Four-star Ohio linebacker schedules official visit with Ohio State

The Buckeyes also offered a 2026 four-star OT.

Ohio State finds itself in the heart of the offseason. With the colder weather still plaguing the state of Ohio, things for the Buckeyes are slower than usual. Adding to this, the college football world is in the middle of a recruiting dead period.

While coaches are unable to have any in-person contact with recruits until the dead period comes to an end, recruiting is not completely quiet. The dead period gives recruits the ability to reflect on past visits and their relationships with the schools pursuing them. This process leads to recruits narrowing down their schools of interest and releasing cut-down top schools lists. Recruits are also busy scheduling official and unofficial visits to help determine which of their suitors is the best fit for them.

Ryan Day and the Ohio State coaching staff are very good at building relationships with the recruits they are interested in early in the recruiting process. As a result, Ohio State is still finding ways to make recruiting headlines, making top schools lists and preparing for upcoming visits.

This trend continued on Monday, as Ohio State learned it will be hosting one of the state’s top talents on an official visit later this summer. 2026 four-star linebacker Cincere Johnson (Cleveland, OH / Glenville) scheduled his official visit with the Buckeyes for June 13.

Ohio State is not alone in its pursuit of Johnson, as he also has official visits scheduled with Alabama, Oklahoma and USC. For the majority of his recruitment, Ohio State has been dubbed the favorites in his recruitment. Being an in-state target usually keeps Ohio State in contender status, but the program has also done a great job in making him feel like a priority target as well.

For his part, Johnson has always made it seem that the feelings are mutual and has said Ohio State is his top school on multiple occasions. However, there are no guarantees in recruiting and any of the other visits he has scheduled could change that. Ohio State has to like where it sits in this one though.

Johnson is the No. 9 LB in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 117 overall recruit. He is also the No. 4 recruit from the state of Ohio.

Ohio State offers 2026 four-star OT

Ohio State’s 2025 recruiting class is all but wrapped up, and it was another successful haul for Ryan Day and his coaching staff. The group assembled ranks No. 5 by 247Sports, and the Buckeyes once again added multiple five-star recruits to their roster.

However, there was one positional group where Ohio State didn’t quite match expectations at in the class, and that was the offensive line. Moving forward, the coaching staff is making the O-line one of great of importance in the 2026 class.

Ohio State has offered more than 25 recruits along the offensive front, and the staff added one more to that list on Monday when it presented 2026 four-star offensive tackle, Evan Goodwin (Bauxite, AR / Bauxite), with an official scholarship offer.

Ohio State has some ground to make up if it is to become a serious contender for Goodwin as Missouri has done a good job at making him feel like a priority. He has made numerous visits with them already and his only scheduled official visit is with them in June. Because of this, the Buckeyes will need to get him on campus this spring and maybe another one this summer if they are going to challenge the Tigers. Notre Dame, Ole Miss, LSU, Florida State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and others are all in on Goodwin as well.

Goodwin is the No. 29 OT in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 339 overall recruit. He is also the No. 3 recruit from Arkansas.