The Buckeyes have made the cut for two 2025 linebacker targets and are ready to welcome back a crucial 2024 defensive lineman.
Watching the Buckeyes this season, it’s clear that the defense has made significant strides. With the players in their second year under Jim Knowles, Ohio State is seeing that side of the ball return to form after far too many seasons of mediocre performance. Although there is still space for improvement, it has been a significant part of this team’s identity thus far, and if there is any position group that has been leading the way, it has been at linebacker.
A guy like Tommy Eichenberg captains that side of the ball, and knowing the Buckeyes will have to replace a few guys at the position with the 2023 season’s conclusion, both Knowles and James Laurinaitis are working tirelessly to make sure their future hauls — especially in the 2025 class — are loaded up with elite players to keep the group in a good place. Fortunately, guys who have already earned Ohio State offers are keeping the Buckeyes in the mix and strongly considering Columbus as their college destination.
On Wednesday, a top 2025 linebacker
released the latest update in his recruitment by trimming his top schools list down to 10, and kept the Buckeyes among his favorites. Florida native Elijah Melendez currently holds nearly 40 offers to his name, so narrowing it down this much shows he is seriously weighing his options. Now Kentucky, Georgia Tech, LSU, USC, Colorado, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Alabama, and Ohio State are all that remain.
The No. 183 player nationally, Melendez is the 21st best linebacker and the 26th best player in Florida in the 2025 cycle per the 247Sports Composite. Ohio State is heavily in the thick of this race, and Elijah has been up front with how he feels about the Buckeyes. There’s no timetable set for his final call, but certainly with how this has been trending Ohio State will be in it until the end.
Texas native Jonah Williams, who is expected to give the Buckeyes the nod on Wednesday, also turned to Twitter and posted a list of top colleges he is still considering before making his ultimate decision. Williams, a 6-foot-3, 203-pound athlete, is already one of the top players in the country regardless of position, and with nearly 30 offers to his name, his list of 12 after cutting the contenders nearly in half reflects his desire to start really honing in on some of the schools he prefers more than others.
