Is the Buckeyes’ NIL philosophy getting in the way of landing big-time recruits, or has Larry Johnson lost a step?
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Whether you are judging by recruiting rankings, on-field success, the eye-test, or NFL Draft results, there is no denying that Ohio State is routinely one of the most talented teams in all of college football. Currently, the Buckeyes sit at No. 5 in the 247Sports recruiting rankings. As of publication, the Buckeyes have 21 recruits committed to the class, including two five-star prospects and 14 four-stars.
But, despite that success, the 2026 class continues a trend that we have witnessed in recent cycles; the Buckeyes seem to be struggling in recruiting top-tier defensive line talent.
The highest-ranked DL prospect in the class is Damari Simeon, who is an interesting case. The New Jersey nstive is currently the No. 201 player in the class and the No. 26 defensive lineman according to the 247Sports Composite Ranking. However, 247Sports itself does not have an individual rank for him, and has him as the No. 44 DL.
With all due respect to Rivals, ESPN, and all of the other recruiting services, I always look a little side-eyed when a player is ranked far better elsewhere than they are by 247, who I think we all agree is the benchmark of recruiting.
The next highest rated recruit is Khary Wilder, the No. 241 player in the country and No. 23 edge rusher. Although many analysts believe that the 6-foot-4, 260-pound prospect is more likely to end up on the inside, rather than on the end, where he plays in high school.
From there, the other defensive linemen in the class are Cameron Brickle, and Jamir Perez. Brickle is the No. 538 player in the country and No. 62 defensive lineman, while Perez is No. 679 and No. 74, respectively, and flipped his commitment from Florida yesterday.
That means that the average defensive line ranking so far in the 2026 class is 414.75. Now, I don’t mind a proven player developer like Larry Johnson taking some projects; we have seen him work magic with diamonds in the rough countless times during his decade-plus tenure at Ohio State. But, missing on top-end talent again and again has become a pattern for LJ in recent years, and as NIL and paying players potentially brings some level of parity to the sport, OSU simply cannot continually see the vast majority of high-value DL targets that it invests ungodly amounts of time and money on go somewhere else.
Now, it’s not like Johnson and the Buckeyes don’t still hit on big-time defensive linemen. Obviously in 2021, they landed J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer the nation’s No. 4 and 5 players. However, since then, Omari Abor (No. 63 in 2022), Kenyatta Jackson (No. 60 in 2022), Jason Moore (No. 66 in 2023), Eddrick Houston (No. 26 in 2024), and Zion Grady (No. 86 in 2025) are the only top-100 defensive linemen to sign with OSU; Abor is now playing for SMU, Moore has recorded one tackle as a Buckeye, and Grady is yet to officially start his collegiate career.
In fairness, Houston and Jackson played clean-up roles for last year’s championship team — the former a true freshman and the latter as a redshirt sophomore — and likely both will start this fall. However, combined, they have accumulated only 20 tackles in their careers (five for Houston and 15 for Jackson).
So that means that in the four recruiting cycles since LJ landed Jack and J.T., he has only signed five top-100 players, none of whom have yet to make a significant impact for the Buckeyes. If we expand that to top-200 prospects (according to the 247Sports Composite rankings), Ohio State has also signed Caden Curry (No. 123 in 2022), Hero Kanu (No. 129 in 2022, now playing for Texas), Joshua Mickens (No. 119 in 2023), Dominic Kirks (No. 163 in 2024), and Jarquez Carter (No. 198 in 2025).
So, that’s 10 top-200 defensive linemen in the past four years; two have transferred, and the eight who remain have compiled 49 tackles between them. Granted, because Sawyer, Tuimoloua, Ty Hamilton, and Tyleik Williams played for so long, there weren’t a ton of snaps or tackles to go around, so it is a bit unfair to judge them but their tackle totals alone. But the fact remains that Johnson’s ability to close has been less than stellar in the past four years.
As has been the case in recent cycles, in 2026, we have routinely seen top-tier defensive linemen have the Buckeyes in their group of finalists, only to opt to commit somewhere else: Luke Wafle (No. 55) went with USC over Ohio State, Pierre Dean (No. 66) chose Georgia over Ohio State, Earnest Rankings (No. 117) picked Florida State over Ohio State, Landon Barnes (No. 139) picked Ole Miss over Ohio State, and K.J. Ford (No. 116) is expected to pick Florida over Ohio State on Friday, July 11.
