Buckeye Nation can finally stop holding their breathes. When the season ended with a playoff loss to the Miami Hurricanes, the Ohio State Buckeyes witnessed a scary double-digit number of players hit the transfer portal within 24–36 hours. For a moment, it felt like it was going to be one long offseason. However, the good news is that Ryan Day did his job the best way possible, replacing what was essentially dead space with a fivefold boost.

On January 20th, BuckeyesFansOnly hopped onto X and shared the transfer portal’s track sheet:

“The Buckeyes reloaded in the transfer portal the best way possible. Ohio State lost 32 career starts in the portal. Ohio State added 147 career starts.”

The Ohio State lost 31 players to the portal. For instance, on paper, it might look like they lost a lot of players. But when you look at the actual experience, Ryan Day once again made a genius trade. The players who left only had 32 combined career starts. And while the 16 new players coming in bring a 147 career starts with them. That’s 9.125 starts per athlete.

Basically, the Buckeyes let go of their bench and reserve players to make room for certified and proven starters from other big-time schools across the power 4. This is a very much needed deal because their defense got hit hard by the NFL Draft, losing eight of their 11 starters.

By bringing in guys who have already played hundreds of snaps at programs like Alabama, Georgia, and Florida State, they are planning to run it back for the season. The star of this transfer class has to be defensive tackle James Smith from Alabama, who was ranked as the #1 interior lineman in the portal. He’s joined by other heavy hitters like safety Earl Little Jr. and edge rusher Qua Russaw.

Instead of waiting for young recruits to grow up, the Buckeyes went out and grabbed “grown men” who can play significantly better. Then again, it’s actually a genius strategy.

Look at Indiana’s 2025 national title squad, where the average player age was around 23.5 years. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes were closer to a 21.6-year average. Ohio State did play its best football in 2024, when the roster’s average age was closer to 22. So yeah, credits to Ryan Day and everyone involved in the recruiting process.

They also snagged some reliable weapons for the offense. Wide receivers Devin McCuin and Kyle Parker, plus a new kicker, Connor Hawkins, to fix their special teams. Even though they have fewer total players coming in than going out, the quality of talent is so high that they now ranked as the No. 2 team in the country for the 2026 season.

What makes this even crazier is that they only lost one actual starter from last year’s team. The right guard, Tegra Tshabola. Everyone else who left was basically looking for more playing time elsewhere. By keeping their core together and adding almost 150 games worth of experience through the portal, Ohio State has managed to curve so-called ‘rebuilding’ year.

However, there’s one move left to be made.

The last portal move for the Buckeyes

Honestly, the Buckeyes aren’t chasing a bunch of new guys in the transfer portal like they were a couple of weeks ago.

There is really only one man left on their radar. An offensive tackle named Vasean Washington from Dartmouth. The 6’5 and close to 300 pounds. The Buckeyes are hosting him for an official visit right now (January 23rd). They need some experienced depth on the offensive line because a few players in that position group graduated or transferred out. So far, they haven’t signed anyone else for that starting spot yet.

Washington is super reliable and rarely lets a pass rusher through. He allowed just 1 sack in over 700 career snaps at Dartmouth.

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Another potential target had on their palm was defensive ends Mandrell and Darryll Desir from Florida State. The word is the twins are no longer an option. They changed their minds pretty quickly after entering the portal and decided to stay with the Seminoles. With the spring portal officially terminated, the Buckeyes’ 2026 portal business and roster allocation is successfully in the books. Signing an OC is the only thing left now.