The latest on Ohio State recruiting with spring practice now ongoing

Catching up with some of the many happenings surrounding Ohio State recruiting during spring practices

www.landgrantholyland.com

Four-star safety enjoying his time at Ohio State​

DZ83CK said:

It's actually hilarious that Auburn spent $8 million on players that lost 16 games.

Click to expand...

Observations and Video from Ohio State’s Second Spring Practice of 2026

Legend Bey flexed his versatility with work at slot receiver, running back and punt returner while Ohio State's quarterbacks impressed in the team's second spring practice.

www.elevenwarriors.com

Observations and Video from Ohio State’s Second Spring Practice of 2026​

Legend Bey utilized all over the place​

Additional notes​

ScriptOhio said:

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos

The price of talent is spiking to record amounts -- again -- now with hundreds of millions at stake in college hoops' unregulated economy

www.cbssports.com

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos​

The price of talent is spiking to record amounts -- again -- now with hundreds of millions at stake in college hoops' unregulated economy​

Three years ago, Nijel Pack left Kansas State and signed a two-year NIL deal that paid him $400,000 per season to play at Miami. It made him, at that point, the highest-paid player in college basketball and predictably precipitated geyser-like response. Shock, awe, cynicism, celebration, criticism, admiration, you name it.

Pack's publicly disclosed contract by a high-profile Miami booster made national news and signaled a dam-breaking event amid an uncertain, fledgling era of college athletics that guaranteed one thing and one thing only: NIL agreements would get exponentially more excessive in the years to come. All the way back in 2022, it was hard for some people to wrap their minds around the idea of a college basketball player with minimal name recognition earning a $400K/year contract.

Three years later, the size of Pack's payday barely registers as a headline-worthy transaction in college athletics.

Here's what $400,000 will get you for one season in 2025: a mid-major guy who averaged fewer than 10 points on a non-NCAA Tournament team. This isn't hypothetical; that very thing has already happened multiple times in recent weeks.

Nowadays, the sport is producing millionaire players on the regular.

Piloting through the portal to roster-build has never been more cumbersome — yet simple. The more money you have relative to the schools you are competing against, the easier it is to recruit the players you covet most.

More than 2,000 men's Division I basketball athletes entered the portal in the past three-plus weeks (it closes April 22). Almost all have done so to achieve a better situation and, most importantly, find more money. That is what is driving the overwhelming number of these transfers. Money, money, money ... and more money.

Five years ago, more than 4,400 Division I men's basketball players were legally and collectively paid a grand total of $0 in NIL earnings. That number is now promised to be in the hundreds of millions.

"It's insane," one high-major assistant told me late last week on the imbalance between how good a player is (or isn't) and how much money they're seeking.

This has been the feeling ever since so-called NIL compensation was made allowable almost four years ago, but it's exacerbated to cartoonish levels with each passing year. The coach quoted above had been recruiting a mid-major player who wasn't even top-three on his team in scoring. Nevertheless, this coach liked what he saw and thought the player could transfer up and maybe fight his way into the starting lineup. His school offered the player north of $500,000 — more than the coaching staff wanted, but bidding wars lead to some strange recruiting tributaries.

They didn't get the player.

A competing school swiftly came over the top and signed him for $1 million. (Another coach I checked in with to verify the story claimed the number is in fact $1.2 million.) The player was so bowled over by the offer, he signed a contract even before eventually calling and telling the other school what he'd done.

"I could hear it in his voice, just how shocked he was by the amount of money they were promising him," the coach who lost out said.

A role player on a mid-major that failed to make the NCAA Tournament will be paid at least $1 million next season. That's where we're at in college hoops. It's just one amazing story out of hundreds being swapped across the sport these days.

As one general manager at the Power Five level told me this week: "You can't even verify some of these numbers. What's real? What are we bidding against?"

"All of these numbers are insane," an SEC assistant texted Wednesday. "Going to have 4-5 guys [on our roster] making way more than me! "

While the reasons for college basketball's explosion in player pricing are many, one big culprit is the domino effect from the richest programs. Approximately a dozen schools are inflating the market because they have the capital to do so and the thirst to chase almost any player, regardless of how big the price tag. This dynamic has fattened in a matter of months.

