For the seventh straight year, Ohio State finished a recruiting class in the top five.
The Buckeyes’ 2026 class was ranked outside the top five by 247Sports composite for much of the cycle, but with final updates to the rankings recently, Ohio State now has the No. 4 recruiting class after all of its recruits signed in December.
Two players were upgraded to be five-stars with the rankings updates. Cleveland Glenville linebacker Cincere Johnson and Gibsonia (Pa.) Pine-Richland cornerback Jay Timmons, who was a late flip for OSU, join Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. as five-star players in the class for Ohio State.
Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop wide receiver Jerquaden Guilford also took a major leap in the rankings and is now considered the No. 44 player in the country. That is largely due to his ranking from Rivals, where he is a five-star player ranked higher than Henry.
Other players in the top 100 for the Buckeyes are Gardena (Calif) Junipero Serra four-star edge rusher Khary Wilder, Akron Hoban four-star offensive tackle Sam Greer and Baton Rouge (La.) Catholic four-star safety Blaine Bradford.
Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic four-star cornerback Jordan Thomas and North Forney (Texas) four-star athlete Legend Bey, who will largely be used as a running back and receiver by Ohio State, just missed at No. 103 and No. 126 in the country, respectively.
Overall, Ohio State finished with three five-star players, 16 four-stars and nine five-stars, with kicker Cooper Peterson still yet to sign after committing to the Buckeyes in late January.
Finishing ahead of Ohio State in the composite team rankings are No. 1 USC, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Oregon. The Buckeyes beat out No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Georgia and No. 7 Tennessee. The next Big Ten team in the rankings is No. 12 Michigan, with No. 13 Washington close behind.
With the transfer portal class taken into account, Ohio State has the No. 2 overall ranked class joining the roster for the 2026 season, trailing just LSU, which had 57 commitments when both the portal and high school recruiting are taken into account, compared to OSU’s 46 total.
As high school prospects go, the Buckeyes also ranked fourth in average player rating in the 2026 class at 92.19. They trailed Oregon (93.35), LSU (92.46) and Alabama (92.37) in that category.
