The Ohio State football program has been trying to land defensive end recruits in the 2026 class for quite a while without much luck. The Buckeyes continue to struggle landing these recruits, and Larry Johnson has started to frustrate Ohio State Buckeyes fans.
Ryan Day was hoping to be able to get KJ Ford on Friday night. Ford is a four-star defensive end who would have helped the Buckeyes' depth at that position from being truly awful. Heading into Friday night, Day and his staff only had one defensive end recruit for the 2026 class.
They left Friday night with the same number of defensive end recruits: one. Ford decided not to head to Columbus. He chose the Florida Gators instead, which is another blow to Larry Johnson and his recruiting efforts. Johnson takes more losses than he gets wins these days.
The Ohio State football program has lost out on another DE recruit
After losing out on Ford, what options do they have left? The Buckeyes haven't been able to have much luck landing DE recruits, and they seem to keep striking out. They are hoping to land Deuce Geralds, but that doesn't seem like that's going to happen, either.
It looks like they are losing their chance at being able to bring in top recruits at that spot. Defensive tackles have been less of an issue, but the defensive line in general hasn't been recruited well. Ohio State might be reduced to just landing one defensive end recruit this cycle, which is not good.
At this point, it's undeniable that Johnson has lost his recruiting touch. Day has to hope that he can still develop defensive linemen in practice and on the field, because they are almost out of naturally talented guys. This should be Johnson's last year with the program.
Matt Patricia might have to take even more of a recruiting role with the defensive line than he has in the last few months. They need someone else who can connect with the kids and make sure they come to Columbus. It's pretty clear that it isn't Johnson at this point.