A year ago, a handful of schools were able to easily clear $5 million. But now? That budget number has doubled — minimally — as has the quantity of programs with eight-figure accounts. A recent tweet from 247Sports' Travis Branham shed light on how much money is being injected into the fortunate upper echelon of college basketball.

Login to view embedded media
Eight will prove to be too thin a crowd for college basketball's $10 million club. Based on a variety of sources, schools believed to be operating in the realm of this golden tier are:

• Arkansas
• BYU
• Duke
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Louisville
• Michigan
• North Carolina
• St. John's
• Texas Tech

These programs either have $10 million committed already or are easily capable of reaching that total in roster-building efforts by the end of this year's transfer cycle. They are 2025's whales of the portal, loading up on most of the priciest players and drastically inflating the market in the process.

There's another group of schools a rung below this. Don't cry for these guys, as they're still hitting at least a hearty $8 million if required. This includes (but is not exclusive to) Auburn, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, USC, Villanova, Virginia and still a few more trying to get there in the coming week(s). In talking to sources at these schools, even if most aren't at $10 million, there are still a couple in this lot that told me they could get there if absolutely necessary. (So: just by asking the right one, two or three really rich boosters for even more money.)
.
.
.
continued

Just sayin': I don't see Ohio State in the schools mentioned in above article; which might be a clue to the reason that (so far) Ohio State isn't getting any "top tier" player out of the portial. Do the math: (obviously few players will get much more and several will get less, however) $10M/15 players = an average of $666,666 per player.

Click to expand...

ScriptOhio said:

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos

The price of talent is spiking to record amounts -- again -- now with hundreds of millions at stake in college hoops' unregulated economy

www.cbssports.com

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos​

The price of talent is spiking to record amounts -- again -- now with hundreds of millions at stake in college hoops' unregulated economy​

Three years ago, Nijel Pack left Kansas State and signed a two-year NIL deal that paid him $400,000 per season to play at Miami. It made him, at that point, the highest-paid player in college basketball and predictably precipitated geyser-like response. Shock, awe, cynicism, celebration, criticism, admiration, you name it.

Pack's publicly disclosed contract by a high-profile Miami booster made national news and signaled a dam-breaking event amid an uncertain, fledgling era of college athletics that guaranteed one thing and one thing only: NIL agreements would get exponentially more excessive in the years to come. All the way back in 2022, it was hard for some people to wrap their minds around the idea of a college basketball player with minimal name recognition earning a $400K/year contract.

Three years later, the size of Pack's payday barely registers as a headline-worthy transaction in college athletics.

Here's what $400,000 will get you for one season in 2025: a mid-major guy who averaged fewer than 10 points on a non-NCAA Tournament team. This isn't hypothetical; that very thing has already happened multiple times in recent weeks.

Nowadays, the sport is producing millionaire players on the regular.

Piloting through the portal to roster-build has never been more cumbersome — yet simple. The more money you have relative to the schools you are competing against, the easier it is to recruit the players you covet most.

More than 2,000 men's Division I basketball athletes entered the portal in the past three-plus weeks (it closes April 22). Almost all have done so to achieve a better situation and, most importantly, find more money. That is what is driving the overwhelming number of these transfers. Money, money, money ... and more money.

Five years ago, more than 4,400 Division I men's basketball players were legally and collectively paid a grand total of $0 in NIL earnings. That number is now promised to be in the hundreds of millions.

"It's insane," one high-major assistant told me late last week on the imbalance between how good a player is (or isn't) and how much money they're seeking.

This has been the feeling ever since so-called NIL compensation was made allowable almost four years ago, but it's exacerbated to cartoonish levels with each passing year. The coach quoted above had been recruiting a mid-major player who wasn't even top-three on his team in scoring. Nevertheless, this coach liked what he saw and thought the player could transfer up and maybe fight his way into the starting lineup. His school offered the player north of $500,000 — more than the coaching staff wanted, but bidding wars lead to some strange recruiting tributaries.

They didn't get the player.

A competing school swiftly came over the top and signed him for $1 million. (Another coach I checked in with to verify the story claimed the number is in fact $1.2 million.) The player was so bowled over by the offer, he signed a contract even before eventually calling and telling the other school what he'd done.

