Podcast: Ohio State coaches get no breaks as they hit the recruiting trail

We all knew it was coming. But it came much earlier than maybe we had expected, and definitely much earlier than we wanted. Jeff Hafley is taking the head coaching job at Boston College, meaning after the College Football Playoffs, OSU will no longer have his services. It’s a substantial loss. Not just to the on-the-field product, with Hafley being instrumental in the dramatic turnaround of defense and his ability to adjust the defense on the fly, but also to the recruiting side of things.

Hafley showed he was one of the best recruiters in the nation in his one year at Ohio State. He was ranked No. 3 in the latest 247 recruiter rankings and was most likely going to follow that up in 2021. With his loss, could come the loss of some of the high-profile defensive recruits. Hafley sold these guys on his vision of the defense, and now that vision is gone. That being said, Ohio State is still Ohio State. There’s no doubt we will keep almost all the current crop of recruits, but just be prepared to maybe lose more than we originally thought we would.

It’s not all doom and gloom in Buckeye Nation however, and there is still a lot to be excited for in 2021. This includes:

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba has another six touchdown game. Yeah that’s right, another. He’s had multiple this season.
• The 2022 class starts to pick up steam with offers to an athletic freak with connections to Chase Young and the top ranked offensive tackle so far.
• The coaches (including Jeff Hafley, would be interesting to see what those meetings were like) were all over the nation this week, we let you know the important ones.

And much more! Listen below!