The Hurry-Up: Ryan Day Stresses Finding "The Right Fit" when Recruiting Quarterbacks, Five-star 2025 CB Commit Na'eem Offord Says He's Still Locked in with Ohio State

By Garrick Hodge on September 30, 2024 at 5:30 pm
Ryan Day
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The process of Ohio State quarterback recruiting certainly hasn’t been linear in Ryan Day’s tenure.

Sometimes quarterbacks have locked in early and stayed committed throughout the process, like Kyle McCord for the 2021 cycle. Other quarterbacks have had to be found or landed late in the process with only a few months before National Signing Day, such as C.J. Stroud in the 2020 class, Devin Brown in the 2022 cycle and Lincoln Kienholz in the 2023 class. 

And of course, sometimes you land a quarterback early but the commitment doesn’t stick (Dylan Raiola in the 2024 class), leading to you pivoting to a backup plan (Air Noland) and unexpectedly landing one of the top players on your board (Julian Sayin) a month after the Early Signing Period because the greatest coach of all-time decided to retire.

Whatever the situation may be, Ryan Day is determined to get the right quarterback to Columbus, regardless of the process or how long it takes.

“When you know, you know,” Day said when discussing quarterback recruiting in general earlier this month. “But we’ve also been in a situation or two where recruiting has taken a twist or a turn. When that does and you’ve been invested in somebody and then for whatever reason, it goes another way, you can find yourself in a different spot. We feel like we really want to make sure we evaluate as much as we possibly can.

“When you think about how late it was in C.J. Stroud’s (recruiting timeline), we felt great about taking C.J. because we saw him play. We felt strongly about Devin Brown and Lincoln Kienholz, those guys (went late) into their recruiting process. We feel good about the guys we have committed and the room that we have, but we always want to make sure that it’s the right fit. We can’t be unsure, because it’s such a huge decision. Sometimes there’s more boxes that need to be checked and we always want to be thorough in that spot.”

This situation seems very applicable to the 2026 recruiting class, as all but one of the 12 quarterbacks Ohio State has offered in the cycle have committed elsewhere. Given the current quarterback room has young highly-touted players like Sayin, Noland and will welcome Tavien St. Clair next year, convincing a top-flight signal caller to come to Columbus may be difficult for that cycle. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done, but don’t be surprised if it takes until next summer or even next fall to secure a quarterback commitment for the 2026 class.

In a weird twist, Ohio State could get a 2027 quarterback committed before it lands a 2026 signal caller. Five-star 2027 prospect Brady Edmunds is expected to visit Ohio State this weekend for the Iowa game and has the Buckeyes in his top four schools. 

Edmunds may wrap up his recruitment sooner rather than later this fall, and if he does, Ohio State could be in a good position to land the California prospect.

Na’eem Offord says he remains locked in with OSU

One of the bigger uncertainties with Ohio State’s 2025 class at the moment is if the Buckeyes can hang on to five-star cornerback commit Na’eem Offord. Offord has been heavily courted by both Auburn and Oregon in the past few months and repped both challengers during a postgame interview after Parker High School (Birmingham, Alabama) played Friday evening. Despite the heavy interest from other schools, Offord told Joshua Gleason of the Hoover Sun his focus still remains on the Buckeyes for now.

“I’m still locked in with Ohio State,” Offord said on Friday. “I’m just showing love to all the schools still recruiting me.” 

Offord has visited Auburn multiple times since committing to OSU in February and plans to visit Oregon on Oct. 12 for the Ducks’ game against Ohio State. He was originally scheduled to visit OSU for the Buckeyes’ game against Iowa this weekend, but said he’ll now visit Columbus for the Nebraska game instead.

The battle for Offord will continue all the way through National Signing Day, but his visit to Columbus on Oct. 26 will be crucial for Tim Walton to reinforce the Buckeyes’ connection with the country’s No. 3 ranked cornerback.

Highlights from Ohio State commits’ prep slate

Several of Ohio State’s commits put on a show this weekend in their high school contests. We’ve put together a few highlights found from social media clips below.

  • Five-star linebacker Riley Pettijohn
  • Four-star linebacker Tarvos Alford
  • Four-star wide receiver Quincy Porter
  • Four-star wide receiver De'zie Jones
  • Four-star tight end Brody Lennon
  • Three-star offensive lineman Jake Cook
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