Eric Boggs
Ohio State’s 2026 recruiting class is off to a strong start, ranked No. 3 in the 247Sports composite, but there’s a glaring omission: no quarterback. The Buckeyes have already secured wide receivers, offensive linemen, and other key pieces on offense, yet they still lack the most vital one—someone to distribute the football.
Why the holdup? It’s a tough climate to recruit elite quarterbacks back-to-back in today’s college football world. With the transfer portal wide open and only one starting job available per team, many top QBs are understandably hesitant to enter crowded rooms. Ohio State already has five-star Tavien St. Clair on campus from the 2025 class and the top-rated Brady Edmonds coming in 2027. That makes the 2026 spot a tough sell.
Names like Ryder Lyons and Bowe Bentley were high on the wish list, but Lyons appears committed to staying on the West Coast, and Bentley has eliminated Ohio State from his final three. Brady Smigiel, once committed to Florida State, is being heavily courted by Michigan, with no real traction between him and the Buckeyes despite fan hope. Brady Palmer, a lower-rated California product, remains a possibility, though momentum slowed after Chip Kelly left the program.
Closer to home, two Ohio-based QBs are flying under the radar: Ashland’s Nathan Bernhard and Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller’s Matt Ponatoski. Both are talented, and both are starting to receive interest from other Big Ten rivals—especially Michigan. The Wolverines appear to be testing Ohio State’s resolve by actively recruiting Bernhard after offering him in early April. If OSU continues to hesitate, they may lose out on both.
While some high-profile targets have already committed elsewhere—Tennessee, Texas, Notre Dame, USC, and Florida among them—only a handful remain realistically available. With the quarterback room set at the top and bottom for the next few years, Ohio State’s challenge is to find someone capable of bridging the gap, developing in the system, and sticking around. If they don’t move soon, that role could be filled by a rival.
