For decades, Nick Saban made Alabama feel like home turf. If you were an elite high school player in Mobile or Birmingham, the easiest path ran straight to Tuscaloosa. Play for the Crimson Tide, chase the NFL dream. For many, that was the only path they ever heard about.

Until 2024, when Nick Saban left, Ohio State’s entire history included only two players from Alabama: defensive tackle Donte Wheat in 1981 and receiver Willie Salter in 2001. For a northern power, the Deep South long felt like a distant recruiting map. Coaches in Alabama knew the pattern that Ohio State rarely even knocked on their doors.

When Nick Saban walked away, everything changed overnight. The invisible wall between the North and South has crumbled.Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and defensive line coach Larry Johnson moved fast to build a pipeline from Columbus deep into SEC territory.

Within two recruiting cycles, Alabama went from a locked door for Ohio State to an open field, with top local prospects now choosing Columbus over staying in the SEC. That shift hit Alabama hard. Right now, not one of the top 15 high school prospects in Alabama has committed to the Crimson Tide. Ohio State has used that opening to land premier local targets ahead of regional powers like Auburn and Georgia.

The push began with the 2025 class. Ohio State landed two of the top seven high school players in Alabama: Enterprise edge rusher Zion Grady and Montgomery running back Anthony Rogers. Both chose Columbus over staying in the SEC.

Day kept pressing. The following year, Ohio State brought in four-star defensive tackle Emmanuel Ruffin from Bessemer as part of its 2026 class. Each new Alabama player in a Buckeyes jersey added another brick to the pipeline. By then, Alabama families saw a real choice: stay in the SEC or head north to Ohio State and chase titles right away.

This month, four-star defensive tackle Karlos May from Ramsay High in Birmingham chose Ohio State. He is now the fourth Alabama high school prospect to choose the Buckeyes in three years, and the seventh player from the state to join the program since Saban retired in 2024.

Ohio State did not stop at high school recruits. The Buckeyes also used the transfer portal to bring in key Alabama natives who had already played in the SEC, deepening the pipeline in a very public way.

Alabama names in the transfer portal

Right after Nick Saban’s retirement, Ohio State moved into the portal and added Alabama-connected talent. All-American safety Caleb Downs, five-star quarterback Julian Sayin, and offensive lineman Seth McLaughlin all left Alabama for Columbus, forming the first clear wave of this pipeline. Suddenly, the old rule, which says Alabama talent stays in Alabama, no longer held true.

The pipeline widened again. Five-star defensive lineman James Smith and edge rusher Qua Russaw, who were high school teammates in Montgomery and later played at Alabama, both transferred to Columbus. That added two more Alabama names in scarlet and gray and made the new route north even stronger.

Meanwhile, cornerback Cam Calhoun joined through the portal after time at Alabama, adding another name linked to the program. When you add running back Quinshon Judkins, an Ole Miss transfer who grew up in Pike Road, Alabama, the pattern becomes clear: more and more talent from Alabama is picking Ohio State.