Jason Burgos
Notable Ohio State recruiting expert Jeremy Birmingham recently explained a worrisome trend when it comes to the Buckeyes landing the top prospects from Ohio.
Despite coming off a National Championship win in January, OSU has not been a dominant force in recruiting this year. While they have a top-10 class for 2026, there are many who believe the program has underperformed. Making matters worse is the school’s growing inability to get or keep elite in-state recruits.
The top 2026 prospect in the state, Elbert Hill, chose USC over the Buckeyes. And fellow Ohioan Jakob Witherspoon reneged on his commitment this week and is instead heading to North Carolina.
During an appearance on The Fan 97.1’s “T-Bone and Tyvis,” Buckeyes recruiting expert Jeremy Birmingham suggested the days of Ohio prospects having the school as their top choice by far are now over. And money is playing a significant role in that huge recruiting shift.
“The idea of guys who just love Ohio State and will go there no matter what — there are still some of those guys out there — but when it comes to the difference of half a million bucks, that’s hard to turn down,” Birmingham said. “If you look at this year’s class, the Buckeyes are not doing particularly well in Ohio — by outside perceptions. A closer look does give a bit more insight. But the reality is, Ohio State has not gone after a lot of the best players in Ohio because they don’t think they’re good enough to play at Ohio State. Whether that ends up being the correct path or not, we really won’t know for a couple of years.
“The simple truth right now is inside the state, it doesn’t mean the same as it used to, to kids. To have an Ohio State offer, even coming off a National Championship, and everything the Buckeyes can offer,” he added. “It doesn’t mean that much anymore. Money matters… If a team can just come in and offer a million extra dollars, for example, that’s probably what happened with Elbert Hill. The No. 1-ranked player in the state who committed to USC. USC was just going to pay him a lot more money than Ohio State was willing to.”
Along with USC outbidding OSU for Hill, Birmingham revealed that rumblings around the Witherspoon situation are that the Tar Heels gave the defensive back an offer that was half a million more annually than what he was set to get at Ohio State.