So my question is, why? A lot of Buckeye onlookers and insiders are discussing the program and athletic department’s philosophy of focusing NIL money on proven players already on the roster rather than recruits who have yet to play a down of collegiate football. Ryan Day has discussed that plan in the past, and athletic director Ross Bjork has preached that type of hesitancy following the House settlement, potentially scarred by his time as AD at Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
While not a defensive lineman, on Friday, five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo (No. 7 nationally) committed to Texas Tech 24, just hours after confirming that his top four were Florida, Texas, Michigan, and Ohio State. So, what changed?
Who knows? But, his agent did say after his client’s commitment that the Red Raiders offered Ojo a fully guaranteed, three-year, $5.1 million deal. So maybe that had something to do with it ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
I don’t know how those kinds of contracts work with college students, who, presumably, can transfer whenever they want, but that’s clearly not something Ohio State fans (and bloggers) have to worry about, because the Buckeyes seem to have no interest in going anywhere near those types of deals.
Despite the NIL stinginess, Johnson has clearly been incredibly close to landing plenty of players who would have changed the tenor of this conversation. So, is OSU’s refusal to pay a ton of money for young, unproven talent to blame? Some beat reporters think so, and they might be right. But then, why does it not seem to be impacting other positions nearly as much?
Brian Hartline’s wide receiver room currently includes the Nos. 15 and 108 players in the country. The defensive back haul includes Nos. 26, 106, 173, and 176. Tyler Bowen’s first OSU offensive line class currently includes the Nos. 109 and 127 players. And even though James Laurinaitis only has two linebackers currently in his class, one of them is the No. 71 player in the country, and Carlos Locklyn has the No. 167 player in his running back class.
In total, there are currently 10 OSU commits ranked ahead of Wilder, the top defensive line recruit in the Buckeyes’ 2026 class.
Obviously, OSU’s WR pedigree gives Hartline an advantage that practically no position coach in the country has, and I would venture to guess that when it comes to NIL, other than quarterback and wide receiver, defensive linemen (especially edge rushers) command the most money. So perhaps OSU’s frugality hurts LJ a little more than anyone else, buuuuuuuut, he is 72 years old, and I have to imagine that has an impact as well.
We have long heard about schools negatively recruiting against Johnson, telling players that the beloved, grandfatherly position coach was inevitably going to retire during their college career. And while that seems to have quieted down over the past few years, I have to imagine that being 30 to 40 years older than many of the guys you’re recruiting against does put a seed of insecurity into the back of prospects’ minds. Understandably, no one wants to sign with a school only to have the coach who recruited them retire a quarter, or even half, way through their collegiate career.
I don’t doubt that Larry Johnson can still cultivate meaningful relationships with recruits and their families as well as anyone; if he couldn’t, we wouldn’t routinely see OSU as a finalist for the top players in the country. But clearly something is not connecting with the defensive line recruits like it is with players at other positions.
Ohio State’s apprehension to shell out big bucks for high school players is admirable. Saving that money to invest in keeping the best, most-proven players on campus clearly worked for the Buckeyes last season, but a lot of those guys came to Columbus before the advent of NIL. So you have to wonder how many would have even been on the team in the first place had Ryan Day had to pony up cash to get their commitment initially.
Again, I think the philosophy is laudable, and in a perfect world, that would probably be the way I’d want things to happen. But if you don’t get high-quality talent on campus to begin with, you’re not going to have anyone worth paying to keep in school when the time comes. I’m fine with not getting into an arms race that gives a rising high school senior $5.1 million fully guaranteed, but I do wonder how different things would be if the Buckeyes loosened the purse strings a bit more for the most explosive position on the defensive side of the ball.
The Buckeyes seem to be playing by NIL and revenue-sharing rules that not only is no one else following, but that don’t even really exist to begin with. Of course, we don’t want to see our beloved, saintly program devolve into the depths of moral and ethical degradation as has happened in that cesspool of depravity and licentiousness known as Ann Arbor, but this is Ohio State.
The program has literally every weapon imaginable at its disposal, and while we know that they aren’t going to land every five-star prospect that they get to visit, it would be unfathomable and unforgivable if the administration inside the football program, or the athletic department at large, was handcuffing the coaches by not letting them play (and pay) on equal footing with the other programs around the country.
While I think that Larry Johnson can still go out there and give you a solid six innings, it seems pretty clear to me that he has lost a bit on his fastball, at least from a recruiting perspective. It is unfair to arguably the greatest defensive line coach in the history of college football if Day and/or Bjork aren’t giving him every tool possible to be successful.
LJ has clearly needed a little help in sealing some of his more high-profile deals in recent years, so I hope that the powers that be let him open up the checkbook a little bit more in the most impactful situations.