The new House settlement will change how football programs recruit moving forward. Now that there is an NIL budget for entire athletic departments, the Ohio State football program will have to figure out how to properly allocate their own slice of the NIL budget.
What we don't know is how much of that NIL budget will belong to the Buckeyes. While the football program brings in the most money, other sports are going to be fighting for some of that NIL budget. For this season, it will be around $20.5 million for the entire athletic department.
How much the Ohio State Buckeyes use on individual recruits is going to be tougher now that there is a set limit they can spend. Ryan Day has already made it clear that NIL is not going to be the most important thing they use to recruit prospects, but it is certainly a move they make.
How the House settlement will affect the Ohio State football program recruiting from now on
For the 2026 recruiting class, the Buckeyes have already been operating under the assumption that some kind of budget was coming. They shouldn't be affected for this upcoming class, at least not yet. It's unclear if they know how much of that NIL budget they'll have.
Ross Bjork is in charge of figuring that out. Considering the fact that the athletic department was operating at a $38 million deficit, we'll see how much they want to spend on football moving forward. They also only have 13 commitments for the class so far, so they can adjust on the fly.
The Ohio State football program is going to have to make tough decisions with some high-profile recruits. It will be an interesting dance that the Buckeyes have to do moving forward, as the NIL budget will continue to increase every year.