In Week 2, Ohio State will be taking on the Texas Longhorns. It will be the third straight year that the Buckeyes face the Longhorns. They have won in the two previous matchups, including in 2024 when they beat them in the Cotton Bowl en route to winning the national championship.
This is likely going to be the Longhorns' last chance for revenge. With that being the case, they were able to add a key player after a judge ruled Cole Hutson eligible for a fifth year. Now, the Longhorns are getting another boost, this time on the outside of the defense.
John Meredith III reclassifies to 2026, will play for Texas this year
Five-star cornerback recruit John Meredith III has decided to reclassify to this season, and he will play against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Week 2. That will make it harder for Ohio State's receivers to break free and get easy yards. That includes Jeremiah Smith.
Quite frankly, the Longhorns will need to find the best way to stop the weapons that Ohio State has. Adding Meredith III will make it a lot easier to take on tough assignments. That means that they have even more options to throw at the Buckeyes when they get to Austin.
Meredith III is listed as the second-best cornerback in the 2027 class, and he stands at 6'3 and 187 pounds. There is a chance that, with that size, they just throw him right at Smith. Smith's size makes it hard for anyone to match up with him one-on-one. Meredith has the length to possibly do that.
Ohio State still needs a second receiver to step up
Looking at what the Buckeyes have to offer, they still have to find a second receiver who is up to the task now that Carnell Tate is playing for the Tennessee Titans. It might be five-star freshman Chris Henry Jr. who has to fill that role. In Week 2, we could see the two freshman phenoms line up across from each other.
The Buckeyes are hoping to figure out who that second receiver is going to be. If it isn't going to be Henry Jr., it could be Kyle Parker, Devin McCuin, or Brandon Inniss. Henry Jr. clearly has the highest ceiling of those three guys, so he is going to get a lot of snaps.
We still have all of Fall practice and Week 1 to figure that out. The Buckeyes will let the guys they have on the roster duke it out on the practice field. That will determine what the depth chart ultimately looks like and which of these players will be able to step up. All of them will get plenty of snaps against Ball State.
Getting the news that the Longhorns are getting two good players just before practice starts is not the kind of news the Buckeyes wanted to hear. However, the stamp that Ryan Day has put on this Ohio State football program is that they don't care about outside noise. They only care about what they can control.
They can control how they deal with the crowd and how well they execute their own game plan.
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