The Ohio State football program continues to search for its quarterback for the 2026 recruiting class. They are hoping to grab that recruit soon, but there is one specific player that they are zeroing in on. That is quarterback Matt Ponatoski, who is currently competing in the Elite 11.
Ponatoski is rated as a four-star prospect out of Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati. He is likely to receive a big boost in the recruiting rankings once the Elite 11 is over. He visited Ohio State last season, going to The Game, which the Buckeyes lost.
While he doesn't have a firm timetable for his decision-making, Ponatoski's recruitment is unique. It's unique because he is an extremely good baseball player as well. In fact, he wants to play both football and baseball in college, which is something the Buckeyes typically don't allow.
The Ohio State football team needs to convince Matt Ponatoski that football is the way to go
This isn't the first time that the Ohio State Buckeyes have had recruits want to play multiple sports. J.T. Tuimoloau visited with Chris Holtmann while he was checking schools out because he also wanted to play basketball. Ultimately, he stuck with football.
Tywone Malone wanted to play baseball for the Buckeyes, just as he did for Ole Miss. He has stuck with football so far and will likely get a fair number of snaps this season. Ohio State needs to convince Ponatoski to do the same if they want him to come to Columbus.
The issue with that is that Ponatoski might only consider schools that would allow him to play both sports. If Ryan Day tells him he can only play football, he might cross the Buckeyes off his list. That would mean that they would need to find another QB for the 2026 class.
Ohio State has some other irons in the fire, but Ponatoski is someone they think could develop into a solid quarterback in the next couple of years. They just have to hope that baseball isn't the sport that he decides to follow instead of football.