Ohio State Buckeyes are in Uncharted Territory for One Major Reason

The Ohio State Buckeyes have once again put together a star-studded roster for 2025, and while they may not be quite as loaded as they were last year, they still look pretty impressive heading into the new college football season.

Ohio State has also been gradually building a very strong group for 2026, securing a couple of five-star commitments and also nabbing a plethora of four-star recruits.

However, there is one area in which the Buckeyes are sorely lacking in their 2026 recruiting class: defensive end.

Ohio State has bagged just one commitment from a defensive end for '26, with four-star talent Khary Wilder choosing the Buckeyes last month. However, Ryan Day and Co. have watched three of their other top defensive end targets go elsewhere, which has certainly been a kick in the gut.

And not to add any pressure to Ohio State, but it kind of, sort of has to start bringing in more players at the position, as Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors notes.

"But Ohio State still needs to add at least one more defensive end in the 2026 class given that all of its top five defensive ends on its current roster (seniors Caden Curry and C.J. Hicks, redshirt juniors Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Beau Atkinson and junior Logan George) are upperclassmen," Hope wrote.

Defensive line coach Larry Johnson has been under fire for his rather constant recent failures in addressing both defensive end and defensive tackle, a pair of weak points for the Buckeyes. It's also not something the team is used to given that they generally always field one of the country's top defenses.

Hopefully, Ohio State can land a couple of more players — good ones — to man the defensive end position for 2026, and it wouldn't hurt to bring in another defensive tackle, as well.

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