The Ohio State football team just finished its 2025 spring game, and vibes are high after witnessing many young players perform well. However, performing well in a spring game might benefit the players more than the team and its fans.
Nebraska’s Matt Rhule canceled his spring game due to concerns about other teams seeing his players perform well and tampering to get them into the transfer portal. Initially, Ohio State may have been on the same path, as Ryan Day spoke about a spring showcase rather than a spring game.
However, Day differed from Rhule, as he initially wanted to cancel the Ohio State spring game due to concerns about player health and injury risk after a grueling 16-game season and a condensed spring practice window.
But was Rhule right? If he is, and a recent prediction by Fox College Football analyst Joel Klatt proves accurate, the Buckeyes could have even more depth issues than previously expected.
On the latest episode of “The Joel Klatt Show,” Klatt discussed the Nico Iamaleava situation and how he demanded more money from Tennessee. Iamaleava is now in the portal, and if more players follow suit, Klatt predicts, “This transfer portal window is going to be more wild than maybe the future ones.”
Klatt’s prediction is rooted in the revenue sharing coming to college athletics and how this could be players’ last opportunity to establish NIL deals without restrictions, as schools can allocate a proposed revenue share cap of $20.5 million annually to their athletes.
Klatt speculates that athletes could think, “This is my one last chance to get some ridiculous deal that’s outside of what can be considered a more structured revenue-sharing deal through the school.” But it wouldn’t just be the highest-earning athletes like Iamaleava doing this. Standout performers in Ohio State’s spring game, like Bo Jackson and Mylan Graham, could be some players who feel they could earn more in the open market than they would as second or third-stringers at Ohio State.
Fortunately for Ohio State, Ryan Day has built one of the best cultures of toughness and a team-first mentality in college football. Just last year, Ohio State saw multiple starters and potential draft picks return for one more year to chase a national championship. Of course, NIL also played a factor in keeping those players, showing that Ohio State has the ingredients to prevent players from entering the portal with dreams of bigger offers and more playing time.
Look at a player like Caden Curry. Curry is entering his senior year at Ohio State. He never entered the portal, transferred out, or hinted at it, even though he played behind Jack Sawyer his entire career. But now is his time. After appearing in every game at Ohio State since enrolling, he will finally make his first start in his career and be a team leader this fall.
Fortunately for fans, this story is not uncommon, as Day and his staff have continued to improve at playing young players not only at the end of blowout games but in big moments, too. Arvell Reese could be the greatest example of this, as he saw his most snaps of the season in a single game last year against Michigan in The Game.
Based on previous years, Day and his staff at Ohio State have shown players that they can get playing time and earn good NIL money even without being a starter. If Ohio State’s culture is as strong as believed, the Buckeyes should have little to no problems losing potential key contributors next season to the portal who are searching for big paydays and more playing time. If they do lose players, it will most likely be third- or fourth-stringers who have been passed by younger players and won’t see much playing time anyway.
In the meantime, the Buckeyes will search the portal to shore up their interior defensive line depth, looking for options to create a more competitive room with opportunities for several players to get snaps next season. With a strong culture and strategic approach, Ohio State appears well-equipped to navigate the challenges of the upcoming transfer portal window.