Over the last few years, Larry Johnson has proven that he is still a premier recruiter for the Ohio State football team. He continues to get some of the best recruits in the country, even at his advanced age. Just a few days ago, he landed another edge player to help the Buckeyes.
For the 2027 recruiting class, the Ohio State Buckeyes have most of their recruits on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, there is still some work to be done. Johnson has already landed two excellent edge players in this class, and it looks like they are on the verge of landing another one.
Johnson has continued to pursue other defensive linemen who can really help the team moving forward. He has been pursuing five-star defensive line recruit Marcus Fakatou over the last few weeks. Now, they have gotten a prediction to land the elite defensive lineman.
Ohio State football team given a prediction to land 5-star defensive lineman
According to Steve Wiltfong of Rivals, the Ohio State Buckeyes are now predicted to land Fakatou. He is considering five other schools in addition to Ohio State. Fakatou is also looking at Notre Dame, Texas, Oregon, Georgia, and Michigan. Having him land up in Columbus would be a massive victory for them.
Fakatou has an official visit scheduled to Columbus at the end of the month. That could be a chance for Ohio State to actually land a commitment from him. They have a lot of recruits coming to campus during that last weekend of May, which is turning into a big weekend.
Fakatou is listed as the second-best defensive lineman in the country. He is listed at 6'6 and 275 pounds, so he has massive size. That size allows him to power through the offensive line, something that is very attractive to Johnson. It's clear he is putting on a massive blitz to land him.
The Ohio State football team continues to increase their recruiting efforts
Fakatou would add another five-star recruit to the Buckeyes' recruiting class. He would be the third five-star recruit in this class, joining DJ Jacobs and Jamier Brown. Of course, Ohio State still has to seal the deal. Predictions like this fall through all the time.
If they end up landing Fakatou, then it's pretty clear that NIL spending is no longer an object for Ross Bjork. Bjork has been apprehensive about spending a lot of money on incoming high school recruits. He and Ryan Day have decided to pay more in NIL money for players from the Transfer Portal.
Signing Day is still seven months away, so a lot of things can change between now and then, even if Ohio State is able to get a commitment from him. So the Buckeyes will have to continuously recruit him between now and December, when most of the high school recruits across the country opt to sign.
If this prediction ends up holding, Ohio State fans should be extremely excited about the future of the defensive line.
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