Ohio State experienced its most active transfer period since the start of NIL, with 30 scholarship players exiting the program and 16 newcomers making their way to Columbus. Overall, the Buckeyes did a good
job of filling some holes on the roster with talent and experience, but depth took a hit across the board.
The vast majority of those on their way out were set to find themselves low on the depth chart heading into 2026, but there were a handful of guys who left that could have played major roles for Ohio State in the coming year.
Only one starting player from this past season entered the transfer portal, with that being right guard Tegra Tshabola. The senior offensive lineman played over 1,300 snaps for the Buckeyes, but missed the Cotton Bowl with an injury. Having struggled throughout his career with consistency, Tshabola was unlikely to keep his starting job moving forward.
Offensively, the only other exiting player that saw regular snaps was James Peoples. The sophomore running back, who has since transferred to Penn State, finished third on the team with 344 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Peoples was likely set to be third on the depth chart next season behind Bo Jackson and Isaiah West.
Outside of guys who were already seeing the field, Ohio State lost a pair of former five-star wide receivers in Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter. Graham played 160 snaps for the Buckeyes this past season, catching six passes for 93 yards. Porter, who was injured through the 2025 campaign, played only 57 snaps, catching four balls for 59 yards.
With Carnell Tate off to the NFL, both Graham and Porter were in line to play in a rotational role in 2026 — Porter, especially, seemed ready to take that next step. However, with five-star sensation Chris Henry Jr. also set to join the team, there was no guarantee either one was going to start.
Both wideouts ended up committing to Notre Dame, where they will immediately become the top two options in that room.
On the other side of the ball, Faheem Delane, Aaron Scott and Bryce West were all big losses in the secondary.
Scott, a star on special teams, seemed primed to earn a starting spot in 2026 if Ohio State decided to move Jermaine Mathews Jr. inside, with Devin Sanchez playing opposite outside. Delane played the second-most snaps of any returning safety, and could very well have earned the job taking over for either Caleb Downs or Lorenzo Styles Jr.
Up front, Jarquez Carter is a guy who certainly could have pushed for playing time. With Eddrick Houston and Will Smith Jr. as the team’s only experienced interior defensive lineman returning, Carter would have at the very least been part of the rotation. Instead, he decided to take his talents to Miami.
Ohio State also lost a pair of specialists. Jackson Courville transferred to Tulane after transferring in from Ball State prior to last season, never attempting a field goal for the Buckeyes. Nick McLarty, a sophomore punter, also never saw the field in Columbus, and has since transferred to Arizona State.
All those loses, plus of course a massive contingent of NFL Draft entrants — Downs, Tate, Styles Jr., Caden Curry, Davison Igbinosun, Max Klare, Kayden McDonald, Arvell Reese, and Sonny Styles, plus more — left the Ohio State roster in a precarious spot heading into the 2026 campaign.
Ryan Day and his staff needed to plug a lot of holes, and with a ton of underclassmen leaving for the transfer portal, there weren’t too many obvious candidates in-house. Luckily, Ohio State did a great job of adding a bunch of key players who are going to play major roles for the Buckeyes next season.
Six players were added on the offensive side of the ball, including two wide receivers, a pair of tight ends, a running back and a backup quarterback.
Hunter Welcing and Mason Williams have been brought in to fill the Max Klare and Will Kacmarek roles, respectively. Welcing, from Northwestern, caught 28 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats this past year. Williams is more of your in-line blocking tight end, grading out as the fifth-highest ranked player on Ohio’s offense, per PFF.
Devin McCuin and Kyle Parker are your two new wide receivers. McCuin racked up 726 yards and eight touchdowns at UTSA in 2025, and will likely rotate in at the slot at Ohio State. Parker put up 330 yards and four touchdowns as a sophomore at LSU, and the speedy receiver who already has a repertoire built with wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton could see the field a bunch in Columbus early on.
Justyn Martin and Ja’Kobi Jackson round out the offensive additions. Martin comes in from Maryland to help backup Julian Sayin, while Jackson heads over from Florida to join a three-man rotation with Bo Jackson and Isaiah West.
Ohio State had its work cut out for it on defense, losing so much to the NFL and a few potential contributors to the transfer portal on top of that. Still, the Buckeyes managed to reload a bit, adding three defensive linemen, two safeties, two corners and a linebacker.
Nobody is going to be able to replace the production of McDonald, but James Smith and John Walker are going to make an immediate impact in that interior defensive line room. Walker, a hulking man at 6-foot-4, 324 pounds, was a tremendous run-stopper at UCF, while Smith, a former five-star prospect at Alabama, is more your pass rushing type, posting 6.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks last season.
Qua Russaw is a raw but intriguing player for Ohio State, coming over from the Crimson Tide as a package deal with Smith. Officially listed as a linebacker, Russaw will likely line up as an edge rusher for the Buckeyes. The 6-foot-2, 243-pound defender played in only seven games because of an injury in 2025, but flashed his athleticism and a physical toolset that Larry Johnson can surely work with.
Ohio State loses both its starting linebackers to the NFL Draft, and while guys like Payton Pierce and Riley Pettijohn seem ready to step up, bringing in Christian Alliegro can only further strengthen that room. Like Russaw, Alliegro is also adept at rushing the passer, posting eight tackles and four tackles for loss this past season.
The Buckeyes did well to address a thin cornerback room, adding Cam Calhoun from Alabama and Dominick Kelly from Georgia. Calhoun was one of the top graded corners in 2024 when he was at Utah, but did not play much with the Tide. Kelly, meanwhile, was a top-40 corner in the 2025 recruiting class, and played in a rotational role as a freshman in Athens.
Both additions at safety are in line to start for Ohio State next season. Earl Little Jr., who spent last year at Florida State, will likely line up at the nickel, while Terry Moore, who missed all of last season at Duke with an ACL injury, will join Jaylen McClain on the back end. Little Jr. led the Seminoles with 76 tackles and four interceptions in 2025, and Moore was the second-highest graded safety in the country in 2024, per PFF.
Then, of course, is perhaps the most exciting addition of the entire transfer portal window: a kicker.
Ohio State finally has itself a real kicker under Ryan Day, tampering with persuading former Baylor kicker Connor Hawkins to take his talents to Columbus. Hawkins went 18-of-22 on his field goal attempts as a freshman, including a perfect 10-of-10 mark under 40 yards and 3-of-4 from 50-plus.
Hawkins drilled a game-winning 53-yard field goal against Kansas State this past season. Ohio State, on the flip side, has not had a kicker make a 50-yarder since Blake Haubeil in 2019.
It is far too early to fully grade out this transfer portal class, as we thought last season’s haul was pretty good as well before we saw it play out on the field. However, on paper it looks like Ohio State did an excellent job to replenish its roster, and as always there is reason to be optimistic about the Buckeyes heading into 2026.
