Nation's No. 1 RB expected to spurn Ohio State football for Notre Dame

It's almost unbelievable how quickly things can change in recruiting. Not long ago, 5-star running back Kemon Spell, a playmaker for 2027, backed off his commitment to Penn State and he said eight teams were standing out to him. Ohio State football was on that list.

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The Buckeyes were also considered a team to watch out for according to recruiting guru Steve Wiltfong. However, less than a week later and it's looking like Spell already has his next program in mind to commit to and it's not the Columbus side. Wiltfong just put in his official prediction for Notre Dame to land the speedster following his weekend visit to South Bend:

Notre Dame appears on the verge of landing 5-star running back Kemon Spell

While Spell is yet to make an official decision, Wiltfong is usually pretty spot on with these guesses. He has also put his 'confidence level' at 60 percent for the Pennsylvania product to shut down his recruitment again soon in favor of the Irish.

However, could Ohio State make a late push to get him to change his mind before he ultimately makes his next call? That could be in play, but Ryan Day is going to have to prioritize getting the running back on campus as soon as possible for a visit.

For the 2026 cycle, Ohio State was also a finalist for 5-star running back Savion Hiter, the No. 1 RB for his class. However, Hiter ended up committing to Michigan, which sucked for Ohio State supporters to see. In some good news, it looks like 4-star Wisconsin commit Amari Latimer could flip his verbal at any moment.

Despite that, plenty of people were hoping that Spell would end up committing to Ohio State and be one of the gems for the '27 haul. The door hasn't been closed on that happening, but Notre Dame is now the clear leader and the Buckeyes have some serious catching up to do in this race. Unfortunately, plenty of signs are pointing to Spell being Notre Dame-bound.