The Ohio State football program has had a problem recruiting defensive ends in the 2026 class. They have a few edge guys, but those guys will likely come from a linebacker spot. True defensive ends have been hard to come by for Larry Johnson, which used to be his forte.
On Sunday evening, the Buckeyes lost out on another defensive end recruit. They were hoping to land four-star recruit Carter Meadows, but ended up not getting him. To make things worse, they lost him to Michigan. TTUN doesn't win many recruiting battles over the Ohio State Buckeyes, but they did here.
It's a very disappointing loss, but it has started to become all to familiar for the Buckeyes. Johnson has not done a good job with recruiting this cycle. For the guys he has been able to land, he has needed the help of Matt Patricia. Still, there's one big reason why Ohio State lost this recruit to TTUN.
Why the Ohio State football team lost Carter Meadows to TTUN
Ohio State has not figure out how to be competitive enough in NIL offers for some recruits, but that's not why they lost out on Meadows. They lost him because Johnson has simply been too lazy to put the necessary work in to develop relationships with him and show him how the Buckeyes plan to use him.
This offseason would have been a great time for Johnson to ride off into the sunset and retire after his second national championship. Instead, he insisted on staying for another year. It would be shocking if Ryan Day didn't tell him to move on after the 2025 season is finished.
Finding a true DE is starting to get harder. There are now questions about whether Ohio State will be able to get Landon Barnes to commit to the program later on Monday. After it seemed like he was a virtual lock to commit to Ohio State, Predictions have now changed for him to end up with Ole Miss.
Missing on Barnes in addition to Meadows would be a really bad back-to-back loss for Johnson.