“Every week we play teams with players from from the state of Texas.”
Steve Sarkisian’s Thursday comment about the inevitability of facing off against players from the Lone Star State competing for other programs is certainly a truism. After all, the state of Texas averages well over 300 players per year signing with FBS programs around the country, consistently the highest number of any state in the country.
Even an FCS powerhouse like the Montana Grizzlies have double-digit Texas players on their
roster, some from high school recruiting and a handful more out of the portal.
But when the No. 4 Texas Longhorns face off against the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday in Austin in one of the most highly-anticipated non-conference matchups of the 2026 season, those players will look almost entirely different — they were elite recruits, not the type of lower-tier or mid-tier prospects who make up the rosters of the Texas State Bobcats and UTSA Roadrunners, the other two non-conference opponents for the Longhorns this year.
“Ohio State’s recruiting the really good ones, and so Ryan [Day]’s done a really good job of getting players from the state, and they’ve gone on to produce and play at a high level,” Sarkisian said.
The relevant recent history extends back to the Urban Meyer era, when the former Ohio State head coach took advantage of the struggles in Austin to win the high-profile recruiting battles for Texas prospects like running back JK Dobbins, linebacker Baron Browning, and cornerback Jeffrey Okudah in the 2017 recruiting class.
Since Day took over as the full-time head coach after the 2018 season, the two programs have continued to engage in high-profile recruiting battles as Texas suffered a big loss like missing on Lake Travis wide receiver Garrett Wilson — who at least grew up in the Columbus area — and losses that seemed bigger at the time, like the Buckeyes flipping Missouri wide receiver product Mookie Cooper or landing wide receiver Caleb Burton out of Austin.
One massive missed evaluation still lingers over the shared recruiting history of the two programs, too — former head coach Tom Herman and his staff never even offered wide receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba out of Rockwall, even though he finished the cycle as a consensus five-star prospect. Once intent on playing at either Oklahoma or Texas, neither school showed enough interest as Ohio State recruited him hard.
Even a high-profile flip from the Buckeyes to the Longhorns failed to pay off much for Texas. Consensus top-100 prospect Terrance Brooks, a cornerback from Little Elm, switched his pledge from Ohio State to Texas on Early Signing Day in 2021. Although Brooks did start 16 games over two seasons in Austin, recording three interceptions in 2023, he transferred to Illinois in 2024 with his starting job in jeopardy, got buried on the depth chart in Champaign, and left the team before the bowl game without returning to the Illini.
Even as Sarkisian resurrected the Texas program after its decade in the college football wilderness, Ohio State has continued to win its share of recruiting battles, especially in the state.
The most high-impact recent win for the Buckeyes came in a recruitment the Longhorns had trouble countering when Galena Park North Shore product Devin Sanchez, the No. 1 cornerback in the 2025 class, decided early on that he wanted to leave the state, negating the impact of a late push from the Horns before the early signing period.
After earning one start last year, Sanchez is on track to become a star for Ohio State as he moves into a full-time starting role.
The linebacker position in Columbus features three head-to-head recruiting wins in 2024 signee Payton Pierce, 2025 signee Riley Pettijohn, and 2026 portal addition Christian Alliegro.
A Lucas Lovejoy product, Pierce was similar to Sanchez in showing little interest in the Longhorns despite receiving an offer from Texas early in the process. Florida State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Tennessee were all able to secure visits from Pierce, who gave a spring commitment to Ohio State shortly after an unofficial visit and took his single official visit to Columbus before signing with the Buckeyes as the nation’s No. 15 linebacker.
Pierce’s contributions steadily increased from his freshman to his sophomore season when he recorded 43 tackles, an interception, a force fumble, and a fumble recovery while starting three games. This year, he’ll start at middle linebacker on Saturday in his return to the Lone Star State.
An elite athlete at the position who ran a 10.77 100-meter dash at McKinney, Pettijohn was a bigger miss for Texas — he was ranked more highly than Pierce as the No. 2 linebacker in the 2025 class and showed more interest in the Longhorns, taking one of his four summer official visits to Austin before committing to the Buckeyes in early July.
After playing sparingly as a true freshman, Pettijohn will factor into the linebacker rotation this season, providing a glimpse of the impact that he can make by leading Ohio State with six tackles in the season opener. The 6’2, 235-pounder could play a diverse role against the Longhorns as a potential spy on Texas quarterback Arch Manning or as a situational edge rusher.
Ohio State also won a head-to-head battle during the portal window last January when Wisconsin transfer Christian Alliegro, the No. 3 transfer linebacker, committed to the Buckeyes over the Longhorns. The starter over Pettijohn at the weak-side position, Alliegro brings veteran leadership and playmaking ability with a tackle for loss in the season opener.
Columbus-area native Rasheem Biles has already softened the blow of missing on Alliegro after forcing two turnovers against Texas State and providing one of the better offseason sound bites from a Texas player during preseason camp when he revealed why he didn’t consider Ohio State after leaving Pitt.
“When I made my list and stuff I told my mom, I ain’t really trying to be in Columbus,” Biles said. “I ain’t trying to be a Buckeye. They ain’t want me out of high school, and I was right there, so ain’t no point in trying to get me now, you feel me?”
The Longhorns have also won a few important high school recruiting battles over the last several cycles, including signing four prospects in the 2024 class who took official visits to Ohio State — offensive lineman Daniel Cruz, offensive lineman Brandon Baker, safety Jordon Johnson-Rubell, and cornerback Kobe Black. Baker and Black will both start for the Horns on Saturday with Baker ranking as one of the team’s most important offensive line signees since the program-changing 2022 class.
In the 2025 class, the Buckeyes had Lucas Lovejoy wide receiver Daylan McCutcheon high enough on Brian Hartline’s board to host him for an official visit before his recruitment took some turns, including a commitment to the Seminoles before the Longhorns circled back and landed a flip from the nation’s No. 13 wide receiver.
Several 2026 recruitments played out between the two schools, too.
Most notably for Texas, the Horns were able to land a summer commitment from Florida running back Derrek Cooper without the benefit of an official visit — Cooper had already taken trips to Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, and Ohio State when he committed to Texas.
When standout Buford edge Dre Quinn decomitted from Clemson last September, Texas seemed like the possible favorite after making a major push for the consensus four-star prospect during the summer, but it was Ohio State that got Quinn on campus in November, landing his pledge and eventual signature.
With Cooper injured and Quinn yet to impact the depth chart, neither is going to make an impact on Saturday, but one potential X-factor for Ohio State is North Forney product Legend Bey, an all-purpose back who had one of the most wild recruitments in the 2026 cycle.
Texas extended an offer in early November when the 5’10, 195-pounder was committed to Tennessee. Three days later, Bey flipped from the Volunteers to the Buckeyes. Then things got crazy — Bey flipped back to UT on Early Signing Day and inked with the Vols. It didn’t hold, though, as the new agreements are only binding for the school and not the player, allowing Bey to sign with Ohio State less than three weeks later and enroll in Columbus in January.
In the season opener, Bey flashed his dynamic ability on a 23-yard touchdown catch that started heading towards one sideline and ended on the over side of the field.
The 2027 cycle currently features one big recruiting win for the Buckeyes over the Longhorns with the pledge of California product Marcus Fakatou, a consensus five-star prospect ranked as the No. 2 defensive lineman. Fakatou took official visits to Austin and Columbus in addition to Athens.
And although the game’s outcome is unlikely to swing any recruits in attendance, the Longhorns and Buckeyes will continue battling for top prospects in the state and around the nation, and it’s possible that a player recruited by both schools makes a game-changing play on Campbell-Williams Field.
