The state of Ohio has no shortage of talented offensive lineman in the class of 2026 and Avon Lake standout Maxwell Riley has been right at the top of the priority list for the Buckeyes.
After multiple visits during the season, Riley was back on campus on Saturday to visit with the coaching staff and check out bowl practice.
“Overall it was pretty fun to experience,” Riley told BuckeyeHuddle.com. “Definitely a different practice vibe than in the Spring. There was also definitely a high level of competitiveness throughout the practice.”
Riley is one of those unique talents in Ohio’s loaded 2026 class that has already been receiving the full court press from the Buckeye coaching staff.
“Love the coaching staff,” Riley said. “I feel like I have good relationships with all of them and those relationships just continue to grow.”
That has really been the focal point of Riley’s numerous visits to campus over the past year, continuing to build relationships with the coaches. While Ohio State has done a great job so far on that front, there are other schools that Riley is feeling comfortable with as well early in his process.
“Some other schools sticking out to me in the process right now are Clemson, FSU, Michigan, and Penn State,” he added.
We’ve already seen five-star wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. come off the board to the Buckeyes instead of going through a long, and national, recruiting process. Riley isn’t quite at that stage of his recruitment yet, but could be close to narrowing things down.
“My plan is to see what happens over the next few months, schedule some visits for the Spring, then trim my list down and go from there,” Riley stated.
Riley earned first-team All-State honors as a sophomore this fall as he continues to grow and develop after bursting onto the scene last year as a freshman.
“I think some general improvements were footwork, doubled my pancake total from last year, and I graded better than last year,” Riley said. “Honestly none of my game is perfect and I need to get better at everything. It’s never going to be perfection but the pursuit of it definitely helps to improve my game.”
Riley is a consensus Top 100 prospect already and a potential five-star prospect in the 2026 class.
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