Ohio State football key transfer portal addition has clearly wasted no time in making his presence felt in Columbus​

One of Ohio State’s biggest transfer portal additions is already sticking out.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have a whopping 51 new players on their roster for the 2026 season. It’s an irregularly high number for Ohio State, but that’s the state of college football these days with the transfer portal, especially when you have another large NFL draft class exiting.

Ohio State was semi-aggressive in the transfer portal back in January with several key additions made. The presence of one of those key additions is already being felt in Columbus.

Ohio State’s top transfer portal addition is coming with a serious attitude​

Alabama transfer DT James Smith was a crucial addition for the Buckeyes and he figures to be their starting nose tackle to replace Kayden McDonald. Smith is clearly already leaving his mark on the program.

“Still trying to recover and get my heart rate back down from the intimidation factor of being in close proximity to an angry James Smith,” 97.1 The Fan’s Austin Ward said on Monday. “New guy, number three, interesting number choice for someone playing down there in the nose position.”

“It had already been told to me by multiple people, some on the coaching staff. Some [people] not on the coaching staff, you can figure out who those people are if you want, it’s not that difficult probably. But [they] said he is a very serious human being, said ‘I’ll smile when we start winning’, which sounded like a threat and think [it] might have been.”

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Smith is a former five-star recruit who spent the first three seasons and 37 games of his college career with the Crimson Tide. Smith has been a solid force at 6-foot-2 and 313 pounds to the point, but there’s still untapped potential there, and he hasn’t quite lived up to the ranking he has as a recruit.

In 2025, Smith made 28 tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss, and 2.5 sacks in 13 games played. His serious demeanor he goes about with and his physical presence are exactly what Ohio State will want to throw at teams with the middle of their defensive line.
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Ryan Day admitted what made him make an uncharacteristic roster change for Ohio State football this offseason​

Ohio State had to make a change through the transfer portal due to something Ryan Day realized.

The Ohio State Buckeyes lose several players who are high-end talents to the NFL draft each and every season. Ohio State could have upwards of five first-round picks produced alone in the first round of April’s draft.

Ohio State is set to push for double-digit draft picks produced once again. Just a year ago, the Buckeyes saw 14 players get drafted. Due to all of the recent turnover, including more than a couple of dozen players exiting in the transfer portal, Ryan Day knew a change had to be made.

Ryan Day knew Ohio State’s roster had to get older this offseason ​

Ohio State brought well over a dozen players in from the portal to fill various roles. Experience and production were a common theme with many of the players the Buckeyes went out and got.

“When you see guys who are going to be seniors walk out the door, the first thing you have got to do is you’ve got to get some more veteran guys in that room or else you’re just constantly young,” Day stated last week.

“I felt like we were a little young this year, quite honestly. And so when you go through it and you get some more senior guys in there, it’s just a different approach, and we felt like we needed that.”

Ohio State added experienced players like DT James Smith, LB Christian Alliegro, WR Devin McCuinn, S Terry Moore, S Earl Little Jr., and EDGE Qua Russaw to name a few. All of these players played and produced at their previous stops, and they were clear targets for the Buckeyes due to their experience.

There’s normally a good mix of youth and experience. If you’re good enough to play at Ohio State, you will. We’ll see just that this fall when WR Chris Henry Jr. and WR/RB Legend Bey potentially get on the field for the Buckeyes.

Indiana winning a national championship with an experienced team like they did this past season was noted by everyone. The transfer portal is a real avenue to roster success now and Ohio State changed how they put together their roster with it this cycle.

A MUCH BETTER BRUCE. I don’t think we talked enough about Bruce Thornton’s reaction to Ohio State being selected as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The video the Buckeyes’ X account posted on Sunday was so good.

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Also on Sunday, CBS Sports’ Mackenzie Brooks called Ohio State her “Cinderella” pick in the East Region.

“This is a team with a really high ceiling but a really low floor,” Brooks said. “They could be out of there in the Round of 32, but again, they do have a chance to make it to the Elite Eight, give the matchups they have.”

Those matchups include No. 9 seed TCU, No. 1 seed Duke and either No. 4 seed Kansas or No. 5 seed St. John’s.

“Duke is a really vulnerable team right now,” Brooks said. “It is not impossible to think that (Ohio State could beat Duke), and we have (the Buckeyes) favored against St. John’s, so take that for what you will.”

According to CBS Sports, Ohio State has an 11% chance to reach the Elite Eight this year. According to me, that 11% depends entirely on which version of Thornton shows up in Greenville, South Carolina, this weekend.

also, fuck Skubal

I just think this guy rocks!

Sabres are tied atop the Eastern Conference with 90 points. WTF is going on?

