Ohio State’s first day of fall camp already put one of the Buckeyes’ biggest defensive questions front and center.
Yes, plenty of eyes will stay glued to the offensive line, where the left tackle battle between Ian Moore and Austin Siereveld figures to draw attention all month. But on Thursday, the more revealing development came on the other side of the ball: Dominick Kelly worked with the first-team cornerbacks more often than Jermaine Mathews Jr.
That matters. Mathews chose to return to school this spring instead of heading to the NFL, and he was widely expected to open the year as a starting outside corner opposite Devin Sanchez. Instead, Kelly’s reps suggest that spot is far from settled.
Kelly arrived at Ohio State this winter after transferring from Georgia, and the Buckeyes appear to have seen enough in spring ball to give him an early look with the starters. The 6-foot-1 corner played in 10 games last season for the Bulldogs, but his role was limited to 107 snaps on defense and special teams.
His recruiting background shows why he’s on the radar. 247Sports ranked Kelly as the 38th best corner in the 2025 high school class and the 12th best corner in the 2026 transfer class. He was originally expected to be part of the 2026 high school class before reclassifying to 2025.
Mathews is hardly an unknown, though. He has been a major part of Ohio State’s defense over the last two seasons and logged 799 snaps at defensive back and on special teams last year alone. So if Kelly is taking real ground, that says something about how the competition is unfolding.
The Buckeyes still have time to sort it out, but the early message from camp is clear: Mathews does not have the job locked down.
And Ohio State may need a quick answer. The first two games don’t offer much room for a long secondary evaluation, with Ball State coming in Week 1 and a Week 2 trip to Texas that brings a major receiver test against Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo.
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Saturday now looms as the key date in this one, with Vargas set to make his decision and bring an end to the early speculation. For Ohio State, the appeal is obvious: landing a player with his profile this early would be a major statement in the class and a sign that the Buckeyes are winning the kind of head-to-head battles that matter on the recruiting trail. The final call is still ahead, but the sense around this recruitment is that the Buckeyes are in a strong position entering the announcement. [Read more 🡒]