville, OH
	OT	Alex Jordan	6'7"	280 lbs	Paramus Catholic	Paramus, NJ
	IOL	George Crecelius	6'4"	285 lbs	Cy-Fair	Cypress, TX
	IOL	Thaddeus Roe	6'4"	290 lbs	Avon	Avon, IN
	IOL	David Weeks	6'4"	300 lbs	Janesville Parker	Janesville, WI
	DE	Deontae Savage	6'6"	240 lbs	Avon	Avon, IN
	DE	Ornell Mack	6'5"	240 lbs	Winton Woods	Cincinnati, OH
	DT	Vondree Eagles	6'3"	345 lbs	Reynoldsburg	Reynoldsburg, OH
	DT	Dillon Bridges	6'3"	290 lbs	Snider	Fort Wayne, IN
	LB	Pauly O'Dwyer	6'5"	215 lbs	Washington	Massillon, OH
	LB	Emmanuel Wooden	6'2"	210 lbs	Westerville South	Columbus, OH
	LB	Jaylen Smalls	6'2"	210 lbs	Glenville	Cleveland, OH
	LB	Avondre Lincoln	6'1"	200 lbs	Princeton	Cincinnati, OH
	CB	Teion Cherry II	6'1"	175 lbs	Wayne	Huber Heights, OH
	CB	Tremayne Shepley	6'1"	185 lbs	Greenville	Greenville, SC
	CB	Mafu Rau	6'1"	195 lbs	Cathedral Catholic	San Diego, CA
	S	Sterling Hodel	6'3"	205 lbs	Erasmus Hall	New York City, NY
	S	Bobby Jackson-Ruud	6'1"	190 lbs	St. Thomas Aquinas	Fort Lauderdale, FL
	S	Landon Bishop	6'0"	195 lbs	Whitmer	Toledo, OH
	P	David Procter	6'5"	170 lbs	Elder	Cincinnati, OH

[toysoldier00]

“We Signed the Standard”: Ryan Day Breaks Down Ohio State’s 26-Signee Class on Signing Day
By Colten Brooks on December 3, 2025


Reynoldsburg (Reynoldsburg, OH) nose tackle Vondree Eagles is a space eater with a light hearted amusement.



Ryan Day walked into his National Signing Day press conference with the kind of calm that only comes from having the fax machine (and the portal era equivalent of it) cooperate all morning.

Ohio State’s head coach didn’t pretend it was easy, not in a cycle where everyone is recruiting everyone, where visits turn into rumors in real time, and where a single late phone call can change an entire class, but he sounded like a coach who felt the work matched the outcome: 26 signees, a class that checks the immediate needs, and a group that, on paper, looks built to keep the program operating at the same level the Buckeyes have made their baseline.

“This wasn’t about winning a headline,” Day said. “It was about winning the right way, signing guys who fit how we play, how we practice, how we live in the building. We signed the standard.”

Day’s first point of emphasis was that the class isn’t just top-heavy, though it has the kind of blue-chip names that make a recruiting class feel like Ohio State. Five-star wide receiver Ashton Ramsey [Pictured Right], the No. 7 player in the country, is the obvious centerpiece: a contested-catch monster from Loyola Academy in Illinois with the size and speed profile to step into the next chapter of the Brian Hartline pipeline.

Day didn’t compare Ramsey to any one Buckeye receiver, but he talked about “body control,” “competitive catches,” and the expectation that elite wideouts in Columbus don’t arrive to wait their turn.

“When you sign a receiver like that, you’re not signing potential,” Day said. “You’re signing production. The challenge, and the opportunity, is earning it every day once you get here.”

Ohio State also used this class to stabilize the quarterback situation after a winding recruiting road. Tyree Figurs, now a four-star quarterback from Mission Hills, California, becomes the class’ signal-caller, a 6-foot-3 athlete Day described as “a creator” who fits the way Ohio State wants to play when structure breaks down.

The Buckeyes pairing Figurs with another California addition, four-star running back Jahkay McCallum, gives the class a speed-and-space identity on offense. McCallum, a late riser from Bakersfield Liberty, was presented by Day as a classic Ohio State evaluation win: a player who surged late, earned the staff’s full belief, and becomes the type of back who can change a game with one cut.

“What jumps off the tape is he can go,” Day said. “That’s real. Then you build the rest, strength, details, pass game, protections, but you can’t coach that burst.”

Jordan Ivory, the four-star tight end from Culver Academies, gives Ohio State another rare body type in the middle of the field. Day called him “a projection that’s already producing,” leaning into Ivory’s unique background and physical upside without overselling the timeline.

The Buckeyes also added punter David Procter out of Cincinnati Elder, a move Day framed as quietly important, the kind of signing that doesn’t trend but shows up in December games.

