After his third visit to Ohio State, Micah “Champ” Smith continues to be infatuated with the Buckeyes.
“They’re up there, they’re probably No. 1 right now,” Smith told Eleven Warriors of where OSU stands in his recruitment. “They’re going to be hard to beat when it comes to commitment day.”
The four-star 2026 offensive tackle was in attendance for the Buckeyes’ spring game on Saturday and was blown away by Ohio Stadium and the atmosphere with 80,000 fans in attendance for an exhibition.
“My Ohio State visit was pretty great,” Smith said. “My Dad and I went up there and had a great experience. The high-powered offense was just crazy.”
— Micah Champion Smith (@ChampSmith55) April 13, 2024
The 6-foot-5, 305-pound Smith said he thought Josh Simmons was “a dawg” and said he’d like to learn more about Simmons’ career path and study how Simmons goes about his day if Smith chooses to go to OSU.
Smith and Ohio State offensive line coach Justin Frye spoke at length on his visit about various topics, ranging from on-field schematics to personal discussions.
“We talked about a few plays, I noticed they ran some gap scheme and I pointed that out to him when I met with him,” Smith said. “We also were getting to know each other on a personal level outside of football.”
Smith’s previous two visits to Columbus were for the Penn State game last October and a recruiting camp last summer, where he was offered by Ryan Day after impressing Frye in individual workouts. The Florida resident has long held a special place in his heart for the Buckeyes, as he grew up bonding with his father playing as Ohio State in the old NCAA video games when Braxton Miller was OSU’s quarterback.
“It was big-time,” Smith said of being offered by OSU. “Coach Day said he wanted to offer me and I was shocked. That’s been my dream school ever since I was a little kid.”
Already one of the more highly touted prospects in the 2026 class, Smith has emerged as one of the top offensive tackle targets for the Buckeyes in that cycle. Per 247Sports’ composite rankings, he’s the No. 70 prospect and the No. 11 tackle in the class. He’s picked up nearly 30 Division I offers, with other opportunities coming from the likes of Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
Frye has told Smith he envisions him as a tackle at the collegiate level, but the top-100 prospect is willing to play anywhere asked of him on the offensive line. He primarily plays left tackle for Vero Beach High School (Vero Beach, Florida), but has also lined up at right tackle and both guard positions.
Smith has already locked in two more Ohio State visits. He says he’ll return to campus at the beginning of June and will attend the Buckeyes’ regular season finale against Michigan in November.
“That’ll be pretty interesting,” Smith said of the Michigan game.
There’s no rush from Smith to commit, but he envisions deciding where he’ll play college football around this time next year before the start of his senior season. He said the criteria he values most in his recruitment are development on and off the field, the culture of the program and if the team is a consistent winner.
Ohio State could end up being the school that meets those criteria for Smith.
“If you go there, you get coached by the best, and the best are already there so you get to learn from your peers,” Smith said. “Only legends go there. If you want to be a legend, that’s where you go.”
