Ohio State football: How recruiting changes with USC/UCLA joining

The Ohio State football program currently has the best recruiting class in the country. They have been able to grab prospects from all over the country in order to get that ranking. The class of 2023 could very well end up being the best recruiting class in school history.

Now that USC and UCLA will join the Big Ten in 2024, does the Ohio State football program’s recruiting profile change? Adding the two Pac12 teams could open up the Southern California area for a lot of Big Ten teams. It also works the other way though for the Trojans and Bruins.

Those two programs now have more access to the Midwest. They can recruit those areas more now that they are in the Big Ten. This would certainly help UCLA, which has less of a national footprint than USC does. Ohio State also has a national footprint though.

Because of that, the addition of these two programs shouldn’t affect Ohio State’s recruiting gameplan once they join the conference in 2023. The Buckeyes already have a reach all across the country. They don’t need some teams from the Pac 12 to join the conference to help them recruit elsewhere.

The Buckeyes have gotten prospects from California before. They get a decent amount of them. In fact, starting quarterback C.J. Stroud is from the state of California. He knows better than anyone how Ohio State is able to get recruits from anywhere in the country.

Ohio State should be able to continue to recruit at an elite level, no matter how many other programs join the Big Ten. They should still finish in the top two in recruiting for the 2023 class too. The Buckeyes won’t let their recruiting slip anytime soon.

I’m interested to see how the rest of the Big Ten start trying to recruit the Southern California area.