The Hurry-Up: Top-55 Prospect Luke Wafle Puts Ohio State in His Top Four, OSU Visits Two Five-star Prospects, Three New Offers Go out

By Garrick Hodge on May 14, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Luke Wafle
Twitter/@WafleLuke
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A top Ohio State defensive end target in the 2026 recruiting class has cut his recruitment down to four schools.

Four-star New Jersey prospect Luke Wafle released a top four schools list on Wednesday consisting of Ohio State, USC, Penn State and Texas. He’s scheduled official visits with each school and the 6-foot-6, 245-pound prospect will be in Columbus on May 30.

Per 247Sports’ composite rankings, Wafle is the No. 55 prospect and No. 6 edge player in the 2026 class. He’s also the No. 1 player in the state of New Jersey and visited OSU in March.

The Buckeyes are in a strong position with Wafle, but will have to nail the recruitment process down the stretch to maintain the momentum.

In his junior season, he finished with 53 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, eight sacks and eight quarterback hits. 

Hartline and Locklyn visit Hiter, Patricia and Guerrieri visit Womack

Ohio State assistant coaches hit the recruiting trail Wednesday and got some facetime with two key targets on opposite sides of the ball. 

Offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and running backs coach Carlos Locklyn saw five-star running back target Savion Hiter in Virginia, who continues to be a priority target for the Buckeyes. Hiter has an official visit scheduled with OSU for May 30 and he’s also planning to take trips to Michigan, Georgia and Tennessee.

Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and safeties coach Matt Guerrieri traveled to Mississippi to meet with five-star safety Bralan Womack. Both coaches have tried to sell Womack on being the final piece of the puzzle for the Buckeyes’ safety class for 2026 and will continue to do so on his OSU official visit, currently scheduled for June 20. He’ll also visit Auburn, Texas A&M and Florida.

Additionally, Ohio State has offered three defensive backs within the last couple of days, including the No. 1 cornerback and No. 1 safety in the 2027 class. A look at each of those three players:

Danny Odem

Tim Walton just added a second cornerback to OSU’s 2026 class with the commitment of Jordan Thomas on Monday. But the Buckeyes’ secondary coach could still be in the market for one more cornerback this cycle. Walton offered three-star cornerback Danny Odem, a 2026 prospect from Florida, on Wednesday.

Odem is considered the No. 524 prospect and No. 45 cornerback in the current cycle. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound cornerback currently has official visits scheduled to Penn State, Nebraska and Miami, while also considering Oklahoma, Georgia, Syracuse, Clemson and Florida. If things are going to move forward with OSU, he likely would need to add a trip to Columbus to his schedule.

In his junior season, Odem recorded 45 tackles, two tackles for loss, a quarterback hurry, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, three pass deflections and a fumble recovery.

John Meredith III

Speaking of cornerbacks, Walton also offered the No. 1-rated cornerback in the 2027 class, Texas prospect John Meredith III. And well, Walton had great luck with the last No. 1 cornerback in the country from Texas that he recruited. 

The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Meredith is rated the No. 2 overall prospect in the country and has earned more than 30 Division I offers, including Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Mizzou, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M and USC. 

JayQuan Snell

Guerrieri is taking another big swing at safety in the 2027 class, offering four-star Texas prospect JayQuan Snell, the No. 1-rated safety in his cycle. He’s considered the No. 24 overall player in the class and has earned more than 30 Division I offers, including Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and USC.

Last season, Snell recorded 86 tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

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