No. 1 LB schedules Ohio State visit, five-star RB puts Buckeyes in top six

Catch up on the latest Ohio State recruiting happenings.

We are exactly one week away from the start of Ohio State’s spring practice schedule, with the Buckeyes getting a later start than usual this year after their national championship season lasted well into January. Getting to hear from Ryan Day and his new-look staff last week, we are deep in the heat of the college football news cycle even despite what the calendar says.

With the players returning to the practice field and the NCAA dead period giving way to a quiet period — where recruits are allowed to have in-person contact with coaches on-campus — the recruiting world is about to get a lot busier. For Ohio State, that means a bunch of the nation’s top prospects flocking to Columbus to watch the defending champs prep for the 2025 season.

One of those guests will be five-star linebacker/safety Cooper Witten, the son of 11-time NFL Pro Bowler, Jason Witten. The Texas native plays multiple positions at Liberty Christian, and is listed as the No. 1 safety and No. 24 player overall in the 2027 class, per the 247Sports Composite, while On3 has him as the No. 1 linebacker and No. 21 player nationally.

Witten has a busy spring ahead of him with visits all across the country, but he is slated to see Ohio State on March 21, right after rival Michigan and before national title runner-up Notre Dame. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound defender is yet to receive an offer from the Buckeyes, but it would not be surprising to see him leave Columbus with one in hand from James Laurinaitis, as Witten likely projects as a linebacker at the next level.

The Buckeyes are also slated to receive a trio of visits from four-star 2026 safety, Simeon Caldwell. The Florida native ranks as the No. 7 safety and the No. 95 overall prospect per the 247Sports Composite, as is notably the nephew of Ohio State co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach, Tim Walton.

The Buckeyes offered Caldwell in January 2024, and there is clearly mutual interest between himself and the program. The 6-foot-2 defensive back will be at Ohio State twice during spring practice, on March 29 and April 12, and then again for an official visit at the end of June. Caldwell has already been to Columbus several times, including for a game day visit this past fall, and is also teammates with 2026 OSU tight end commit, Corbyn Fordham.

Elsewhere, Ohio State made the short list for one of the country’s top running backs. Ezavier Crowell, the No. 2 RB and No. 28 player overall in the 2026 class per the 247Sports Composite, hails from Jackson, Alabama as the No. 2 player in the state. Cutting his list down from nearly three dozen offers to a final six, the Buckeyes made the cut alongside Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia and Texas.

Crowell is coming off a huge junior season, rushing for just under 2,000 yards with 31 touchdowns on 11.7 yards per carry, adding another 250 yards and two scores through the air. The Buckeyes had success in Alabama in the 2025 class with commitments from Zion Grady and Turbo Rogers, and will look to parlay that success with Crowell. The 5-foot-11, 205-pound tailback has official visits scheduled with all five of his other finalists, but not yet with Ohio State.

Quick Hits

• Not all good news this past weekend, four-star offensive lineman and Ohio native Adam Guthrie committed to Clemson. Guthrie, the No. 20 OT and No. 10 player in Ohio in the 2026 class, still has an official visit scheduled with the Buckeyes for June 6. While they are now well behind the eight-ball, maybe new position coach Tyler Bowen can find a way to get Ohio State back in the conversation in the coming months.