If there was a single theme Day returned to the most, it was the offensive line haul. Ohio State signed a true mix: five-star interior lineman George Crecelius as the crown jewel; four-star tackles Grady Austin and Marcus Okam as high-ceiling bookends; four-star interior option Thaddeus Roe; and developmental pieces like David Weeks and Alex Jordan. Derron Merriman’s addition kept the in-state foundation intact, too. Day didn’t get into depth chart specifics, he rarely does, but he acknowledged the staff felt urgency to stack bodies and traits up front.

“You don’t get to play the way we want to play without being built up front,” Day said. “That’s not just five-star kids. It’s development, it’s competition, it’s guys who are tough enough to live in that room. We signed that on purpose.”

Defensively, the class reads like a Big Ten blueprint: length in the secondary, power at linebacker, and enough front-line talent to keep the rotation rolling. Ohio State signed edge rushers Deontae Savage and Ornell Mack, Mack the Cincinnati product with the kind of frame you bet on, plus defensive tackles Dillon Bridges and Vondree Eagles, and four-star Ohio defensive tackle Vondree Eagles gives the interior a more immediate profile.

Day also pointed to four linebackers as a statement of necessity and style: Pauly O’Dwyer headlining as the four-star Massillon Washington “signal caller,” with Emmanuel Wooden (Columbus) [Pictured Left], Jaylen Smalls (Cleveland Glenville), and Avondre Lincoln (Cincinnati Princeton) rounding out a group built around physicality and range.

“We wanted linebackers who hit, who run, who can handle space,” Day said. “And we wanted enough of them that nobody’s development gets blocked. The best rooms are competitive rooms.”

The defensive back class was the finish, and the flex. It starts with five-star safety Sterling Hodel out of Erasmus Hall, the prototype size-and-athleticism safety who makes a class feel complete, but it doesn’t stop there.

Four-star safeties Bobby Jackson-Ruud (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Landon Bishop (Toledo Whitmer) give the room different flavors, while corners Teion Cherry II (Ohio’s top prospect), Tremayne Shepley (South Carolina), and Mafu Rau (San Diego) provide length, versatility, and options to play either outside or move pieces around.

Day didn’t dwell on how difficult it is to close a class with high-profile defensive backs, everyone knows, but he did make it clear the staff sees that group as foundational.

“You build a defense from the back forward,” Day said. “If you can cover, you can be aggressive. And if you’re aggressive, you can dictate games. We like the future of that room a lot.”

Ohio State’s 26 signees don’t guarantee anything. Day said that outright, reminding everyone that signing day is the start of the real work, not the finish line. But it was hard to miss the confidence behind the message: Ohio State didn’t just add talent. It added structure, at quarterback, in the trenches, across the back seven, and a class that looks designed to keep the Buckeyes from having to “rebuild” in the first place.

“The best programs don’t reinvent themselves every year,” Day said. “They reload with the right people. Today was about that.”

Rank	Pos	Name	Height	Weight	High School	Home Town
	QB	Tyree Figurs	6'3"	190 lbs	Mission Hills	Mission Hills, CA
	HB	Jahkay McCallum	6'1"	190 lbs	Liberty	Bakersfield, CA
	WR	Ashton Ramsey	6'3"	190 lbs	Loyola Academy	Chicago, IL
	TE	Jordan Ivory	6'5"	235 lbs	Culver Academies	Culver, IN
	OT	Marcus Okam	6'7"	285 lbs	Pickerington Central	Pickerington, OH
	OT	Grady Austin	6'6"	305 lbs	Princeton	Cincinnati, OH
	OT	Derron Merriman	6'6"	300 lbs	Hilliard Bradley	Marysville, OH
	OT	Alex Jordan	6'7"	280 lbs	Paramus Catholic	Paramus, NJ
	IOL	George Crecelius	6'4"	285 lbs	Cy-Fair	Cypress, TX
	IOL	Thaddeus Roe	6'4"	290 lbs	Avon	Avon, IN
	IOL	David Weeks	6'4"	300 lbs	Janesville Parker	Janesville, WI
	DE	Deontae Savage	6'6"	240 lbs	Avon	Avon, IN
	DE	Ornell Mack	6'5"	240 lbs	Winton Woods	Cincinnati, OH
	DT	Vondree Eagles	6'3"	345 lbs	Reynoldsburg	Reynoldsburg, OH
	DT	Dillon Bridges	6'3"	290 lbs	Snider	Fort Wayne, IN
	LB	Pauly O'Dwyer	6'5"	215 lbs	Washington	Massillon, OH
	LB	Emmanuel Wooden	6'2"	210 lbs	Westerville South	Columbus, OH
	LB	Jaylen Smalls	6'2"	210 lbs	Glenville	Cleveland, OH
	LB	Avondre Lincoln	6'1"	200 lbs	Princeton	Cincinnati, OH
	CB	Teion Cherry II	6'1"	175 lbs	Wayne	Huber Heights, OH
	CB	Tremayne Shepley	6'1"	185 lbs	Greenville	Greenville, SC
	CB	Mafu Rau	6'1"	195 lbs	Cathedral Catholic	San Diego, CA
	S	Sterling Hodel	6'3"	205 lbs	Erasmus Hall	New York City, NY
	S	Bobby Jackson-Ruud	6'1"	190 lbs	St. Thomas Aquinas	Fort Lauderdale, FL
	S	Landon Bishop	6'0"	195 lbs	Whitmer	Toledo, OH
	P	David Procter	6'5"	170 lbs	Elder	Cincinnati, OH