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KYBuck4858 15 Mar 2026, 6:07 pm
Simmons update from the ATL camp:
- RB Caden Wade says he’ll take an OV to OSU. And the two schools recruiting him the hardest are OSU and Louisville.

tech it is

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KYBuck4858 1 hour ago
I forgot to add this: I really could care less who else we fill out the LB class with, as the room is very strong already and the '28 class is loaded. 5* Kameron McGee (who some think will be in contention for the #1 overall player spot) is now being recruiting by both LJ and Laurinaitis and is a hybrid player. He visits on April 4, and has said OSU is his dream school.

ORD_Buckeye said:

Him using the job to benefit his honeypot is dirty as hell, but him getting greased 400K by a crypto firm isn't using the job for his personal benefit? WTF was going on during this clown's tenure and was simply being Wexner's puppet so important that the board overlooked it all? Can Wexner just fucking die already...leave that last check on the counter...we left you a sandwich there.

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You could wait it out or I'm sure fire a fee and connections... oh my bad, inner monologue broken again.

Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux said:

Pretty clear where the First Annual Buckeye Planet Gumbo Cook off between @Nutriaitch and me is going to be!

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you could stand in the middle of a tomato patch for all i care.
that ain’t going in my gumbo and i’m gonna win hands down.

Save some for the rest of us, Joe!

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OSU069 16 Mar 2026, 4:18 pm
I know we are all in on March madness stuff right now but Jamie Shaw posted an article talking with different recruits. For Demarcus Henry he said speaking with him the school he hears most from right now is Ohio State. I hope our NIL will get the job done and help us close the deal. He’s a five-star guy top 15 recruit in 2027.

Like USC has any idea what to do with a defensive player.

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KYBuck4858 18 hours ago
Update on S Adryan Cole's visit next weekend. It's actually going to be a 3day visit from March 27-29. Huge, as he'll be visiting us after he visits UGA this week.

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Double Nickels 15 hours ago
Ohio State makes final 6 for top CB John Meredith along with Texas, Texas AM, ND, Bama and Miami
Prob a tough pull but Devin Sanchez seems to be working on this from what I read

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KYBuck4858 12 hours ago
5* Edge commit DJ Jacobs will be returning on 3/27-28 with his brother Dawson. It’s shaping up to be a pretty big weekend with GA guys, so good to get him here to be the ringleader for those guys.

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KYBuck4858 12 hours ago
5* Edge commit DJ Jacobs will be returning on 3/27-28 with his brother Dawson. It’s shaping up to be a pretty big weekend with GA guys, so good to get him here to be the ringleader for those guys.
Adryan Cole, Bryce Woods, Waylan Wooten, and Grant Haviland are all major GA priorities who will be around him.

Zurp said:

That is pretty sick. Isn't there some charge for poisoning people? Shouldn't that count as poisoning people?

New entry for consideration: There's a couple of spots near me where the right-most lane is a right-turn-only lane. In one spot, there's a lane straight across from that spot, so it looks like it could be a straight lane, too. But it isn't. Look at the sign. Right-turn only. But you see fucksticks pull up there all the time and want to go straight.
At least 2 other spots that I know of don't have the lane continuing on the other side of the intersection - it just ends right there. Turn right or get forced off the road. Or... what everyone does is they just muscle their way into the lane to their left. So, here I am waiting in this line like a putz while fucksticks pass everyone on the right, then cut everyone off when the light turns green.

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Here's the worst spot: Harvard Road just west of I-271 in Beechwood.

The Google car is pretty obviously in the right-turn only lane.


It moved over into a straight lane. But notice how clear it is that the right lane is right-turn only.

Here's the actual intersection:

Dickturds stay in that right-turn lane and go straight through, to what is obviously not a legal place to drive.

Last night was a doozy. By the way, this traffic light seems to be red a disproportionate amount of time. Coming from the left is one of the Cuyahoga Community College campuses, and from the left is an office building (Eaton) and a gym. That's it. But if anyone is coming from either of those directions, the light changes for them. Maybe that's just my imagination, though. Anyway, so we're waiting at that light. Some shiz-face drove along in the right lane, and then cut off the guy right in front of me. But since we're all stopped, there wasn't room to fit all the way in. He just set his front end in there. So he was still blocking the right-turn only lane. Then another hammershitter came along behind him. When the light turned green and the one guy blocking the lane finally got over enough, he sped ahead and got way up in front.

I feel old... complaining about idiot younger jerks.

DZ83CK said:

Hard to believe, but Cincinnati has fired Coach Wes Miller. Also hard to believe, he had been there for 5 seasons.

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The guy sucked at coaching, which is why both of those things happened.

Started watching Rooster on HBO Max. Fun show. Classic Carrell and McGinley. Highly recommend.

Also, watching Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Entertaining but a bit slow.