Ohio State had several notable visitors over the weekend to watch the Buckeyes’ bowl practices in preparation for Missouri in the Cotton Bowl.
OSU priority 2026 offensive tackle Maxwell Riley was one of those key visitors, as the five-star in-state talent made another appearance on campus after already visiting Columbus numerous times within the last six months.
“It was a fun time,” Riley told Eleven Warriors of the bowl practice. “I liked the intensity and focus from the offensive line.”
While on his visit, Riley met with Ohio State coach Ryan Day and offensive line coach Justin Frye as they caught up with him on his recruitment and his season,
“He was just seeing how much I was picking up on in the meetings, practice, etc.,” Riley said of his conversation with Frye.
The 6-foot-5, 263-pound prospect attended several OSU games during the fall, including the Youngstown State and Penn State contests.
“The game day experiences were a pretty cool environment,” Riley said.
Ohio State was Riley’s third Division I offer in March, and the Avon Lake product grew up rooting for the Buckeyes. With the amount of visits he’s taken to Columbus and the attention he’s been given from OSU’s coaching staff, there’s a tremendous amount of mutual interest between both Ohio State and Riley.
“They’re definitely in my top tier, along with Clemson, FSU, Michigan, and Penn State at this point in my recruitment,” Riley said of OSU.
Though he’s still a long way away from signing a National Letter of Intent, Riley said he intends to start trimming down his recruitment within the next few months. Per 247Sports’ composite rankings, Riley is considered the 14th-best prospect nationally and the fourth-rated offensive tackle in the 2026 class. He’s picked up offers from Boston College, Florida State, Kentucky, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
“I’ll probably end up narrowing my list down in the late spring then go from there,” Riley said of his commitment timeline.
Amaris Williams to sign his NLI Wednesday
One of Ohio State’s two remaining defensive line targets in the 2024 class will reveal his decision within the next 48 hours. Four-star North Carolina defensive lineman Amaris Williams announced he plans on signing his National Letter of Intent at his high school at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. He’ll decide between flipping to either OSU or Auburn or honoring his Florida commitment.
signing on Wednesday at Clinton high school cafeteria @ 1:30pm live
— Amaris Williams (@AmarisWilliam13) December 18, 2023
Williams visited OSU twice over the fall, but the Buckeyes are likely running third behind Auburn and Florida for the top-80 prospect entering signing day. He took an official visit to Auburn last weekend, with the Tigers making a late push to secure his commitment.
Winston, Melendez commit to other schools
Two Ohio State targets in the class of 2025 have announced commitments elsewhere.
Shortly after releasing a top eight, four-star Florida linebacker Elijah Melendez committed to Miami on Saturday over Ohio State, Alabama, Penn State, USC, Georgia, Michigan and Colorado.
2025 CLASS join ya boy in the 305! ITS going down! #Committed to THE COMEONWITIT pic.twitter.com/6OwWPGbnA3
— Elijah melendez (@Babyman3J) December 17, 2023
In an expected outcome, four-star Georgia tight Emaree Winston chose Texas over Ohio State and UCF on Monday. Winston had visited OSU multiple times throughout his recruitment but ultimately felt the Longhorns were a better fit. With Winston off the board, the Buckeyes will focus on their top tight end target in the 2025 class, four-star prospect Nate Roberts.
Malachi Nelson enters the transfer portal
Another highly-touted quarterback entered the transfer portal over the weekend with signal-caller Malachi Nelson opting to leave USC on Sunday amid rumors the Trojans are the team to beat for Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard.
Multiple sources tell @On3sports that USC quarterback Malachi Nelson is expected to enter the transfer portal. @mzenitz first. https://t.co/khsiYm3t24 pic.twitter.com/qx1NeFeg6z
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) December 18, 2023
Nelson was a five-star prospect in the 2023 signing class and followed Lincoln Riley to USC after originally committing to Oklahoma. He also had an offer from the Buckeyes in high school.
At this point, it’s looking more and more likely that OSU will opt not to take a transfer quarterback, at least in the winter window, and roll with Devin Brown, Lincoln Kienholz and Air Noland for spring football in 2024. Nonetheless, Nelson is a talented passer who will draw plenty of interest from teams around the country.
