{"id":89265,"date":"2026-07-16T15:00:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=89265"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:03:47","slug":"ohio-state-david-gabriel-georges-want-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/07\/16\/ohio-state-david-gabriel-georges-want-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Is David Gabriel Georges a Want or a Need for Ohio State?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soon, the biggest announcement of the summer will hit the internet: the final evolutions for the Pok\u00e9mon starters in the new games!<\/del>\u00a0David Gabriel Georges will pick which school he’ll attend for at least the 2027 season. The highly touted running back from Tennessee has been at the center of one of the most intense recruitments of this cycle. Ohio State and Tennessee have been making pitches for months, and there’s no indication either will back off until his name is signed. So, finally, on July 22, Gabriel Georges will make a decision.<\/p>\n

If you asked Ohio State fans, it seems like there’s a split between who thinks Gabriel Georges will pick the Buckeyes. The pessimistic, “NIL is ruining college football” types believe he’s going to stay home at Tennessee. The optimistic sect of fans – ones who believe the Buckeyes are God’s gift to college football – are convinced he’s going to don the scarlet and gray.<\/p>\n

Despite the reporting one way or another, the only person who knows is Gabriel Georges. Honestly, it’s possible he doesn’t know himself and will flip-flop back and forth in the coming days. As of now, the crystal balls by the experts favor Ohio State, but we’ve seen those same experts flip a half-hour ahead of the announcement, throwing everyone for a loop.<\/p>\n

Will he commit to Ohio State on the 22nd? It’s anyone’s guess. However, one must step back and look at both his recruitment as well as the current state of the roster. Is Gabriel Georges a need or a want?<\/p>\n

Ohio State’s Recruitment of David Gabriel Georges: A Want or Need?<\/h2>\n

Growing up, our parents would ask us when we begged for something, “Is this a want or a need?” Often, it was just a want (except when it came to the new and exciting video games, those were always<\/em> needs!). Considering the fact that Ohio State and Tennessee are on very different tiers in the world of college football, is nailing this recruitment a want or a need for Ohio State? It’s obviously a need for Tennessee, but could it just look like Ohio State, coming off the second-best recruiting class and already compiling strong 2027 and 2028 classes, is greedy and stockpiling talent?<\/p>\n

Who is David Gabriel Georges?<\/h3>\n

For those of you who, understandably, unplug during the offseason, we wouldn’t blame you if you aren’t up-to-date on the goings-on regarding the ever-changing landscape that is high school recruiting.<\/p>\n

If you’re unaware, Gabriel Georges is unanimously a five-star recruit in the 2027 class and is the composite second-best running back, just behind future Georgia Bulldog, Kemon Spell. Across the entire class, Gabriel Georges is considered the 10th-best player regardless of position.<\/p>\n

Coming out of the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Gabriel Georges has been a man amongst boys. As a sophomore in 2024, he broke out with 1,013 yards and 14 touchdowns on 114 carries. He did that in just 10 games. Then, last year, he took another massive step. In total, Gabriel Georges amassed 1,749 yards and 27 touchdowns on 161 carries in just 10 games again. Over the last two seasons, he’s averaging 138.1 yards per game and over 10 yards per carry. Plus, he was awarded the Tennessee Titans Division II-AA Mr. Football in each year.<\/p>\n

His acceleration, vision, and ability to break every tackle are almost unmatched at the high school level. He looks strong enough to be able to handle a full Power 4 workload and is more than worth the hype.<\/p>\n

The State of Ohio State’s Running Backs<\/h3>\n

In order to decide whether courting Gabriel Georges is a want or need, we need to take a look at the current state of the roster and what it could look like in 2027. Considering how quickly things change (just ask Larry Johnson after having to replace eight transfers and three NFL-bound defensive linemen<\/a> this year), who knows who will be in the running back room for Corlos Locklyn?<\/p>\n

