Ohio State opens Big Ten play against Illinois at noon on Saturday, and Eleven Warriors’ Dan Hope calls it the Buckeyes’ “first big recruiting weekend of the season at Ohio Stadium.” The Ball State and Kent State home games, he writes, “didn’t draw huge crowds of visitors to the Shoe.”
His list of notable visitors has 15 names. Thirteen are in the class of 2028, one is in the class of 2029, and the one 2027 player on it is already committed: quarterback Brady Edmunds. Hope’s standard for the list is stated plainly: each man “has been reported as a visitor for Saturday’s game by Rivals and/or 247Sports, or has announced their trip on social media,” and visitor lists “are always subject to change, especially for a noon game.”
For readers following the class of 2027 on the board, that is the headline. Ohio State has 19 pledges, no uncommitted 2027 name on this weekend’s list, and the recruiting energy of its first big home weekend pointed a year further out.
The 2027 men who will be there
Brady Edmunds is coming from Huntington Beach, Calif., for his first visit of the season. He posted: “Excited to be back in Columbus this weekend and at @jam1erbrown’s game Friday night!” That handle belongs to a fellow commit: Jamier Brown’s Wayne team plays at Northmont on Friday at 7 p.m., per MaxPreps. Huntington Beach has no game listed on MaxPreps between its September 18 win over Yorba Linda and an October 2 home game against El Modena, so his own team is idle this Friday.
Hope reads the trip against the quarterback room. Freshman Luke Fahey, he writes, beat out Tavien St. Clair for the backup job this season, which “could open the door for Edmunds to compete for playing time earlier than expected.” Edmunds spent the summer deciding between Ohio State and UCLA before staying with the Buckeyes.
Jimmy Kalis, the offensive tackle commit from Central Catholic in Pittsburgh, also announced he will visit, per Hope. Central Catholic plays at Seneca Valley on Friday night, per MaxPreps. Hope adds that “it’s always a good bet” in-state commits like Brown, Kellen Wymer and Mason Wilt turn up at the Shoe as well. That is a likelihood, not a report, and it is repeated here as one.
The 2028 list, by room
These are the uncommitted visitors Hope names, with the context he gives for each.
Edge: Asa Burch and Brydon Feister. Both are from Northeast Ohio. Hope calls Burch, of Warren, “arguably the most important visitor of the weekend” and lists him as the No. 4 prospect in Ohio in 2028. His father, Alfie, played at Michigan, the Wolverines are viewed as the frontrunner, and Burch told On3’s Ethan McDowell he plans to decide “sooner than later,” so Hope writes this weekend “could be the Buckeyes’ last chance.” Feister, a three-star junior at Massillon, is the younger brother of Brayton Feister, the 2027 linebacker who committed to Oregon in August. Hope writes that Ohio State “wasn’t a major factor” for the older brother and that Brydon “seems to be giving the Buckeyes a serious look.”
Offensive tackle: Joey Fleming, Lincoln Fa’alafi and Amaree Joshua. Three of the top 20 tackles in the class, per Hope. Fleming, from Huntsville, Ala., is the headliner. Hope notes Alabama “has become newly fertile recruiting territory” for Ohio State, a thread this site has followed in the Alabama pipeline.
Safety: Brandon Nash, Jalen Flowers and Troy Bishop. All three are from California. Hope writes the Buckeyes “appear to be a frontrunner” for Nash, of St. John Bosco. Flowers is the No. 7 safety in the 247Sports Composite and camped at Ohio State this summer. Bishop plays at Mater Dei.
Cornerback: Langston Pridgeon and Nate Dollard. Pridgeon plays at DeMatha Catholic in Maryland. Dollard is a teammate of five-star receiver Braylon Clark, who Hope calls Ohio State’s top target to pair with 2028 commit Jett Harrison.
Receiver: Zyon Robinson and Maddox Weil. Robinson, from Georgia, did not hold an Ohio State offer before the trip. He left with one: On3’s Alex Gleitman reported on September 27 that Robinson landed an offer from the Buckeyes after his visit, and On3’s Steve Wiltfong wrote that Ohio State “offered a couple more blue-chippers on Saturday who were in Columbus” for the win. Weil plays at Northrop in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Tight end: Theo Schott. From Zionsville, Ind. Hope writes Ohio State is pursuing two tight ends in 2028 and Schott is a top target to pair with commit Luke Sohyda. The reason is a year earlier: Ohio State has no 2027 tight end committed, the gap this site covered in the empty rooms story.
The one non-junior is Richard Allen IV, a 2029 defensive back who was offered after camping in Columbus this summer.
Who will not be there
The top 2028 linebacker, Tahj Gray of New Jersey, was supposed to visit this weekend and will not, because of the early kickoff. Hope cites 247Sports’ Brian Dohn, who reported Thursday that Gray now plans to attend the November 7 game against Oregon.
Jordan Hall, the uncommitted 2027 running back Ohio State offered on September 5, is not on Hope’s Illinois list. He attended both earlier home games, the second as an official visit, and his decision is still pending. His profile has the latest.
If any of the 2028 visitors commits, the 2028 board is where it will show up.
