The Ohio State Buckeyes remain focused on attempting to win the College Football Playoff, but the program has already begun recruiting for the 2026 class. The Buckeyes are being linked to one of the top quarterbacks in the country.
Ohio State and the Georgia Bulldogsare among the favorites to land a 6-foot-3, five-star quarterback. More pressing, the Buckeyes face a decision at quarterback for the 2025 season as Will Howard heads to the NFL draft.
Ohio State has highly touted freshman Julian Sayin on the team’s current roster. Sayin could also face competition from five-star quarterback Tavien St. Clair, who headlines the Buckeyes’ 2025 recruiting class.
While this does not offer Ohio State an immediate solution, landing one of the top quarterbacks in the 2026 class would give the Buckeyes some insurance for future seasons.
On3.com predicts that Ohio State will land Nashville Christian School’s Jared Curtis, the top-ranked quarterback in the 2026 college football recruiting class. The Buckeyes have a 50% chance to snag Curtis with the Bulldogs in second at 36%, per On3’s projections. The North Carolina Tar Heels have also been linked to Curtis since the program landed Bill Belichick.
Ohio State will likely need to offer Curtis a lucrative NIL deal in order to sign the star quarterback. On3 projectsCurtis’ NIL value to be $937,000, one of the highest of any player in the 2026 class.
Curtis was initially committed to Georgia but decommited from the Bulldogs in Oct. It will be worth watching to see if Ohio State can pull Curtis away from Georgia in 2025.
Me and Coach [Chip] Kelly have a good relationship,” Curtis told On3.com’s Steve Wiltfong during a Nov. 16 interview. “And Coach [Ryan] Day, I’ve got on the phone with him a couple times. They develop quarterbacks a lot as well and they have the talent around them. That’s exciting.”
