Five-star 2026 Ohio State target and Maryland commit shuts down recruitment
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Five-star 2026 defensive end Zion Elee has shut down his recruitment.
The No. 4 overall prospect and No. 1 edge rusher per the 247Sports composite rankings will stick with his pledge to Maryland. He committed to the Terps on Dec. 7, 2024.
Why the Ohio State football team should tell Larry Johnson to retire
For a long time, the Ohio State football program had the best defensive line coach in the country. Larry Johnson was the best recruiter and developer of talent of anyone coaching the big guys up front. He has developed a number of first-round picks since he’s been with the Buckeyes.
Chase Young, Joey Bosa, and Nick Bosa are just some of the first-round picks he’s developed. He’s got an outside shot at adding Jack Sawyer to that list as well. Johnson has done some incredible work since he’s been on staff with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Johnson is allegedly trying to decide if he wants to return for one more year or not. The Buckeyes are less than a month away from starting Spring practice, and he still hasn’t made a decision. It’s time for them to make it for him. Despite everything he’s done, it’s time for the Buckeyes to tell him to retire.
Why the Ohio State football team needs to tell Larry Johnson to retire
Even though he has now won two national championships with the Buckeyes, he still needs to go. He can’t keep holding Ohio State hostage like this. He’s 73 years old and clearly is not in it 100% anymore. His recruiting has started to slip in recent years as well.
Johnson was part of the reason why the defense was so bad in the Oregon regular season game. After that game, Jim Knowles was finally able to do things the way he wanted, and the defense improved mightily. It seems like Johnson’s way might be a bit antiquated.
Telling Johnson to retire now would give Ohio State a chance to find a replacement before it gets too deep into Spring practice. It would also give them a chance to develop some sort of plan for the future of the defensive line. Waiting another year is prolonging the inevitable.
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It’s time for the Buckeyes to do what is very hard. They need to move on from Johnson and start building the future. They’ve done that with every other position on staff, so they need to do it there as well.
5 former Ohio State Buckeyes Raiders could reunite with Chip Kelly in NFL Draft
The Las Vegas Raiders were seemingly very enticed by what the National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes put on tape last season, as Pete Carroll decided to bring Chip Kelly back to the NFL as his new offensive coordinator. Kelly’s unique passing game will try to give the Raiders the bite they so desperately need.
Kelly, as shown from his stints with the Eagles and 49ers, was willing to move heaven and earth to carve out roles for some of his old Oregon players. He might be able to do the same for some of his Ohio State pupils, especially with Vegas in possession of so many high picks in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Raiders may be interested in giving Kelly some of his old tools to work with as he gets acclimated to life in the pros once again. Any of these five could be perfect targets for a Raiders team severely lacking in offensive juice.
5 former Ohio State Buckeyes Raiders could reunite with Chip Kelly in NFL Draft
5. RB Quinshon Judkins
Of the two Buckeye running backs that will be picked within the first three rounds, Judkins might be the player Carroll ends up holding in higher regard. With a brutal running style akin to a bowling ball made out of Bowie knives, Judkins should be a tremendous between-the-tackles runner for a coach in Carroll who will try his hardest to install a quality ground game.