[toysoldier00]

NSD’s Biggest Stories: LSU Holds The Line, Colorado Lands A Stunner, A&M Flexes and Ohio State Closes With A Splash

by: Andrew Falcone - December 3, 2025 - AndrewFalcOn3


Many were tracking Centennial (Paris, CA) QB Thomas Hammer in the final weeks, but he elected to stick with his commitment to LSU.

LSU’s New Era Starts With a Massive Save

LSU may not have signed the No. 1 class in the country, but the Tigers might have pulled off the most important win of National Signing Day.

Everything looked shaky after Brian Kelly was fired on Nov. 10, especially with a loaded class already in place and uncertainty hanging over the program.

Then LSU hired Matt Campbell on Monday. On paper, it wasn’t the kind of move that screamed instant recruiting momentum. Campbell built his reputation as a developer and program builder at Iowa State, not as a Southern recruiting closer with deep ties to LSU’s board.

But this week was about triage, trust and keeping the roster foundation intact, and Campbell absolutely delivered. LSU got all 26 commitments to sign, preserving the base talent needed to stabilize the transition and prevent a major reset. That alone is a huge win.

The headliners matter, too. LSU held onto No. 1 overall prospect Stevie Griffen out of Austin, Texas, and No. 1 quarterback Thomas Hammer out of Perris, California. Those are program-shaping talents. However it happened, LSU’s collective and power brokers clearly did enough to keep the class from fracturing. In Baton Rouge, that counts as a signing day victory with real long-term value.


IMG Academy (Bradenton, FL) CB Karlos Kalu was the day's biggest flip, going from Florida to Colorado.

Karlos Kalu to Colorado Is the Flip That Defined the Day

The biggest flip of the day belonged to Colorado, and it came with real star power.

Five-star IMG Academy cornerback Karlos Kalu flipped from Florida to Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes in a move that instantly changed the tone of Colorado’s class. Florida fans will understandably focus on what went wrong under new coach Blake Baker during a chaotic transition week, but the real story here is Colorado closing on an elite, premium-position defender and adding a true centerpiece to a smaller class.

That’s been part of the Colorado formula under Deion: fewer total high school signees than some national powers, but targeted swings on high-upside talent, then aggressive portal work to supplement the roster. Kalu fits that blueprint perfectly. He gives the Buffs a headline recruit with national cachet and elite traits at corner, a position that always carries extra value in today’s game.

Colorado finished 36th in the final On3 team recruiting rankings, but that number doesn’t fully capture the class quality at the top, and it definitely doesn’t reflect what this staff is expected to do in the transfer portal. Kalu’s flip was the most dramatic late move of the day, and it gave Colorado one of the signature moments of the cycle.

Texas A&M Quietly Put Together the Most Impressive Class in the Country

Texas A&M is about to play for an SEC title, and somehow that almost overshadowed what the Aggies just did on the recruiting trail.

Mike Elko’s program signed the No. 1 class in the nation, and not by accident. This is a deep, physically imposing, numbers-heavy haul with 31 signees, including five-star North Shore cornerback Diego Isidora and a staggering 24 four-stars. It’s the kind of class that doesn’t just help next season, it changes the talent baseline of the program for multiple years.

What stands out most is the balance. A&M didn’t simply stack one position group and call it a win. This class has star power, volume and developmental pieces, which is exactly how elite rosters are built in the modern era. It also feels aligned with the direction of Elko’s tenure: tough, deep, competitive and capable of winning in the trenches over time.

One key name to know is The Woodlands quarterback Eric Sokoli, the No. 58 overall player in the class. He may not have gotten as much headline buzz as some of the bigger national names, but he’s a major piece for the future and a sign that A&M is recruiting premium positions at a high level. The Aggies didn’t just win signing day, they may have laid the foundation for a new era in College Station.


Erasmus Hall (New York, New York) S Sterling Hodel was the final uncommitted 5-star, and chose the Buckeyes this morning.

