The Ohio State football program thought they lost a big-time cornerback last week. They were disappointed when four-star cornerback Justice Fitzpatrick committed to Georgia just ahead of visiting the Buckeyes. They thought that his recruitment was over.
All of a sudden, there might be some hope. Despite Fitzpatrick committing to the Bulldogs, he is still taking his official visit to the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend. That means that the Buckeyes will still have a chance to wow him on campus while he's in Columbus.
Fitzpatrick chose Georgia over Ohio State, Alabama, and a host of other big-time schools. It's strange that he is still headed to Ohio State for a visit, but this could be good for the Buckeyes. They still have a shot to land him if they treat him like royalty during this visit.
The Ohio State football team still has a shot to win over four-star corner Justice Fitzpatrick
Right now, the Buckeyes have 14 commitments in the 2026 recruiting class after landing Favour Akih. They have slipped to the fourth-best recruiting class in the country because Clemson jumped them. Still, the Buckeyes have a lot of recruits on the board that they can still land.
The new NIL cap limit will certainly spice things up this summer when it comes to recruiting certain players. Ohio State has made it a point to say that NIL won't be the biggest thing that they use to recruit guys, but it will play a part. There are some five-star kids they are still going after.
Which five-star kids they decide to use NIL money with is going to be key. They have to pay the guys that they already have on the roster, too. How they decide to allocate that money will determine if Fitzpatrick is going to be a flip and join the Buckeyes or not.
While the odds aren't high of flipping Fitzpatrick, it would be cool to see Ohio State be able to land him shortly after he had committed to Georgia. Right now, the Buckeyes have just one cornerback in the 2026 recruiting class. Adding Fitzpatrick would make them feel a lot better.