"I could hear it in his voice, just how shocked he was by the amount of money they were promising him," the coach who lost out said.

A role player on a mid-major that failed to make the NCAA Tournament will be paid at least $1 million next season. That's where we're at in college hoops. It's just one amazing story out of hundreds being swapped across the sport these days.

As one general manager at the Power Five level told me this week: "You can't even verify some of these numbers. What's real? What are we bidding against?"

"All of these numbers are insane," an SEC assistant texted Wednesday. "Going to have 4-5 guys [on our roster] making way more than me! "

While the reasons for college basketball's explosion in player pricing are many, one big culprit is the domino effect from the richest programs. Approximately a dozen schools are inflating the market because they have the capital to do so and the thirst to chase almost any player, regardless of how big the price tag. This dynamic has fattened in a matter of months.

A year ago, a handful of schools were able to easily clear $5 million. But now? That budget number has doubled — minimally — as has the quantity of programs with eight-figure accounts. A recent tweet from 247Sports' Travis Branham shed light on how much money is being injected into the fortunate upper echelon of college basketball.

Login to view embedded media
Eight will prove to be too thin a crowd for college basketball's $10 million club. Based on a variety of sources, schools believed to be operating in the realm of this golden tier are:

• Arkansas
• BYU
• Duke
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Louisville
• Michigan
• North Carolina
• St. John's
• Texas Tech

These programs either have $10 million committed already or are easily capable of reaching that total in roster-building efforts by the end of this year's transfer cycle. They are 2025's whales of the portal, loading up on most of the priciest players and drastically inflating the market in the process.

There's another group of schools a rung below this. Don't cry for these guys, as they're still hitting at least a hearty $8 million if required. This includes (but is not exclusive to) Auburn, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, USC, Villanova, Virginia and still a few more trying to get there in the coming week(s). In talking to sources at these schools, even if most aren't at $10 million, there are still a couple in this lot that told me they could get there if absolutely necessary. (So: just by asking the right one, two or three really rich boosters for even more money.)
.
.
.
continued

Just sayin': I don't see Ohio State in the schools mentioned in above article; which might be a clue to the reason that (so far) Ohio State isn't getting any "top tier" player out of the portial. Do the math: (obviously few players will get much more and several will get less, however) $10M/15 players = an average of $666,666 per player.

Click to expand...

ScriptOhio said:

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos

The price of talent is spiking to record amounts -- again -- now with hundreds of millions at stake in college hoops' unregulated economy

www.cbssports.com

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos​

The price of talent is spiking to record amounts -- again -- now with hundreds of millions at stake in college hoops' unregulated economy​

Three years ago, Nijel Pack left Kansas State and signed a two-year NIL deal that paid him $400,000 per season to play at Miami. It made him, at that point, the highest-paid player in college basketball and predictably precipitated geyser-like response. Shock, awe, cynicism, celebration, criticism, admiration, you name it.

Pack's publicly disclosed contract by a high-profile Miami booster made national news and signaled a dam-breaking event amid an uncertain, fledgling era of college athletics that guaranteed one thing and one thing only: NIL agreements would get exponentially more excessive in the years to come. All the way back in 2022, it was hard for some people to wrap their minds around the idea of a college basketball player with minimal name recognition earning a $400K/year contract.

Three years later, the size of Pack's payday barely registers as a headline-worthy transaction in college athletics.

Here's what $400,000 will get you for one season in 2025: a mid-major guy who averaged fewer than 10 points on a non-NCAA Tournament team. This isn't hypothetical; that very thing has already happened multiple times in recent weeks.

Nowadays, the sport is producing millionaire players on the regular.

Piloting through the portal to roster-build has never been more cumbersome — yet simple. The more money you have relative to the schools you are competing against, the easier it is to recruit the players you covet most.

More than 2,000 men's Division I basketball athletes entered the portal in the past three-plus weeks (it closes April 22). Almost all have done so to achieve a better situation and, most importantly, find more money. That is what is driving the overwhelming number of these transfers. Money, money, money ... and more money.

