Throughout the 2026 recruiting cycle, the Ohio State football program has lost more than a few five-star recruits because of less-than-stellar NIL deals. There have been several programs across the country who have decided to use NIL money to buy recruits.
Early on in the cycle, the Buckeyes took more of a conservative approach. They decided not to offer any recruits a massive amount of money to commit to them. Instead, they decided to wait and see if the rules were going to change, which they did. NIL GO hasn't been approving a ton of the deals that recruits have agreed to.
One of the five-star recruits that the Ohio State Buckeyes were trying to make a priority was tackle Felix Ojo. Ojo is listed as the second-best tackle in the country. Instead of picking Ohio State, he chose Texas Tech after reportedly getting a huge amount of money. Recently, he teased Buckeye fans even more.
Felix Ojo claims he would have picked Ohio State if he wouldn't have chosen Texas Tech
While speaking in an interview with Josh Newberg of Rivals, Ojo claims that Ohio State was the second-place school for him.
"If I didn't commit to Texas Tech, I probably would have committed to Ohio State. They were second in the running to Tech."
Ojo claims it was the relationships that he built, not NIL money, that allowed Tech to finish ahead of the Buckeyes.
"What really made me go to Texas Tech was really just the relationship, like I said. They were like my third offer. And even when I wasn't that interested in Texas Tech, they were pushing for me and my family this whole entire time."
Relationships likely played a part in his decision to play in Lubbock, but it's hard not to believe that the massive deal of $5.1 million over three years didn't play a significant factor in his decision-making. The Buckeyes were certainly not going to pay him that much money as an unproven freshman.
Ohio State has moved on, bringing in several other offensive line recruits that they will build around. They decided to spend more NIL money on keeping their roster from last year as intact as possible.