Ohio State staves off big push from Alabama to keep elite recruit
By Ryan Stano
The Ohio State football program has had some problems with recruits flipping in the past month. Just today, the Buckeyes lost a four-star receiver to another school. There was one recruit that the Buckeyes were most worried about flipping though.
That recruit is four-star defensive lineman Eddrick Houston. He's a borderline five-star talent and is out of Buford, Georiga. He had a few schools take a run at flipping him, mainly Alabama. In fact, it looked like Alabama was going to flip him until Ryan Day's press conference.
In that press conference, Day mentioned that Larry Johnson will be back as defensive line coach. That may have been what Houston needed to hear because Day paused his press conference to take a phone call a short while later, presumably to talk with Houston and hear him commit.
Houston signing with the Ohio State football program is massive for the defensive line depth of this team. Houston gives the Buckeyes two defensive linemen in this 2024 class, which is still low. But two is better than one, especially with one as good as Houston in it.
Houston was the biggest question mark heading into Wednesday. The Buckeyes ended up finishing the 2024 class stronger than a lot of people thought. Still, Ohio State fell from second to fourth in the recruiting rankings. A top-five class is still pretty solid, especially with the late signing period still to go.
Keeping Houston gives Day and his staff something to build on. Now that most of the class has signed, he can focus all of his attention on the bowl game at the end of the month. It will be the last time that this group of players get to play a game together on the field, so that is special.
Next. Next story. Ohio State has no worried about keeping their top recruit. dark
Big recruiting win for the Buckeyes.