Five years ago, more than 4,400 Division I men's basketball players were legally and collectively paid a grand total of $0 in NIL earnings. That number is now promised to be in the hundreds of millions.

"It's insane," one high-major assistant told me late last week on the imbalance between how good a player is (or isn't) and how much money they're seeking.

This has been the feeling ever since so-called NIL compensation was made allowable almost four years ago, but it's exacerbated to cartoonish levels with each passing year. The coach quoted above had been recruiting a mid-major player who wasn't even top-three on his team in scoring. Nevertheless, this coach liked what he saw and thought the player could transfer up and maybe fight his way into the starting lineup. His school offered the player north of $500,000 — more than the coaching staff wanted, but bidding wars lead to some strange recruiting tributaries.

They didn't get the player.

A competing school swiftly came over the top and signed him for $1 million. (Another coach I checked in with to verify the story claimed the number is in fact $1.2 million.) The player was so bowled over by the offer, he signed a contract even before eventually calling and telling the other school what he'd done.

"I could hear it in his voice, just how shocked he was by the amount of money they were promising him," the coach who lost out said.

A role player on a mid-major that failed to make the NCAA Tournament will be paid at least $1 million next season. That's where we're at in college hoops. It's just one amazing story out of hundreds being swapped across the sport these days.

As one general manager at the Power Five level told me this week: "You can't even verify some of these numbers. What's real? What are we bidding against?"

"All of these numbers are insane," an SEC assistant texted Wednesday. "Going to have 4-5 guys [on our roster] making way more than me! "

While the reasons for college basketball's explosion in player pricing are many, one big culprit is the domino effect from the richest programs. Approximately a dozen schools are inflating the market because they have the capital to do so and the thirst to chase almost any player, regardless of how big the price tag. This dynamic has fattened in a matter of months.

A year ago, a handful of schools were able to easily clear $5 million. But now? That budget number has doubled — minimally — as has the quantity of programs with eight-figure accounts. A recent tweet from 247Sports' Travis Branham shed light on how much money is being injected into the fortunate upper echelon of college basketball.

Login to view embedded media
Eight will prove to be too thin a crowd for college basketball's $10 million club. Based on a variety of sources, schools believed to be operating in the realm of this golden tier are:

• Arkansas
• BYU
• Duke
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Louisville
• Michigan
• North Carolina
• St. John's
• Texas Tech

These programs either have $10 million committed already or are easily capable of reaching that total in roster-building efforts by the end of this year's transfer cycle. They are 2025's whales of the portal, loading up on most of the priciest players and drastically inflating the market in the process.

There's another group of schools a rung below this. Don't cry for these guys, as they're still hitting at least a hearty $8 million if required. This includes (but is not exclusive to) Auburn, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, USC, Villanova, Virginia and still a few more trying to get there in the coming week(s). In talking to sources at these schools, even if most aren't at $10 million, there are still a couple in this lot that told me they could get there if absolutely necessary. (So: just by asking the right one, two or three really rich boosters for even more money.)
.
.
.
continued

Just sayin': I don't see Ohio State in the schools mentioned in above article; which might be a clue to the reason that (so far) Ohio State isn't getting any "top tier" player out of the portial. Do the math: (obviously few players will get much more and several will get less, however) $10M/15 players = an average of $666,666 per player.

Click to expand...

Herb Kirkstreit said:

It looked like Georgia and Ole Miss were playing street ball. No other way to say it.

Click to expand...

ScriptOhio said:

Presser Bullets: Julian Sayin Working to Improve As Runner, Kenyatta Jackson Jr. Loves What He's Seeing from Zion Grady and Qua Russaw

Kenyatta Jackson Jr. believes Zion Grady has “all the assets” of a great defensive end and Julian Sayin is working on his power and explosion as a runner.

www.elevenwarriors.com

Presser Bullets: Julian Sayin Working to Improve As Runner, Kenyatta Jackson Jr. Loves What He's Seeing from Zion Grady and Qua Russaw​

