{"id":84492,"date":"2025-12-29T21:28:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=84492"},"modified":"2025-12-29T21:28:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:28:34","slug":"ohio-state-earns-commitment-from-the-top-defender-in-2027-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/29\/ohio-state-earns-commitment-from-the-top-defender-in-2027-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State Earns Commitment From The Top Defender in 2027 Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite gearing up for the Cotton Bowl against Miami (FL), Ohio State recruiting never sleeps. After signing the fifth-best class in the 2026 cycle<\/a>, Ohio State is off to a great start for 2027. On Monday evening, five-star EDGE prospect out of Georgia, David “DJ” Jacobs<\/a>, surprised recruiting experts and pledged his athletic future to Ohio State. According to 247Sports, Jacobs is currently a five-star athlete and the top-rated player regardless of position in the class. If those ratings hold and he remains with Ohio State, it will be the second top-rated recruit to sign with Ohio State in four seasons, joining Jeremiah Smith.<\/p>\n

Jacobs picked Ohio State over the likes of Miami (FL), Texas, and Georgia. He’s the son of former Georgia Bulldog defensive lineman David Jacobs. DJ Jacobs joins a class that is on its way to being a very good one. Currently, Ohio State has the third-best class in the nation, and Jacobs is the second five-star recruit, joining Jamier Brown. He’s also the first on the defensive line to commit to the 2027 class.<\/p>\n

Ohio State Earns Commitment From Five-Star EDGE DJ Jacobs<\/h2>\n

247Sports<\/em> has compared Jacobs to Travon Walker, the first-overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, if that says anything.<\/p>\n

As a junior in 2025, Jacobs capped off an incredible campaign with 102 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, and two forced fumbles. In 2024, as a sophomore, he earned Class AAAA Defensive Player of the Year after posting 112 tackles, 35 tackles for loss, and 12 sacks. As a freshman, he won Georgia’s most outstanding freshman award after amassing 81 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, six sacks, and three forced fumbles. Needless to say, he’s been about as productive as any.<\/p>\n

Jacobs is a dominant edge rusher who can win with size, speed, and strength. He is able to destroy and shed blocks with impressive hand placement to go with a powerful lower body. At six-foot-five and 225 pounds, Jacobs has room to add a little mass to his frame.<\/p>\n

At Blessed Trinity Catholic, he has been able to win because he’s just plain and simple a bigger and better athlete than his opposition. There is some pass-rushing development to be had. But if the play goes away from him, he has the motor and effort to chase the ball carrier down.<\/p>\n

If this holds, this will be Larry Johnson’s biggest recruiting win since Eddrick Houston. Pairing Jacobs up with 2026 signee Khary Wilder could be fun for Johnson when it’s time.<\/p>\n

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

Ohio State’s 2027 class just got a massive boost. It was already starting to look good, but adding the top-overall recruit is always great.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":83070,"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":[35609,2,17,7316],"tags":[35876,33232,35680,33159,35170],"class_list":["post-84492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ohio-state-buckeyes","category-featured","category-news","category-recruiting","tag-dj-jacobs","tag-eddrick-houston","tag-jamier-brown","tag-jeremiah-smith","tag-khary-wilder"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84492","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=84492"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84496,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84492\/revisions\/84496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}