Every time Ohio State assembles a defensive line class, the same year gets invoked as the measuring stick: 2021. When Eleven Warriors called the 2027 front the program’s best since that group, it was not reaching for a round number. The 2021 class is the standard, and it is worth knowing exactly what the standard was before deciding how close the current one has come.
What 2021 actually looked like
The 2021 recruiting class was the highest-rated in Ohio State history. Its 247Sports composite average rating landed at 0.9476, the best mark the program had ever posted, per Eleven Warriors’ July 2021 accounting. It carried six five-star commits, and for the first time ever, five of the top ten prospects in 247Sports’ own rankings chose the same school: JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, Donovan Jackson, Emeka Egbuka and TreVeyon Henderson. Nationally the class finished second only to Alabama’s seven-five-star haul.
The defensive line was the spine of it. Per Sports Illustrated’s 2023 retrospective, the composite had the group ranked like this:
- JT Tuimoloau, defensive end, No. 4 overall and the No. 2 defensive lineman in the country.
- Jack Sawyer, defensive end, No. 5 overall and the No. 3 defensive lineman.
- Mike Hall Jr., defensive tackle, No. 53 overall and the No. 10 defensive lineman.
- Tyleik Williams, defensive tackle, No. 166 overall and the No. 25 defensive lineman.
Two ends inside the top five prospects in the entire country. Two tackles inside the top 25 at the position. That is the shape of a class that anchored the defense Ohio State rode through its 2024 national championship season, and it is the shape the 2027 group is being held up against.
Where the 2027 line stands
The current front does not match 2021 name for name, and the honest read is that no class does. What it shares is the structure that made 2021 rare: elite ends on the edge, ranked talent inside.
Larry Johnson holds three defensive linemen inside the top 100 of the composite. As of July 10, DJ Jacobs was the No. 4 overall prospect and the No. 1 edge rusher in the class, the same slot Tuimoloau occupied. Marcus Fakatou sat at No. 26 overall and the No. 2 defensive lineman when this ran. Wyatt Smith was the third, an end at No. 82. Per Eleven Warriors, that gives Ohio State one of only two classes in the country with two five-star defensive linemen, and one of only two with three defensive linemen ranked inside the top 100.
The Buckeyes have not done both in the same cycle since 2021. That is the specific bar the comparison rests on, and the 2027 class clears it.
The one piece 2021 had that 2027 is still chasing
There is a real gap, and it is the same position that made the 2021 class complete: defensive tackle. Tuimoloau and Sawyer were the headliners, but Hall and Williams gave that class two blue-chip interior linemen. The 2027 class does not yet have a true tackle committed.
That is why Karlos May’s July 18 announcement matters more than the calendar suggests. May is the No. 132 overall prospect, and Dan Hope’s read is that landing him would earn Johnson “an A+ for the cycle.” He is, in other words, the piece that would move this line from an elite edge class to a complete one, which is the exact thing the 2021 group was.
For the full picture of who is committed, who is still on the board, and who got away, the 2027 commit board carries the class as it stands. And for how visit season reshaped the rest of the defense, read the state of Ohio State’s 2027 defense after official visits.
