The Ohio State Buckeyes finished the transfer portal window with a strong statement setting themselves up with a roster ready to compete in 2026.
The Ohio State Buckeyes got off to a slow start in this first portal window, but finished strong and have set themselves up with a really solid roster heading into 2026.
I may be in the minority, especially throughout Buckeye Nation, but I think what Ohio State did in the portal was solid at best. After the dust settled, I do believe that the Buckeyes had a very clear plan for this portal season as they very clearly tried to get older on their roster.
That cannot be argued.
However, in doing that, they took a lot of risks.
The Buckeyes lost over 30 young and potentially future stars to the transfer portal and backfilled them with a lot of projects.
"Projects" in this sense are not character projects, but they certainly are performance projects.
The headline signing for Ohio State in this portal is Earl Little Jr. Little, as he has the opportunity to become a replica of Caleb Downs in the back end of Ohio State's secondary. He is a veteran player who is incredibly intelligent and gets to the football with bad intentions.
The rest of the transfer portal additions are solid at best.
The Buckeyes beefed up their defensive line with Qua Russaw and James Smith, who both were up and down at their time in Tuscaloosa. Smith was far more productive than Russaw, who lost his spot in 2025 due to injury. Smith topped out at 28 tackles on the year with 6.5 tackles for loss.
The next splash signing was the Buckeyes locking up safety Terry Moore from Duke. Moore is an intriguing prospect who was a very, very good player in 2024 but then tore his ACL before the start of last season. He missed the entire year and is coming off the bad leg injury upon arriving to Columbus, looking to make an impact.
They then went quiet for a while before getting after the offensive side of the ball. The biggest additions they made were locking up their offensive line from last year. Each of Luke Montgomery, Carson Hinzman, and Austin Siereveld has committed to returning to the Buckeyes' offensive line.
They added a few wide receivers and tight ends to go along with running back Ja'Kobi Jackson from Florida.
Day rounded out his class by signing kicker Connor Thomas from Baylor. Buckeye Nation believed that he is the answer to the Buckeyes' kicking woes, but the way I see it, he is almost the same kicker as Justin Fielding.
All in all, I would say the Buckeyes' transfer class is neutral. They lost a ton of young players who have immense talent but are a year or two away. They filled them back in with average players with experience and age.
That was definitely the play, but I don't see the Buckeyes as being better than they were before the portal. Will that be good enough to get back to the top next year? We will have to wait and see.