The Ohio State football program has yet to land a highly-touted player from the Transfer Portal. While they have brought in four transfers, none of them have been higher than three-star players, according to 247Sports. Ohio State continues to lose players to the portal every day, as well.
It seems that the Buckeyes may have lost out on Chaz Coleman after he left his visit without a commitment. One of the other top portal targets that the Ohio State Buckeyes had on their board was Kayin Lee, a cornerback who had played with Auburn.
Lee had previously committed to the Ohio State football program back in 2022 before eventually signing with the Tigers. It seemed like they had a great shot to land him this time around. Instead, Jim Knowles swooped in and took him right out from underneath the Buckeyes.
Ohio State football team loses Kayin Lee to Tennessee
Instead of signing with the Buckeyes, Lee has committed to Tennessee. Knowles is now the defensive coordinator for the Vols, making it his third program in three years. He is still getting paid by Penn State while he is at Tennessee, so that seems like a pretty good deal.
Losing out on Lee hurts. With both Aaron Scott and Bryce West entering the portal, Ohio State doesn't have much depth at the cornerback position. Davison Igbinosun is heading to the NFL, so that also leaves them with less depth. Quite frankly, Ohio State needs to get a corner from the portal.
Ohio State was really hoping to be able to bring Lee into the fold. Without him, they are going to have to go to some other options. Ryan Day and his staff still need to land a corner, a kicker, and another side receiver. There are other needs, but those are the three biggest ones at this point.
Day doesn't seem to be doing well with the portal early on. He needs to turn it around if Ohio State is going to compete for a championship in 2026.