Ohio State’s season has gone sideways, but the Buckeyes are still landing in the right places on the recruiting trail.
While Ryan Day’s team tries to steady itself after a 41-28 loss to Oregon dropped Ohio State to 6-3, the 2028 class keeps rolling. The Buckeyes already have five verbal commits and sit No. 1 in the 247Sports Class Rankings, and they took another step forward Monday with a major development at offensive tackle.
Antijuan Wilkes, a 2028 five-star OT from Detroit’s Cass Technical, released his top eight and included Ohio State. Michigan, Missouri, Washington, Kentucky, Texas A&M, LSU and Nebraska also made the list.
That’s a strong position for the Buckeyes, especially considering how many schools are in the mix. Wilkes reportedly holds more than 40 scholarship offers, and Ohio State got in early with an official scholarship offer this spring after a recruiting camp.
He came back to Columbus this summer, and the staff has stayed in regular contact since then. The one thing Ohio State still hasn’t gotten is a game day visit, and that’s likely the next box the Buckeyes want to check.
Wilkes has already taken game visits to Nebraska, Michigan and Missouri, but not Ohio State this fall. That matters, because Michigan looks like the biggest obstacle here. The Wolverines have made Wilkes a clear priority in the 2028 cycle, and his proximity to Ann Arbor has helped them get him on campus multiple times.
For Ohio State, the timing is important. The Buckeyes have not yet added an offensive lineman to next year’s class, and Wilkes would give them a true centerpiece to build around up front.
He enters the race as the No. 1 OT in the 247Sports Composite, the No. 17 overall recruit and the top player in Michigan.
Ohio State is also in the mix for another top tackle in the 2028 class: four-star Lincoln Fa’alafi of JSerra Catholic in San Juan Capistrano, California.
Fa’alafi visited Columbus on Sept. 26 for the Illinois game, and by all accounts the trip went well. But Notre Dame appears to have made the stronger impression.
He was at South Bend this past weekend when the Irish beat then-No. 1 Miami, and predictions are now coming in for him to land with Notre Dame.
Fa’alafi is ranked No. 10 among offensive tackles and No. 91 nationally in the 247Sports Composite.
With Fa’alafi trending toward Notre Dame, Wilkes becomes an even bigger name for Ohio State to chase along the offensive line in 2028.
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Day said there will not be any more coaching changes before the next game, but the evaluation process is still ongoing. That leaves Ohio State in a familiar late-season spot: trying to clean up a costly problem quickly, with limited time to see whether the new arrangement can bring order to a unit that has already given away too many damaging moments. [Read more 🡒]