{"id":73500,"date":"2025-04-18T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=73500"},"modified":"2025-09-16T21:34:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:34:41","slug":"ohio-state-should-add-a-few-pieces-from-spring-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/18\/ohio-state-should-add-a-few-pieces-from-spring-portal\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State Should Add a Few Pieces From Spring Portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the Spring Game is in the rearview, the Spring transfer portal window has burst <\/span>wide<\/span> open. On the first <\/span>day<\/span>, hundreds of FBS and FCS players <\/span>made the jump<\/span> for several reasons. Some athletes <\/span>were pushed out<\/span>, <\/span>others<\/span> were <\/span>incentivized<\/span><\/em>, to put it indiscreetly. <\/span>For Ohio State,<\/span> two players reportedly added their names to the portal on <\/span>day<\/span> one.<\/span> In today’s college football environment, coaches have to recruit their players back to the team <\/span>on a<\/span> yearly, almost monthly <\/span>basis<\/span>.<\/span> Hopefully, for Ryan Day and the defending national champions<\/span>, the losses will be minimal<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, Ohio State’s portal strategy in the <\/span>Day<\/span> era <\/span>has been<\/span> “quality over quantity.”<\/span> Some teams choose to supplant entire recruiting classes with incoming transfers. Ohio State picks a handful of players who could contribute and <\/span>who<\/span> fit the culture. <\/span>Already<\/span>, <\/span>six<\/span> players have transferred<\/span><\/a> and enrolled via the Winter portal window.<\/span> While <\/span>Day<\/span> hasn’t explicitly said they <\/span>are looking<\/span> to add, he would be remiss not to do his due diligence. There are a few positions the Buckeyes should target in the portal for upgrades.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ohio State Should Add a Few Pieces From Spring Portal<\/h2>\n

Rushmen Reloaded<\/span><\/h3>\n

Overwhelmingly, the sentiment within Buckeye circles is that the defensive line depth is not quite what it needs to be. Losing <\/span>four NFL-bound linemen<\/span><\/a> is going to take a toll. Ohio State’s recruiting efforts on the defensive line have been <\/span>good<\/span>, but heading into 2025, could even a casual Buckeye fan name one of the projected starting four? There is a stark difference in the 2025 rotation compared to the 2024 rotation. The group is inexperienced. <\/span>Eddrick Houston<\/span><\/a> could break out, as could either of the defensive ends. Logan George flashed in the Spring Game after <\/span>making the jump<\/span> from the FCS level. Even then, it wouldn’t hurt to add.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the <\/span>top defensive ends in the portal <\/span>is set<\/span> to take a visit to<\/span> Ohio State (and Georgia).<\/span> Former UNC Tar Heel <\/span>Beau Atkinson<\/span><\/a> was a composite four-star player as a recruit in the 2022 cycle. He appeared in 26 games over the last two years and broke out last year with 35 tackles, 12 <\/span>tackles<\/span> for loss, and seven-and-a-half sacks. <\/span>The Buckeyes already took in one edge rusher, so <\/span>it’ll be interesting<\/span> what<\/span> happens with Atkinson.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Vanderbilt defensive tackle <\/span>De’Marion Thomas<\/span><\/a> is the top interior defensive lineman in the portal <\/span>as well<\/span>.<\/span> The six-foot-two, 320-pound tackle started all 13 games for the Commodores last year and logged 34 tackles with a sack.<\/span><\/p>\n

Realistically, if the Buckeyes add, it’ll be for depth. However, either of these two could earn playing time in the rotation.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Veteran Presence<\/span><\/h3>\n

Adding a quarterback should not be out of the question. No, this is not to say Ohio State needs to find its next starting quarterback via the portal. <\/span>Julian Sayin<\/span><\/a> and\/or <\/span>Lincoln Kienholz<\/span><\/a> are good enough to take over. <\/span>However, it wouldn’t hurt to add a graduate transfer <\/span>just<\/span> to add<\/span> to the room.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the event that Sayin <\/span>is picked<\/span> to lead the Buckeyes – or, at the very least, <\/span>the writing is on the wall<\/span><\/a> – Kienholz could <\/span>be persuaded<\/span> to hit the portal. In that case, the quarterback room is Sayin and true freshman Tavien St. Clair. St. Clair could be an incredible athlete and quarterback <\/span>but<\/span> only having two inexperienced quarterbacks in the room is not ideal. At the very least, the Buckeyes should consider adding a clipboard-holding graduate transfer with coaching aspirations.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, that’s not <\/span>Nico Iamaleava<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Gio Lopez<\/span><\/a>, or <\/span>even<\/span> Jaden Rashada<\/span><\/a>. In all reality, if Ohio State does add a quarterback, it won’t be anyone on anyone’s radar.<\/span><\/p>\n

All in all, the Spring portal window <\/span>is not going to<\/span> have as many day-one contributors as the Winter window. Even then, Ohio State would do well to add. The roster is <\/span>likely mostly<\/span> set for 2025, but there will be departures. It may not happen on <\/span>day<\/span> two or three of the window, but the Buckeyes will lose a few more. <\/span>Day and company will need to be proactive in replacing the <\/span>depth lost<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Adam Cairns\/Columbus Dispatch \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After adding six in the winter, the Ohio State spring portal haul should be minimal but impactful to add depth in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":73537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,35609],"tags":[79,34652,73,3060,3348,9997,34180,3402],"class_list":["post-73500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-college-football","tag-logan-george","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-recruiting","tag-ryan-day","tag-spring-transfer-portal","tag-tavien-st-clair","tag-top-25"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73500"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73538,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73500\/revisions\/73538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}