By Jim Naveau

jnaveau@limanews.com

 

COLUMBUS – Seventeen of the 18 recruits Ohio State expected to sign on the first day of the early signing period on Wednesday became Buckeyes and Ryan Day swatted down rumors saying he could be one of the targets of the Chicago Bears if they fire current coach Matt Nagy.

Those were probably the two biggest things to come out of Day’s signing day press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Ohio State’s recruiting class is ranked No. 4 nationally and No. 1 in the Big Ten by 247sports.com.

“I’m very excited about this class.  I think the 17 people we signed are as quality as you can get,” Day said.

Ohio State signed two 5-star recruits, 13 4-stars and two 3-stars on Wednesday.  Another 4-star player is scheduled to sign on Friday and OSU’s recruiting class could exceed 20 people when it is complete.

“We’ll probably end up signing 20-plus guys when it’s all said and done. There’s still a lot to be done,” Day said.  He indicated the additional players could come from both the high school ranks and the transfer portal.

The players who signed on Wednesday were:

5-stars: Linebacker C.J. Hicks (Kettering Alter), safety Sonny Styles (Pickerington Central).

4-stars: Quarterback Devin Brown (Draper, Utah), Wide receiver Caleb Burton (Austin, Texas), Defensive end Kaleb Brown (Chicago), defensive lineman Caden Curry (Greenwood, Indiana), Wide receiver Kyion Graves (Chandler, Arizona), Offensive tackle Tegra Tshabola (Lakota West), wide receiver Kojo Antwi (Suwanee, Georgia), cornerback Jyaire Brown (Lakota West), running back Dallan Hayden (Memphis, Tennessee), offensive tackle George Fitzpatrick (Englewood, Colorado), cornerback Ryan Turner (Hollywood, Florida), athlete Kye Stokes (Seffner, Florida), defensive end Kenyatta Jackson (Hollywood, Florida).

3-stars: Tight end Bennett Christian (Acworth, Georgia), Avery Henry (St. Clairsville).

Four-star linebacker Gabe Powers, of Marysville, is scheduled to sign on Friday.  Four-star cornerback Terrance Brooks flipped to Texas on Wednesday in a move that surprised OSU’s coaches.

“There wasn’t any conversation that this would happen like this. It caught us off guard for sure,” Day said.

Hicks originally was the only 5-star in this year’s recruiting class before Styles reclassified from the 2023 class to 2022.

Day said that decision belonged entirely to Styles.  But he is glad to have him sooner.

“I was very, very excited when Sonny decided he wanted to join us this year.  He is a very serious young man who has tremendous potential.”

Asked where Styles would play, Day said, “Everywhere. He can do a lot of things.  He can cover, he can blitz.  He can play zone, he can play man.”

Day said his answer to questions linking him to possible openings in the NFL was the same as what he told this year’s recruits.

“There’s nothing to it, no truth to it. And I love being the coach at Ohio State,” he said.

It might be less certain that all the Buckeyes players with NFL aspirations will definitely be in uniform for the Rose Bowl, though.

“There are still some guys trying to figure that out.  When I have more information on that I’ll let you know,” Day said.