11W Forums
DowntownBuck 15 hours ago
Rumor is Fakatou is visiting Texas for OSU game
EBBuck03 6 hours ago
They’re probably paying him and his brother to go to the game. I’m not really worried about him. He clearly wants to be a Buckeye.
TEXAS VISIT FOR FAKATOU. Marcus Fakatou, a five-star defensive lineman committed to Ohio State in the 2027 class, has scheduled a notable gameday visit.
It's one where the Buckeyes will be playing, but he'll be visiting on the other sideline. Per Adam Gorney of Rivals, Fakatou will visit Texas when Ohio State travels to Austin.
“I’ll be at the Texas-Ohio State game,” Fakatou said via Rivals. “Coach (Will) Muschamp and coach (LaAllan) Clark have kept contact with me since I committed. They haven’t broken it. Even though I’m committed, that shows a lot of love from their side so it’s only right I go show them love, too."
Now, there are many different ways to look at this. The first one is he's visiting for an Ohio State game, so maybe Fakatou wanted to go support his future team. Last year at the White Out, Devin Jackson, an Oregon safety commit, visited on the Penn State sideline. Offensive line commit Immanuel Iheanacho was scheduled to do the same, though he never made it to the game.
The other side of things is maybe he's truly considering a flip if he's willing to spend a weekend with a high-profile opponent for the Buckeyes. There's also the relationship-building aspect, as you never know what your future looks like. That's exactly what happened with John Walker, who originally pledged to UCF over Ohio State in high school, but when he hit the portal, Larry Johnson was right there in contact, building off that previous rapport.
I wouldn't sound the alarm bells right now; I don't think a former assistant of Johnson in Clark will pull Fakatou out of Columbus quite yet.
I won't hyperlink it because his Instagram story will expire by the time this comes out, but Fakatou posted a photo of an Ohio State hat yesterday. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not, though.