Ohio State Buckeyes get surprising news many weren't expecting with an elite recruit that could help build around Julian Sayin
Ohio State fans are rather used to winning at this point, especially when it comes to the results on the field. Ryan Day and his incredible staff are doing all they can to continue winning off the field too, even when many don't expect it.Despite joining the recruiting battle late, the Ohio State Buckeyes got […]
Ohio State fans are rather used to winning at this point, especially when it comes to the results on the field. Ryan Day and his incredible staff are doing all they can to continue winning off the field too, even when many don't expect it.
Despite joining the recruiting battle late, the Ohio State Buckeyes got some surprising news from an elite offensive tackle this week that could help build around their new soon-to-be-star quarterback Julian Sayin.
Claude Mpouma, 4 Star OT Recruit
Claude Mpouma, a four star offensive tackle who has risen from complete recruiting obscurity to Top 200 overall player in the nation since last September, has narrowed his recruiting battle down to five schools.
The 6'7", 310 pound monster of a young man from Chicago, Illinois has garnered over 30 scholarship offers since the September of 2024 alone. Since then, nearly every major brand in the sport has been chasing after him. He set official visits with a handful of schools here recently, but the Ohio State Buckeyes were not one of them. However, Ryan Day and company still made the cut for his top five.
Mpouma is apparently down to Ohio State, Michigan, Auburn, Florida, and Nebraska. Mpouma had mentioned the idea of visiting Ohio State earlier this spring after the team offered him (late), but there's no official news on a visit this month just yet.
Ohio State was actually one of the very last schools to send Mpouma an offer, trailing nearly 30 of the top programs that pursued him. No other school that offered him after Ohio State is still in the running.
Why might Ohio State be able to pull this off without an official visit (yet) and being incredibly late to the party?
Beyond the fact that the Ohio State Buckeyes just ran through the most difficult gauntlet in college football postseason history to win their second national championship since 2014, player development is likely a huge factor.
Nine offensive linemen from Ohio State have been selected in the NFL Draft over the last five years alone, including Josh Simmons and Donovan Jackson in the first round this spring.
Not only that, but over the past 15 years no other program has developed even their three star recruits at a higher clip than expectation than Ohio State. This has been studied and confirmed by the likes of The Athletic, ESPN, and other major sources multiple times over the past few years. Even when a player doesn't have a perfect recruiting rating coming into Ohio State they often find a way to make it to the NFL.
Yes, a Top 200 recruiting rank (like he has) is still impressive, but Mpouma may not even be a top ten recruit in the 2026 class for Ohio State. He'll likely want to go somewhere that expects to prioritize an early-round NFL future for the players who emerged later and rank significantly lower than some of their consensus five stars and top talents.
Ohio State still has to beat out rival Michigan and a handful of other decent college football brands in Auburn, Florida, and Nebraska, but it looks like the Buckeyes could surprisingly pull this off. Let's hope Ryan Day makes this happen because the Buckeyes need to make sure their quarterback(s) remain protected if Ohio State wants to repeat their title run again soon.
We'll be back with more Ohio State Buckeyes coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
And if you want to see some highlights from Mpouma just check out the video below. It's no wonder he's flying up recruiting boards late.
