The Ohio State football program is gearing up for a season in which it will be defending its national championship. They are one of the favorites to win the title despite losing 15 starters from last year's squad. Despite their success on the field, the Buckeyes haven't had a strong 2026 recruiting class.
Ross Bjork has been trying to navigate the new NIL era, and has been doing it poorly. The Ohio State Buckeyes and the rest of college football might have to follow a different set of rules because the US government has decided to insert itself into college football all of a sudden.
President Trump signed an executive order that will force Congress to figure out a plan in the next 30 days to limit the spending power of programs when it comes to NIL money. So, if this order goes through, how could this affect the Ohio State Buckeyes?
The Ohio State football program shouldn't worry about Trump's executive order
Bjork might freak out since he was already worried about NIL collective money getting denied, which was then reversed, so he clearly doesn't know exactly what to do. Regardless, if this order goes through, Ohio State would only be able to get money through the Buckeyes Sports Group at the cap level designated by the House settlement.
Of course, there's only a minuscule chance that this would even become law. It would certainly be challenged legally and likely found unconstitutional since the House settlement was just approved a few weeks ago. Ohio State shouldn't really worry about this.
Ohio State doesn't need to worry about the muddy waters of politics. They need to worry about closing recruits at a better clip than they are right now. They are on pace to have the worst recruiting class in the Ryan Day era.