Ohio State Closes With Sterling Hodel and Fills Real Needs

Ohio State didn’t finish in the top five, but the Buckeyes still left National Signing Day with one of the more meaningful closes in the country.

The headline was five-star safety Sterling Hodel, the top-rated uncommitted recruit left on the board and the final five-star to come off the board. Hodel picked Ohio State over Oregon, Notre Dame and LSU, giving the Buckeyes a true blue-chip anchor in the secondary and a signature win at the end of the cycle. When a recruitment goes that late and includes that many heavyweights, closing matters.

Ohio State finished No. 8 in the final On3 rankings, which will invite some debate because the Buckeyes usually live in the top-five range. But this class feels more practical than flashy in a good way. There are multiple players who address clear roster needs, especially in the defensive backfield.

And the crown jewel remains five-star wide receiver Ashton Ramsey out of Loyola Academy (Chicago). He looks like the next natural fit in Ohio State’s NFL receiver pipeline, a polished, high-end talent with the kind of profile Buckeye fans have come to expect. This wasn’t a class built to win headlines alone. It was built to solve problems and still land stars.

Rank	School	Points	Total	*****	****	***	**	*
1	Texas A&M	368.57	31	1	24	6	0	0
2	Oregon	333.69	28	0	21	7	0	0
3	LSU	321.74	26	2	19	5	0	0
4	Miami (FL)	319.53	26	3	16	7	0	0
5	Clemson	318.37	24	3	17	4	0	0
6	Georgia	317.69	24	5	14	5	0	0
7	Alabama	304.98	28	3	11	14	0	0
8	Ohio State	291.08	26	3	13	10	0	0
9	USC	290.68	26	3	11	12	0	0
10	Michigan	289.01	27	0	13	14	0	0
11	Tennessee	280.75	24	0	17	7	0	0
12	Oklahoma	280.27	28	1	14	13	0	0
13	Nebraska	274.50	25	0	14	11	0	0
14	Texas Tech	271.06	25	0	12	13	0	0
15	Duke	270.31	33	0	1	32	0	0
16	Ole Miss	265.30	27	0	13	14	0	0
17	Texas	265.11	23	2	13	8	0	0
18	Notre Dame	263.53	21	2	17	2	0	0
19	Illinois	247.63	24	0	13	11	0	0
20	Utah	235.57	27	0	5	22	0	0
21	North Carolina	231.15	25	0	10	15	0	0
22	Washington	228.77	26	0	8	18	0	0
23	Penn State	226.85	24	0	10	14	0	0
24	Arizona State	221.08	23	0	10	13	0	0
25	Florida	220.56	21	0	9	12	0	0

[toysoldier00]

really painting the map with this recruiting board but still landed a bunch of ohio kids

i wish they brought back true pipelines where you had to earn them and manage to keep them

yeah, honestly I think if you look at the map you can see it's pretty Midwest Heavy. I spent a lot of time thinking about whom to go after to keep it realistic. The only player I felt was a bit of stretch was the cornerback from South Carolina, but even the other five players from outside the region are from places Ohio State has recruiting successfully over the years (South Florida, Houston, Southern California). Anyone else that was iffy I put a storyline on it to make it make sense.

[Captain Canada]

What a fucking class

[toysoldier00]

What a fucking class

tbh, 2nd in the BigTen and 8th in the country ain't gonna satisfy Buckeye fans

[toysoldier00]

Ohio State Sticks With Ian Moore at Right Tackle for Big Ten Title Game vs. Indiana
By Zachary Anderson on December 4, 2025


Ian Moore graded out well in his two starts against Rutgers and Michigan.



Ohio State will keep sophomore Ian Moore in the starting lineup at right tackle for this weekend’s Big Ten Championship Game against Indiana, even with veteran Phillip Daniels available, Ryan Day said Thursday.

Daniels, who started the Buckeyes’ first 10 games and has logged 589 snaps this season, was held out before kickoff against Rutgers after a late game-day decision tied to a hip issue. Ohio State turned to Moore, and the sophomore responded well in his first career start, helping anchor a dominant offensive performance.

With Daniels back and training this week, the Buckeyes still chose continuity.

“Phillip has made real progress and he’s available,” Day said. “But Ian played very well for us, and we feel like the best thing for the team right now is to stay with Ian as the starter and continue to build Phillip back the right way. This gives us another week to be smart and keeps us in a good place depth-wise.”

Moore has played 134 snaps this season, most of them coming in reserve duty before last week’s expanded role. Daniels remains an important piece of the line and is expected to be available if needed against the Hoosiers.

The decision reflects both confidence in Moore and caution with a veteran starter as Ohio State prepares for one of its biggest games of the season. For a team chasing a conference title and postseason positioning, the Buckeyes are betting that the line’s recent rhythm, and Daniels’ added recovery time, is the better long-term play.

 

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