2026 Class Reset: Ohio State still seeking quarterback to lead

Welcome to the Inside Stuff, the semi-regular Ohio State recruiting notebook exclusive to Buckeye Huddle. The latest news, notes and analysis of Buckeyes football recruiting from Marc Givler and Birm.

COLUMBUS—It’s May 13 and Ohio State has the country’s third-ranked 2026 recruiting class.

The Buckeyes have 13 commitments, a group that’s grown by nine since the surprise addition of Maxwell Riley on March 10.

However, upon closer inspection at where things stand for Ohio State right now, it feels like the Buckeyes are just getting started. There are four receivers committed, four defensive backs—with Monday’s addition of Jordan Thomas—and three offensive linemen in the fold. There’s also a tight end and a linebacker.

And that means there is plenty of work to be done in a class that’s now more than half full. What’s made this class so interesting from the outside looking in is that despite its success, Ohio State is in the place it is in without a true class leader emerging in 2026. Yes, there are young Ohioans like Jaeden Ricketts, Jakob Weatherspoon, Max Riley, Sam Greer and CJ Sanna committed but that group—extremely talented—is a bit reserved. None of those players have made it their charge to outwardly build their class.

That’s a role typically reserved for a quarterback and—on May 13—the Buckeyes don’t have one committed.

Why? How did we get to this point in the cycle at quarterback and where can Buckeye Huddle see it going from here?

Let’s review the class, position-by-position, starting with the sports most important spot.

The Challenges: What has slowed Ohio State?

We won’t relitigate the entire recruiting cycle but, from the outside looking in, there are a few unique challenges that the Buckeyes have had to deal with.

First, it’s really not a deep class nationally at quarterback. There are a few names that have been at the top of the list for a year-plus. They’ve not changed and neither have their circumstances. Jared Curtis is committed to Georgia again and Dia Bell is still enamored with Texas. Neither of those players seem to be budging but the Buckeyes are still swinging hard with Bell. In the Midwest, Jonas Williams has seemed reluctant to give Ohio State much of a look for some reason. He has been committed to Oregon and now USC for months.

Things are strange, kind of.

The Buckeyes started recruiting 2026 quarterbacks with Corey Dennis as the Ohio State quarterbacks coach. He gave way to Chip Kelly, who was brought to Columbus to scheme and call plays more than to recruit. Kelly brought Billy Fessler back to Ohio with him and when the Las Vegas Raiders came calling in February, Fessler became the full-time quarterbacks coach. Yes, Ryan Day still serves as a de facto quarterbacks coach but that’s a lot of change in a short time. Especially at a position that requires stability to build a relationship that goes beyond x’s and o’s. Curtis, it was rumored, was leaning toward an Ohio State commitment when Dennis left. He was forced to reset his recruitment which really opened the door for Georgia early.

And that’s not the only change that the Buckeyes have dealt with at the position. On Dec. 2—the day 2027 five-star Brady Edmunds committed to Ohio State—the Buckeyes had Will Howard, Devin Brown, Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and Air Noland on the roster with five-star 2025 signee Tavien St. Clair set to enroll two weeks later. Convincing a top 2026 prospect to voluntarily enter that fray was going to be tough-sledding no matter what.

But by the time Ohio State was polishing its most recent national title trophy and putting it on the trophy case at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the roster looked considerably different. Howard, as expected, was gone. So, too, were Brown and Noland and Chip Kelly. Naturally, conversations about what was needed in the 2026 class had changed, too.

It’s been an unusual cycle but the Buckeyes won’t, and haven’t, panicked. It’s a situation that isn’t altogether foreign for Ryan Day and staff, either. If Ohio State had its druthers, it may never offer a quarterback until their post-junior year summer but that’s not the way the recruiting calendar works, unfortunately. Day isn’t afraid to wait it out and has done that multiple times in his tenure in Columbus. Justin Fields, CJ Stroud, Devin Brown, Lincoln Kienholz, Will Howard and Julian Sayin were all brought in after late-in-the-process evaluations and/or end of December transfers.

So, while not ideal from a recruiting class perspective, this delayed approach has yielded some positive results where it actually matters.

The Options: Where Can Buckeyes Turn?

It’s been an interesting few months of recruiting the quarterback position. Last summer, the Buckeyes had a revolving door of top prospects in to camp and for evaluations. That was step one in a lot of ways and most of those players, because of the aforementioned challenges, committed elsewhere.

So, spring brought round two of those evaluations, many of which are on-going. Fessler has been on the road for the last three weeks checking out quarterbacks from coast-to-coast.

And with official visits kicking off in two weeks—and 2025 one-day recruiting camps beginning a week later—we’re going to find out who is a real option for Ohio State and who is not. Right now, the view is about as clear the Olentangy River.

Inside of Ohio, there are three quarterbacks that have been receiving some attention. Nathan Bernhard is committed to Appalachian State. Matt Ponatoski remains uncommitted but he is committed to the idea of playing baseball in college and beyond. That basically eliminates him from lining up at quarterback for a program like Ohio State. The third option, former Wisconsin commit Jarin Mock, is super interesting athletically but is years away from being a college contributor. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Mock has all the tools but hasn’t put it all together yet. He’s got a big senior year coming at Pickerington (Ohio) North High School and we’ll see him at Ohio State a few times next month.

If we run down the current Top 20 quarterbacks in the country, per the On3 Sports composite rankings, six are currently uncommitted. Of those six, the Buckeyes have offered only Bowe Bentley and Ryder Lyons. Both players visited in the spring but Bentley eliminated Ohio State—reportedly because of the distance from Celinas, Texas—and Lyons is more appropriately viewed as a 2027 prospect because he’ll take a one-year religious mission after high school. There has been some reconnection with Bentley since Curtis reaffirmed his commitment to Georgia but it’s hardly enough to get excited about yet.

Lyons is one of California’s best 2026 passers but so are three-star prospects Luke Fahey and Bryson Beaver. Fahey, who plays at Mission Viejo (Calif.) High School, is uncommitted. He was the quarterback for 2025 Ohio State signee Phillip Bell a year ago. Beaver, from Vista Murrieta (Calif.) High School, is committed to Boise State and has caught the Buckeyes attention as well.

A trio of non-offered, committed-elsewhere quarterbacks are also worth monitoring heading to summer. At the top of that list is Jett Thomalla, a Nebraska native committed to Iowa State. He’s shot up the national rankings this spring and is now an Elite 11 Finalist. He’ll be joined in California by Louisville commit Briggs Cherry, who earned his invite at the Ohio regional in front of Ryan Day. Michigan State verbal Kayd Coffman has been dominant on the camp circuit as well and he was visited by—and visited with—the Buckeyes.

There are multiple ways that this recruiting story will turn for Ohio State but, after a year-plus of constant change, things are settling in for Fessler and the Buckeyes. With visits looming and camps approaching, it’ll be instructive to see who shows up in Columbus. Not everyone being considered at this point will have to camp but it always helps when Day can see a young passer in person.

With seven months until the early signing period, there’s still not much clarity at quarterback for Ohio State.

But that’s been the case before and it usually works out pretty well for the Buckeyes.