Real Pod Wednesdays - Projecting the Future Stars of Ohio State’s 2025 Recruiting Class

Projecting the Future Stars of Ohio State’s 2025 Recruiting Class

02/05/25 • 44 min

You may have forgotten, but today is National Signing Day.

From Ohio State’s perspective, the real signing day happened two months ago, as the Buckeyes signed 26 high school players during the early signing period. Ohio State isn’t expected to add any more scholarship players to its high school recruiting class for 2025, making the traditional February signing day a non-event for the Buckeyes.

That said, we didn’t spend much time talking about Ohio State’s 2025 recruiting class on Real Pod Wednesdays during the early signing period because the Buckeyes were preparing to play in the College Football Playoff at the time. So we felt the secondary signing day would be an appropriate time for us to take a more complete look at Ohio State’s new crop of freshmen.

Eleven Warriors recruiting reporter Garrick Hodge joins us on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays as we share our overall thoughts on the 2025 class and make our picks for who we think will be some of the class’ biggest stars and hidden gems.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

0:00 Intro
3:31 Overall Thoughts on Ohio State’s Fifth-Ranked 2025 Recruiting Class
7:43 Devin Sanchez, Tavien St. Clair Headline the 2025 Class
17:09 Projecting Some of the Other Future Stars from Ohio State’s 2025 Class
22:19 Freshmen with the Best Chance to Play Early
25:51 How Ohio State’s Transfer Class Supplements Its High School Recruiting Class
29:00 Nate Roberts, Bodpegn Miller, Trajen Odom Among Intriguing Developmental Prospects
34:18 Potential Commits and Priority Positions in the 2026 Recruiting Class

You may have forgotten, but today is National Signing Day.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

0:00 Intro
3:31 Overall Thoughts on Ohio State’s Fifth-Ranked 2025 Recruiting Class
7:43 Devin Sanchez, Tavien St. Clair Headline the 2025 Class
17:09 Projecting Some of the Other Future Stars from Ohio State’s 2025 Class
22:19 Freshmen with the Best Chance to Play Early
25:51 How Ohio State’s Transfer Class Supplements Its High School Recruiting Class
29:00 Nate Roberts, Bodpegn Miller, Trajen Odom Among Intriguing Developmental Prospects
34:18 Potential Commits and Priority Positions in the 2026 Recruiting Class

Previous Episode

A First Look at Ohio State’s 2025 Roster

After recapping Ohio State’s national championship run on last week’s show, we’re beginning to look ahead to the 2025 season on this week‘s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

Ohio State’s 2025 roster is set for the spring now that the winter window for players to enter the transfer portal has closed. With that in mind, we spend the entirety of this week’s RPW taking a first look at Ohio State’s 2025 roster and sharing our initial thoughts on how the Buckeyes stack up at every position.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

0:00 Ohio State Fends Off Efforts to Poach Its Players, Retains All of Its Projected Starters
5:22 Julian Sayin is the Projected Starting Quarterback, But He Still Has to Win A Competition
12:35 James Peoples, CJ Donaldson Lead Ohio State’s Running Back Room
16:56 Ohio State’s Wide Receivers Should Be the Best in the Country Again
21:04 Could Ohio State Have the Best Tight End Room in the Country, Too?
24:21 Offensive Line Looks Promising with Transfer Tackles, Interior Line Play in CFP
31:44 Rotational Defensive Linemen in 2024 Must Step Up As New Starters in 2025
37:18 Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese Backed Up by Plenty of Young Talent at Linebacker
40:38 Ohio State’s Cornerback Room Remains Loaded with Davison Igbinosun’s Return
44:34 Jaylen McClain, Malik Hartford Both Candidates to Start at Safety Alongside Caleb Downs
49:40 Ohio State Returns All Three Starting Specialists, But Nick McLarty Remains A Punter to Watch
54:01 There’s Still Too Many Unknowns for Us to Call Ohio State A 2025 Championship Favorite

Next Episode

Expectations for Ohio State’s 2025 Offense With Offensive Coaching Staff In Place

With Ohio State’s offensive coaching now set for 2025, the Buckeyes’ focus on that side of the ball turns toward trying to build another championship-caliber unit this season.

Offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, co-offensive coordinator Keenan Bailey, run game coordinator and offensive line coach Tyler Bowen, running backs coach Carlos Locklyn and quarterbacks coach Billy Fessler have plenty of talent to work with as their preparations for spring practice begin. The Buckeyes’ receiving corps should be the best in the country once again, hopes are high for five-star redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Sayin and Ohio State’s offensive line has the potential to be its best in a few years.

But there are also some significant questions surrounding Ohio State’s 2025 offense including its inexperience at quarterback, how effective its running game will be following the departures of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and whether the Buckeyes’ returning offensive linemen will reach their potential with another year of development.

With all of that in mind, we spend this week‘s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays assessing the state of Ohio State’s offense for the 2025 season and discussing our expectations for how we think the offense will fare in both the passing and running games come fall.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

0:00 Thoughts on Ohio State’s New Offensive Coaching Staff
15:16 Ohio State’s Receiving Corps Should Be The Best in the Country Again in 2025
23:32 Julian Sayin Has Five-Star Talent, But Inexperience Makes Quarterback A Question Mark
28:34 Offensive Line Has Upside to Be Better Than It’s Been The Last Two Years
40:19 Running Game Faces Questions at Both Running Back and Quarterback
51:59 Ohio State Should Build Offense Around Jeremiah Smith and Its Receiving Playmakers
53:46 Will Ohio State Have A Championship-Caliber Offense in 2025?