In the college football world, June is the new December. It is the period when college football programs conduct most of their recruiting activities: official visits, commitments, and mega camps. For Ohio State, it is no exception, as one of Ryan Day’s assistants has revealed the kind of tedious schedule the program’s staff has ahead of the peak period.

“Yeah, you know, a lot of bouncing around with recruiting, which has been good,” Ohio State linebackers coach James Laurinaitis said on the 97.1 The Fan YouTube channel, when asked about the Buckeyes’ recruiting activity so far. “It’s important to see all your top guys and then, really, what’s exciting coming up. I mean, gosh, next weekend, you already start OV season.”

“So, once we start on Tuesday, I mean, the calendar for NMA through June is pretty brutal in the sense that it’s just every day. You don’t have a day off till after OVs are done. A lot of time with your own guys, a lot of time with camps mixed into official visits, which is a full three days in a row there between Friday afternoon arrival and Sunday morning departure.”

In just over two years with the program as an assistant coach, Laurinaitis has become a lethal asset for Ryan Day on the recruiting trail. It also helps when the two linebackers you coach go in the top 7 of the NFL Draft. Both Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles excelled under his tutelage. In the latter’s case, Laurinaitis even oversaw Styles’ move from safety to linebacker. Still relatively early into his coaching career, the LB coach knows the importance of what June visits mean for the program.

“It’s kind of a full-fledged all-in investment. So, it’s good, though; it’s the lifeblood of a program. So, it’s important, and you spend so much time developing these relationships that when you finally get them on campus for what seems like the real deal to try to either seal somebody or confirm why they made a decision to play for you,” Laurinaitis further added.

According to On3’s rankings, Ohio State’s 2026 recruiting class ranked No. 3 in the nation. The program recruited 28 prospects: two five-stars, 16 four-stars, and 10 three-stars. Only the Oregon Ducks and LSU Tigers were ahead of them, although they both had fewer prospects, 21 and 17 signees, respectively. The 2027 class is ranked just outside the top five, per On3. 

Already, Ryan Day has 12 commits in the class: two five-star commits, eight four-star commits, and two three-star commits. That includes 4-star LB Quinton Cypher from Millbrook High School in North Carolina. However, the LB recruitment for the 2027 class is set to gain momentum. The program already received a crystal ball prediction for four-star LB Prince Goldsby.

Ohio State adds new staff to the recruiting department

The Buckeyes’ assistant director of recruiting strategy, Nick Murphy, announced his departure from the program earlier this month. And in preparation for June’s recruitment activity, the program has hired a staff member from an ACC program to replace him.

Kylie Green, who was a recruiting graduate assistant at SMU, has been hired to replace Murphy. Murphy joined the program in 2022, and since then, the program has never fallen out of the top five in national recruitment.

Although less experienced, Green was crucial in helping the SMU Mustangs’ recruiting department, which led the program’s 2026 recruiting class to a top-25 national ranking. Her new role would mainly involve her working with the assistant director of on-campus recruitment and special events, Zoe Jackson.

Green played college softball at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science. She then got her Master’s degree in Data Science and Applied Statistics from SMU. Before these, she graduated from Frisco High School.