Ohio State's West Coast Recruiting Success Could Pay Major Dividends for Buckeyes in 2021 and Beyond

In 2020, Ohio State signed five players from Pac-12 states: California quarterback C.J. Stroud, Arizona quarterback Jack Miller, Washington wide receiver Gee Scott Jr., Arizona defensive back Lathan Ransom and California defensive back Kourt Williams, all four-star prospects.

This year, the Buckeyes are adding five more new players to their roster from the Pac-12 region, headlined by a pair of five-star prospects from Washington. 

Ohio State earned its biggest recruiting win over the Pac-12 yet on Sunday when it landed a commitment from Washington five-star defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau, who chose the Buckeyes over Oregon, USC and Washington, on Sunday. Fellow Evergreen State native Emeka Egbuka, also a top-10 overall prospect in the 2021 class, signed with the Buckeyes in December alongside Arizona four-star defensive back Denzel Burke and Colorado three-star tight end Sam Hart. And although he hasn’t been officially cleared to play for the Buckeyes yet, former USC linebacker Palaie Gaoteote IV – who is a native of American Samoa, but played at Bishop Gorman High School in Nevada – is now an Ohio State student and is expected to join the team this fall.

Combining them with the Buckeyes’ upperclassmen from the region, Ohio State’s roster will have a distinct West Coast presence this season – and likely will for years to come.

Including Gaoteote and Tuimoloau, who haven’t yet been added to Ohio State’s official roster for the 2021 season, the Buckeyes are set to have 14 players on this year’s roster from the Western United States, which is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the nation’s 13 westernmost states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

That list includes two of Ohio State’s most established superstars entering the 2021 season: wide receiver Chris Olave, who the Buckeyes landed out of California in the recruiting class of 2018, and defensive tackle Haskell Garrett, who the Buckeyes landed out of Bishop Gorman in 2017. The two longest-tenured players from the West on Ohio State’s current roster, they’re also arguably the Buckeyes’ best players on each side of the ball.

Stroud is the projected frontrunner to be Ohio State’s starting quarterback this season, while Miller is also competing for the job. Ransom drew rave reviews for his development this spring and appears destined for substantial playing time in the secondary. Williams could make an impact at bullet if he’s fully recovered from the torn ACL he suffered last year, while Scott is an intriguing potential weapon at tight end after moving there from wideout.

Ohio State wouldn’t be bringing in Gaoteote if it didn’t think he could be a difference-maker at linebacker this season. Tuimoloau and Egbuka are both strong candidates to make an impact as freshmen, and certainly project to be among the Buckeyes’ stars in 2022 and 2023. Burke and Hart are less likely to play immediately, yet both still chose to go more than 1,000 miles away from home to play at Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are continuing to pursue top talent from the West Coast as they build their future recruiting classes. Ohio State already has a commitment from four-star Arizona wide receiver Kyion Grayes, while four-star Nevada safety Zion Branch, four-star California offensive lineman Earnest Greene and four-star Colorado offensive tackle George Fitzpatrick are among its top remaining targets for the class of 2022. The Buckeyes have made eight offers to prospects from the Western United States for the class of 2023. And they’ve already made three offers to California prospects – all from St. John Bosco High School, the alma mater of Williams and former Ohio State guard Wyatt Davis – in the class of 2024.

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Recruiting top prospects from the West certainly isn’t unprecedented for the Buckeyes. In addition to Olave and Garrett, other notable players from the Western United States who were recruited to Ohio State during the Urban Meyer era included Davis, Idaho defensive tackle Tommy Togiai, California wide receiver Michael Thomas, Utah offensive lineman Branden Bowen and California tight end Marcus Baugh. The Buckeyes had several stars from the West in the 1990s, including Arizona quarterback Joe Germaine, California running back Michael Wiley, Colorado wide receiver Chris Sanders and California linebacker Na’il Diggs.

The Buckeyes have never previously had as much West Coast talent on one talent as they do right now, though, and that’s a testament to how Day and his staff have built upon the national recruiting footprint he inherited from Meyer.

As the Pac-12 has languished behind the other Power 5 conferences in competing for national championships – since Oregon’s national championship game loss to Ohio State in 2014-15, the Pac-12 has made only one appearance in the last six College Football Playoffs (Washington in 2016-17) – Ohio State has taken advantage, luring top prospects away from the West to compete for titles in Columbus.

If players like Stroud, Ransom, Egbuka, Tuimoloau and Williams can follow in the footsteps of players like Olave, Garrett, Davis, Togiai and Thomas and become stars for the Buckeyes, that could make Ohio State an even more appealing destination for West Coast blue-chips in the future.