The 2018 recruiting class presents a new challenge for coaches across the country. This is the first year of the early signing period, which means that most schools have the vast majority of their classes already signed and locked in.
The problem for some is that they still don’t know for sure how many players will be leaving early for the NFL. While this isn’t an issue for schools that don’t put many players into the league, it presents a unique issue for Urban Meyer and Ohio State.
The Buckeyes have a handful of players who could plausibly skip their senior seasons to enter the NFL Draft early, and until the filing deadline passes on January 15, OSU won’t know for sure how many scholarships they still have left to offer.
Before the Cotton Bowl, Urban Meyer said the Buckeyes, “have maybe two spots left. That’s it.”
Since he made that estimate, there have already been some changes. Two players, CB Denzel Ward and DE Sam Hubbard, announced that they would leave early for the NFL. Neither was surprising, meaning those were probably already baked into Meyer’s calculations.
After Ohio State added DE recruit Tyreke Smith and lost OL Jack Wohlabaugh to transfer on Thursday, the Buckeyes stand at 87 scholarships for returning players and incoming freshmen for the 2018 season. That is two above the maximum number they can have at the start of next season, but being at 87 right now doesn’t mean the class is more than full.
It is very likely that the Buckeyes will lose at least one or two more players to the NFL, and there are several more who may be considering either transferring or taking a medical redshirt.
Any of those would open up additional spots. That means it’s possible that Ohio State’s 2018 class, which currently stands at 22 players, could end up at 24 or 25 before all is said and done.
A word of warning: please don’t speculate about the names of possible transfers or medical redshirts in the comments below. That’s not fair to the players, who may or may not even be considering a change.
(Editor’s note: The count in an earlier version of this article did not include senior LB Dante Booker, who was listed as a senior on the 2017 roster, and 2018 signee Josh Proctor.)
