Ohio State’s Friday SummerFest recruiting event made headlines after Ohio wide receiver Chris Henry became the Buckeyes’ first commitment of the 2026 class.
But there was also an underrated storyline to emerge from the event as the Buckeyes offered 2025 offensive lineman Rowan Byrne after the New York product completed his first visit to Columbus.
After a great visit @OhioStateFB and a great conversation with @ryandaytime and @CoachJFrye Im excited to say Ive earned an offer to THE Ohio State University!! @Joespags12 @ionafootball @CoachMoffitt @CoachSollenne @RivalsFriedman @adamgorney @EdOBrienCFB @SWiltfong247 pic.twitter.com/aPFAVmjSEA
— Rowan Byrne 4 (@RowanByrne6) July 28, 2023
"That's a big deal to me," Byrne said of receiving the offer to OSU. "That's one of the best programs all-time and one of the best programs right now. If they don't win 13 games this year and a national championship, it wasn't a good season. That says everything. That's where I want to play football, at a school where the expectation is to win every year.
“Coach Day got to talk to me for a bit, he thinks I’m very gifted based off my film and everything. He thinks I’m very versatile and my technique is pretty good. He thought it was time to offer me.”
Byrne had been recruited by OSU offensive line coach Justin Frye for about a month-and-a-half and got to meet Frye in person for the first time on Friday.
“I saw pretty much everything I could see,” Byrne said of his visit. “Everything was really great, I loved it. I met coach Justin Frye, coach Mike Sollene and coach Ryan Day. I think my biggest takeaway is how structured everything is. There’s not a screw loose in the program. It’s a tight ship. That’s how I want things. To see it in person, you can tell it’s as tight as can be.”
Byrne plays left tackle at Iona Preparatory School and has been one of the team’s anchors on the offensive line. Though Byrne doesn’t hold a composite ranking from 247Sports as of yet, he’s racked up nearly 20 Division I offers, including Florida, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin.
“Definitely the player development,” Byrne said of the most appealing thing about potentially playing for OSU. “The player development here is like no other. You see it being there. That’s something I’d love to be a part of.”
Byrne said he’s not close to making a college decision at this point and is targeting next summer for a commitment. Based on his fall schedule, Byrne said he doesn’t think he’ll be able to make it to a game at Ohio Stadium this fall, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have future visits planned.
“I’ll probably be back in December or January,” Byrne said. “They kind of told me the first visit is less personal but they give you all the information and let you ask questions. The second visit becomes a little more personal and oriented towards you. The third visit or the official visit is going over the plan they have for you. So I’ll be back in the winter, probably for a spring practice and likely for an official.”
Chance Robinson offered by OSU
Ohio State is expanding its wide receiver board for the 2024 class.
The Buckeyes offered a new prospect on Sunday in four-star Florida wideout Chance Robinson. Robinson, who’s currently committed to Miami, is the high school teammate of OSU running back commit Jordan Lyle and played for the same 7-on-7 team (South Florida Express) as Brandon Inniss, Carnell Tate, Cedrick Hawkins and Jeremiah Smith, among others.
Blessed to receive (an) offer from Ohio State University! @CoachHarriott @IamGlennHolt @Dbrave_8 @brianhartline @STA_Football @Rivals @247Sports pic.twitter.com/An9oKWX1bw
— Chance J Robinson (@ChanceJRobinso1) July 31, 2023
More than a month before getting his OSU offer, Robinson tweeted that his favorite wide receiver is former Buckeye star Jaxon Smith-Njigba, which can only help the Buckeyes’ chances of flipping him from Miami.
— Jeremiah Smith (@Jermiah_Smith1) July 29, 2023
As it stands, OSU has two five-star wide receivers committed in the 2024 class, Smith and Mylan Graham. The Buckeyes want to take at least three wideouts in the class. Jeremiah McClellan is Ohio State’s top remaining uncommitted target, and the Buckeyes’ desire to add him to the class hasn’t changed. OSU would likely take four wideouts if McClellan and Robinson both wanted in.
Robinson is the 151st-ranked prospect and the 23rd-rated wide receiver in 247Sports’ composite rankings, In 12 games for St. Thomas Aquinas last season, Robinson caught 29 passes for 540 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Reaction from Aaron Scott's commitment
In case you missed it from Sunday, Ohio State added to its 2024 class in a big way with the commitment of four-star Ohio cornerback Aaron Scott.
The Springfield native had one of the more entertaining commitment announcements we’ve seen in quite some time, with Scott pulling out all the stops to build suspense that included the use of a smoke machine and faking out the room that he was committing to Michigan.
Following his commitment, there was plenty of reaction from Ohio State commitments and football staffers on social media, with many chiming in after the big recruiting win over their archrival.
