Ohio State football predicted to lose out on another five-star recruit due to NIL

Ross Bjork is not a very popular guy these days. Despite the fact that the Ohio State football program won the national championship last year, Bjork continues to handcuff their recruiting efforts, as well as changing beloved traditions. NIL has been lacking for recruits in the 2026 recruiting class for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Several five-star recruits have turned their noses up at the Buckeyes because of poor NIL offers. Bjork has consistently refused to let outside collectives help the Buckeyes fund NIL efforts, despite the fact that numerous other schools around the country continue to do so.

It looks like Ohio State is going to do that again. Despite the fact that they have been favored to land five-star safety Bralan Womack for months, he is now predicted to pick another school because Ohio State doesn't want to up their NIL offer to be close to what that school is offering.

The Ohio State football program is expected to lose out on five-star recruit Bralan Womack

Womack is listed as the top safety in the country and hails from the state of Mississippi. Despite the Buckeyes being listed as favorites to land him for months, ON3's Steve Wiltfong has now logged a prediction for him to head to Auburn instead of Columbus.

With the silly penalties given to TTUN for cheating, Ohio State shouldn't follow any rules from any agency. It's pretty clear that they have no power to truly punish any program in a meaningful way, so why should Ohio State play by tougher rules than everyone else?

Bjork's insistence on keeping NIL in-house is costing the Buckeyes elite players. It will end up biting them in the butt down the road when all of these players start to develop into starters. Paying current players to stay on the roster is great when you have great players. They have to have good recruits in order to have good players, though.

The Buckeyes are stuck in this circular cycle with no end in sight. Unless Ryan Day steps up and tells Bjork to open up NIL funding, this sort of thing will continue to happen. Right now, they have just the ninth-best recruiting class in the country. That would be by far the worst in Day's head coaching career.

The fact that would happen just a year after winning a national championship is inconceivable. Something must change quickly in order for them to salvage this class.