Julian Sayin​

• On how he's preparing to be more of a weapon with his legs: "I've done a lot of stuff with Coach Mick this offseason of getting stronger, getting more powerful."
• Sayin said he's enjoyed welcoming all the new players for Ohio State. "It's been a fun offseason getting to know these guys ... I think we compete well together ... I think it'll be a good group."
• On Arthur Smith as Ohio State's offensive coordinator: "Obviously a great offensive coordinator in the NFL and someone I can learn a lot from. ... It's been great. I love working with him."
• On being good against the blitz: "I think it's just having a good feel for the pocket."
• On new wide receivers Devin McCuin, Kyle Parker and Chris Henry Jr.: "Devin and Kyle, it's been great to have those guys as transfers. ... Both those guys have a lot of speed, so I'm excited about them. ... Chris has been great so far. For a freshman, he's been making a lot of great plays."
• Sayin said there's been a bigger emphasis on him making checks at the line of scrimmage and having more say in the offense this season. "I think we've done a lot giving the quarterback more responsibility at the line of scrimmage the last few days." Sayin said it's also been about him taking on more of a leadership role and coaching up some of the younger guys.
• On the perspective Smith has brought: "As a quarterback, you're gonna have to learn new offenses and learn new verbiage and stuff like that, so it's been great to see that new perspective."
• Sayin said there's "not too much different" that Smith is bringing to Ohio State's offense.
• On his biggest areas of focus this offseason: "There's so many things I can improve on and just keep elevating my game. ... It's been a very fun offseason, because there's so many things that we did good last year but can be so much better. ... It's been encouraging to chase those."
• Sayin and Jeremiah Smith enter their third year together as leaders of the program. "We've been working to get even better on the field and know what each other is thinking."
• On the offensive line: "Have a great relationship with those guys. ... Having that with the room has been awesome."
• On his conversations with Matt Patricia: "Have a good relationship with him. ... He's been someone who's been impactful on me because of the knowledge of the game and experience that he has."
• Sayin said his new beard probably won't be permanent, though Austin Siereveld and Luke Montgomery want him to keep growing it.
• Sayin said he's added five or 10 pounds this offseason.

Kenyatta Jackson Jr.​

• On his decision to come back: "I came back to be a more complete football player. ... I've taken that leadership role with more guys in the room. I've just taken them in and shown them the ropes of Ohio State football."
• "Everybody" has made an impression among the new players in the defensive line room, but especially the new defensive tackles James Smith and John Walker.
• Jackson said he switched to No. 2 because it was his high school number. He had wanted to wear No. 2 since he was in high school, “but then Caleb Downs came,” Jackson said with a laugh.
• Becoming stronger, more explosive and developing his pass rush are offseason focuses for Jackson.
• After dealing with some injuries, Jackson said self-doubt limited him early in the season, but he played better as he got more comfortable. "Late in the season, I just trusted myself."
• On freshman defensive end Khary Wilder: "Real quiet, but he keeps his head down and he works real hard."
• On his leadership role: "I'm pretty comfortable. It's still hard, I mean we've got 51 new players. ... I've been here for a very long time and I know what the standard is."
• Jackson said that there's an edge for Ohio State's returning players after how last season ended, but there's also a lot of new guys to get into the flow of things. "The people that have been here, we have an edge, but trying to get those 51 new guys to tap into what we're trying to do."
• On sophomore defensive end Zion Grady: "He's been taking his weight room and conditioning, training pretty seriously. He's got all the assets, all the tools."
• Jackson didn't indicate a strong preference for any certain role. "Whatever Coach Patricia puts me in, whatever he wants me to do, I'll do."
• On the impression he wants Ohio State's defensive line to leave on people: "The hardest, toughest unit in the country. That's what I want people to say about this defensive line."
• Jackson said new Alabama transfer defensive end Qua Russaw looks strong and quick in practice, and added that it's awkward having the two veteran leaders of the room be naturally quieter guys – but they make it work.

Click to expand...

buckeyemania11 said:

The SEC can't be that great if that UGA team won 10 games. Ole Miss beating Texas and them will be shrugged off by ESPN as how "deep" the SEC is but Ole Miss is terrible. One of the laziest teams I've watched this year too. Texas and UGA are just mediocre. Same with Texas A&M Kentucky and Missouri. Having a bunch of mediocre average teams doesn't make a conference deep

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