The Ohio State football program has been on the hunt for defensive linemen for a while. They haven't been doing a great job of landing them in the 2026 recruiting class. They were able to get a rare win on that front by flipping defensive lineman Jamir Perez from Florida.
Perez is a Cleveland native who attends Cleveland Glenville High School. He initially committed to Florida when the Buckeyes weren't paying much attention to him. That changed as Larry Johnson started losing recruiting battles, and they flipped their focus back on Perez.
This was an announcement that the Ohio State Buckeyes were expecting. They have been pursuing Perez pretty heavily in the last few weeks, and it's clear that Perez always wanted to be a Buckeye. Now, everyone gets what they want, as he has committed to Ohio State.
Larry Johnson gets rare recruiting win with Jamir Perez flipping to the Ohio State football team
Perez is a huge human being, standing at 6'4 and 360 pounds. Once he gets stronger, he will really be a good player. The Buckeyes see a lot of potential from him on the interior. He just needs to put on some muscle and get some collegiate-level coaching.
Ohio State still needs to add a few more defensive linemen, especially at the defensive end spot. Perez is a good defensive tackle, but the Buckeyes need more defensive ends in this class to help build up some depth that they lost after last season.
The hope is that Larry Johnson can take this win and build some momentum with it. Florida is now projected to land KJ Ford, which is not ideal. Still, Ohio State is going to try its best to land him, along with a couple of other defensive ends. That will come in a few weeks.
Ohio State is still hoping for another Fourth of July victory with Felix Ojo, but that doesn't look great for them right now. Still, Perez becomes the 20th member of the 2026 recruiting class. The class still has a few spots left to be filled, so that will be nice.