The Ohio State football program has been pushing hard for recruits in the last few weeks. Those recruits have been high four-star recruits and five-star recruits. Unfortunately for them, the Buckeyes have not been able to land any of those recruits. They have been striking out at an alarming rate.
Ryan Day and his staff have not been able to get these recruits for one reason or another. For some of them, it's a poor NIL offer. For others, they simply have not been able to persuade them that Columbus is the best place to develop them. Still, they were hoping to land Derrek Cooper on Sunday.
Cooper is a five-star running back from the state of Florida. Initially, he was given a prediction to land at Miami. Suddenly, he had a prediction to head to Texas. That's exactly what ended up happening, as Cooper decided to head to Texas without even taking an official visit.
Ohio State football program loses out on five-star recruit to Texas
The Ohio State Buckeyes lose out on an elite running back recruit, leaving them with just one RB recruit for the 2026 recruiting class. That is in-state back Favour Akih. The Buckeyes are running out of time to land another running back, so they may only bring in one this class.
Since the Buckeyes added two running backs in the 2025 recruiting class, Ohio State might be okay without multiple running backs in this class, but that doesn't mean that losing Cooper won't hurt. Carlos Locklyn was hoping to land a stud in this class.
Ohio State is going to have a few chances to land some highly-rated recruits before Signing Day hits, but they won't have momentum on their side. They have to find a way to figure out a better way to get these recruits. What they are doing now certainly isn't working.