A BUCKEYE BASHING
Ohio State conquers Chicago with a 31-7 beatdown of Northwestern at Wrigley Field.
A 2025 Georgia offensive lineman prospect with NFL roots, Brayden Jacobs has racked up various offers two years into his high school career.
But there was one school he’d been waiting on to offer: Ohio State. The call the 6-foot-4, 265-pound prospect had been waiting for finally came on Feb. 23, when OSU offensive line coach Justin Frye offered him an opportunity to be a part of the Buckeyes.
@OhioStateFB Thank you for the offer today. #GoBucks @CoachTimWalton @ryandaytime @CoachJFrye pic.twitter.com/dMHAuaEh1v
— Brayden Jacobs (@BraydenJacobs77) February 24, 2023
“It was really exciting,” Jacobs told Eleven Warriors of the offer. “It was an offer I had been looking for. Coach Frye said I have a lot of skills and assets that a lot of great linemen have and that I have lots of time to grow so I’ll become a great lineman. I think the most appealing thing about Ohio State is that the Buckeyes put a lot of linemen in the first round of the draft.”
Jacobs has received 20 Division I offers to this point, including Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, Louisville, LSU, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, NC State, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas. After picking up the OSU offer, Jacobs is strongly considering the Buckeyes.
“They’re top 5,” Jacobs said of where OSU stands after his offer.
Football runs in Jacobs’ family, as Brayden is the son of former New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs.
“It’s been nice,” Jacobs said of receiving advice from his father. “It’s happened a lot less over these last two years, but it’s nice to have someone to go to.”
The phone call Jacobs had with Frye is the lone time he’s spoken with OSU’s offensive line coach, but the Georgia prospect said he’s considering heading to Columbus in June for a recruiting camp to have an opportunity to work with Frye and build more of a relationship.
Maxwell Riley picks up OSU offer
Ohio State has offered its first offensive lineman in the 2026 class. The Buckeyes offered in-state prospect Maxwell Riley after he attended OSU’s first spring practice on Tuesday.
After a great visit and conversation with @ryandaytime, Im extremely blessed and humbled to announce Ive received an offer from THE Ohio State University!!! @CoachJFrye @etwill21 @DaleRodick @coachkostelnik @CoachLowe212 pic.twitter.com/T2MNMRC9y3
— Maxwell Riley (@bigmax2026) March 7, 2023
Riley, an Avon Lake product, becomes the second in-state player Ohio State has offered in 2026, with wideout Chris Henry Jr. being the other. The 6-foot-5, 263-pound Riley has now racked up four total Division I offers with Toledo, Miami and Florida State being the other three.
Riley rotated between playing left and right tackle (primarily left) en route to helping Avon Lake to a 9-3 campaign in his freshman year.
Luka Gilbert earns Buckeyes offer
Riley wasn't the only Ohio prospect to earn an OSU offer after visiting spring practice on Tuesday. In-state 2025 tight end Luka Gilbert also picked up a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes, giving him five offers in total. Other schools to offer include Uconn, Kentucky, Nevada and Pittsburgh.
After a great practice and talk with @ryandaytime and @CoachKee, Im extremely blessed and honored to have received an offer from THE Ohio State University! @CoachTomBolden @LakotaWestFB pic.twitter.com/gZl49OGfVu
— Luka (@luka_gilbert) March 7, 2023
The 6-foot-7, 205-pound tight end help lead Lakota West to a 13-1 season last year. OSU has obviously had no trouble recruiting Lakota West in recent cycles, landing Malik Hartford in the 2023 class and Tegra Tshabola and Jyaire Brown in 2022.
Colton Heinrich to visit OSU April 1
Three-star Florida tight end Colton Heinrich will be among the many recruiting visitors Ohio State will be welcoming to campus this spring, as he’ll make a trip to Columbus on April 1.
Heinrich has more than 30 Division I offers, including Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Liberty, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, Mizzou, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
In Heinrich’s junior season, he caught 36 passes for 464 yards and three touchdowns for Cardinal Gibbons.
Heinrich’s rise to a highly-coveted tight end nationwide is a great story in his own right, but his mother and older brother’s story is even wilder, as both were in the building adjacent to the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Both the recruitment of Colton and the stories of his mother and brother were highlighted in a terrific piece by The Athletic on Friday.
