Official visit season is over, and as of July 7 nine of Ohio State’s 18 pledges in the class of 2027 play defense. Read the group from the line backward and it splits cleanly in two: a defensive front that Eleven Warriors ranks among the best the program has ever assembled, and a secondary that is still missing the player it needs most.
The line is the story
Larry Johnson’s haul is the headline. As of July 10, Ohio State held three defensive linemen inside the top 100 of the 247Sports composite: DJ Jacobs, the 6-5, 235-pound end from Blessed Trinity Catholic who was the No. 4 overall prospect in the country and the No. 1 edge rusher in the class; Marcus Fakatou, the 6-6, 275-pounder out of Sierra Canyon in California, No. 26 overall and the No. 2 defensive lineman; and Wyatt Smith, a 6-6, 235-pound end from St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale who sat at No. 82 and No. 11 among edge rushers.
Per Eleven Warriors, that makes Ohio State one of only two schools in the country with two five-star defensive linemen in this class, 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 the 2021 class that signed JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer and Mike Hall.
One job was left. As of July 7 the class had no true defensive tackle, and the staff had spent the summer on Karlos May, the No. 132 overall prospect. May announced on Saturday, July 18, choosing between Auburn, Georgia, Florida State and Ohio State, per Auburn Wire. Dan Hope’s read was that Johnson would deserve “an A+ for the cycle” if May picked the Buckeyes. That decision, not the July 22 running back announcement most of the fan base had circled, was the next domino on this board.
Update, July 18: May committed to Ohio State. The class moved to 19, and the defensive tackle hole this piece describes is closed.
Two linebackers, quietly
Behind the line, James Laurinaitis has taken two: Prince Goldsby, the 6-3, 205-pound four-star from Blue Springs South in Missouri, and Quinton Cypher, 6-2 and 220 pounds out of Millbrook in Raleigh.
Goldsby is the one worth watching, because the industry keeps moving him up. When he committed in late May, before he had even taken his official visit, Eleven Warriors listed him at No. 101 overall and the No. 7 linebacker in the composite. In the July 7 snapshot he is No. 96 and the No. 6 linebacker. He picked Ohio State over a list that included Alabama, Oregon, Penn State, Miami and his home-state Missouri, and announced it plainly: “100% committed. Go BUCKS!”
Hope’s assessment of the pair is honest rather than promotional. The room does not “jump off the page quite as much” as recent Ohio State linebacker classes, he writes, but it “still includes two linebackers with the talent to be future starters.” The Buckeyes may not take a third. They would have, had Kaylon Bailey not chosen Colorado; Eleven Warriors reports he would have been the No. 3 linebacker in this class.
The hole is at corner
This is where the class is genuinely short. Tim Walton has two cornerbacks committed. As of July 10 they were Deontay Malone of Massillon Washington at No. 285 nationally and Jaden Carey of St. Thomas Aquinas at No. 383. Both are four-stars. Neither is a top-100 player, and Eleven Warriors notes what that means if it holds: this would be Ohio State’s first recruiting class in five years without a cornerback ranked among the top 100 overall prospects.
It holds because of who left. The three highest-rated cornerbacks in the state of Ohio all committed elsewhere. Monsanna Torbert Jr. picked Michigan on July 1, Ace Alston went to Notre Dame, and Kei’Shjuan Telfair chose Penn State. Beyond the state line, John Meredith III committed to Texas and Gabriel Osborne Jr. to Oklahoma, and Ohio State is still working the Osborne recruitment. Walton needs at least one elite corner to finish this class, and the pool of them is thinning by the week.
Safety is steadier without being solved. Matt Guerrieri holds Eli Johnson, a 6-3, 200-pound four-star from Cibolo Steele in Texas who ranked No. 208 overall and No. 17 at the position when this ran, and Angelo Smith, a three-star from Chaminade-Madonna in Hollywood, Florida. Ohio State wants one more.
What to actually watch
The defensive front is finished work, and it is very good. Everything left in this class is in the back seven, and the calendar is unkind: the corner board has fewer names on it every month, and the one player who can push the line from great to historic answers on July 18.
Track every name above on the 2027 commit board, which carries the full class, the prospects still on the board, and the ones who got away.
