College Football Heavyweights Mount Challenge to Flip Nation's No. 3 WR Recruit

Texas Tech is the reigning Big 12 champion and a College Football Playoff contender once again, using that recent success to secure the No. 3 recruiting class in the country and in particular the commitment of a very blue-chip wideout.

No. 3 ranked Humble (Tex.) Summer Creek wide receiver Benny Easter, Jr. has remained firmly committed to the Red Raiders for the last seven months, but some other serious college football programs are still looking to change his mind.

Buckeyes are up first

Ohio State has remained a consistent presence in Easter’s thinking, culminating in its hosting him to Columbus for a visit during the spring, and with another one, in an official capacity, upcoming for one of the nation’s top wide receivers, he revealed.

SEE YOU SOON....👀⏳️ @OhioStateFB @Coach_Hankton @ryandaytime @OhioStAthletics @SRBuckeyes @CoachJordan82 @joeyrkaufman @BillLandis25 #AG2G 📍 pic.twitter.com/zxkSFPzDfN
— 5 ⭐️ Benny Easter jr (@BennyEaste12886) May 25, 2026

Easter has described Ohio State’s effort with him as “very active” in comments to Rivals, and he credited the program’s recent run at turning out NFL-ready positional prospects.

Wide receiver has been a source of incredible strength for the Buckeyes in recent years on the back of an historic effort recruiting and developing uber-elite draft picks at the position under the direction of Brian Hartline.

Even after Hartline’s departure from his alma mater to become head coach at USF this offseason, the Buckeyes have remained a destination of choice for wideouts, including No. 1 2026 target Chris Henry, and 2027 No. 3 receiver Jamier Brown.

Former No. 1 overall recruit Jeremiah Smith, another product of OSU’s operation, enters his third season as the consensus best wideout in college football, now in anticipation of his emerging as another high draft pick for the school, and it’s that pedigree the school will focus on when meeting Easter again soon.

Other college football elites are in the picture

College Football Heavyweights Mount Challenge to Flip Nation's No. 3 WR Recruit — Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

LSU has hosted Easter to campus for an official visit as it builds what remains a small but very elite 10th ranked recruiting class that includes commitments from three prospects ranked among the 10 best at their respective positions.

Easter engaged publicly with the LSU visit by posting part of it to his Instagram account, leading to speculation that the program is a credible threat to his Texas Tech pledge, especially given the Tigers’ own recent development success at wide receiver.

Ole Miss has also offered Easter and is poised to welcome him to Oxford on June 5, according to reports, with Pete Goldings’ program gaining some notable traction on the back of the receiver’s budding relationship with wideouts coach L’Damian Washington.

Easter has said he “loves” the school and is “very close” with Washington, noting that the Rebels have made him a high priority.

Longhorns are involved

Texas has predictably offered the highly-ranked, in-state prospect, and hosted Easter on campus in early April of this year, hoping to position itself in the broader conversation as a potential flip candidate, even if the Longhorns’ effort is not considered as aggressive as that of Ohio State or Ole Miss.

Wide receiver isn’t a position of imminent need for Texas in 2027 given it has the pledge of No. 2 target Easton Royal, but he is also listening to other schools, with a quartet of SEC contenders looking to change his mind.

Still, it’ll be tough to beat the Red Raiders

Even taking into account all the expected interest from other programs for a top-flight receiver, Texas Tech still does have the most pronounced relationship with Easter following his commitment 29 weeks ago, made right before the school was about to begin its first playoff run.

Easter has expressed consistent positivity about the direction of the program and its overall competitiveness with Joey McGuire at the helm, and while there is no sign he’s about to de-commit or imminently flip, his continued visit schedule does signal that the wide receiver is keeping his options open.

Projections still overwhelmingly favor the Red Raiders, who have a 99.7 percent chance to keep Easter onside once signing day rolls around, according to the Rivals Recruiting Prediction Machine.

But that won’t stop some of college football’s other marquee schools from looking to throw a dent into those odds.

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