Ja’Kobi Jackson<\/a> will be out of eligibility after this year, and there are no fourth-year or third-year running backs. So, at the top, Bo Jackson<\/a>. A year from now, Jackson would be heading into his third year, potentially his final with Ohio State. If he can continue to grow, a jump to the NFL after three years is within the realm of possibilities. As a first-year back, Jackson broke out<\/a> with a 1,090-yard, six-touchdown performance.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

With Jackson, as of now, Isaiah West<\/a> and Turbo Rogers would be going into their third seasons. West is expected to be RB2 this year with his 310 career yards and two touchdowns from last year. Rogers has yet to appear in a game.<\/p>\n

Then, there are the two first-year running backs, Favour Akih and Legend Bey. As of now, there is plenty of hype around Bey<\/a> and his Swiss Army Knife playmaking abilities. Akih is also not to be ignored. Eleven Warriors compared him to Evan Pryor<\/a>, who also dealt with injuries but flashed. Of course, he was one of the two scholarship backs healthy enough to play in the Spring Game, when he led the way with 50 yards on 20 carries.<\/p>\n

Rolling Out The Red Carpet<\/h3>\n

Another piece of the Gabriel Georges puzzle is how Ohio State has been putting on a full-court press for over a year now. If there is any doubt, just look at the 2027 haul for the Buckeyes. As of now, Ohio State has 17 commits<\/a>. How many of them are running backs? Zero. According to 247Sports, Locklyn has offered a scholarship to 26 players, but none of them were anywhere close to committing. Of the five offers who haven’t committed, only Gabriel Georges is anything other than “cool.”<\/p>\n

Ohio State is more than okay with only nabbing one running back in this class…if it’s Gabriel Georges.<\/p>\n

With each visit, Day and his staff have been giving the potential superstar their undivided attention. In June, the Buckeyes sent their entire offensive staff on a visit. Also in June, Ohio State was the first Power 4 offer for Gabriel Georges’ childhood best friend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NIL valuations and “reports” of this and that are all speculation, but there are online rumors that Ohio State is willing to pony up to match what Tennessee is allegedly offering. Take those reports with as many grains of salt in the oceans.<\/p>\n

Want or Need?<\/h3>\n

If this had taken place 10 years ago, or any time before NIL and the transfer portal, this would be a slam-dunk “want.” Ohio State has a strong core of young running backs with Jackson, West, Rogers, Bey, and Akih. Punting on the 2027 cycle would have been understandable in the olden days. It would’ve been great to get a player of Gabriel Georges’ caliber in, say, the Jim Tressel days.<\/p>\n

Today, it’s still a “want,” but due to the uncertainty of what the roster could look like in a year (for one reason or another), stockpiling talent is never a bad thing. Imagine if the Buckeyes miss on Gabriel Georges and have to settle on a three-star low-end Power 4 back. As we said above, Locklyn could punt on the 2027 cycle and be fine; Ohio State can nab a transfer if it truly wants.<\/p>\n

However, imagine if the Buckeyes miss on Gabriel Georges, plus Rogers and Akih transfer out. The likelihood that all five of those backs return to Columbus after the 2026 season is still slim, Gabriel Georges or not. Remember, Rogers was an Alabama commit. Bey was a Tennessee commit. West has shown flashes. Akih had plenty of Power 4 offers. There were (unfounded) rumors that Jackson was tampered with last offseason and nearly jumped into the portal.<\/p>\n

Nothing is a given at this point. Missing on Gabriel Georges may not be as much of a death knell for Ohio State as it would be for another program, but you can’t rest on your laurels in this day and age.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Georges is the kind of player worth labeling as a “need.” Time will tell if Ohio State’s pitch is better than Tennessee’s.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Angelina Alcantar\/News Sentinel \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Gabriel Georges is finally going to announce a commitment on July 22. Ohio State is in the running, but is landing the five-star back a want or a need?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":89267,"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":[33619,36189,35012,3896,35803,3348,35505],"class_list":["post-89265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-carlos-locklyn","tag-david-gabriel-georges","tag-favour-akih","tag-larry-johnson","tag-legend-bey","tag-ryan-day","tag-turbo-rogers"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89265","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=89265"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89270,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89265\/revisions\/89270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}