Ohio State football: NIL will be a big part of 2025 recruiting class

One of the things that we have learned about the Ohio State football program in the last few months is that the Buckeyes are not afraid of using NIL money to improve their team. NIL money was a big key to landing several transfer portal guys. The Buckeyes were able to galvanize the fanbase into donating money to a few collectives to help them with this. Even C.J. Stroud was a donor.

Ohio State even hired an Athletic Director who specializes in NIL. Ross Bjork used it a bunch while he was at Texas A&M. While that may have been a bit extreme for the Aggies last season, at least he’s not afraid to use a tool at his disposal. I won’t say Gene Smith has been afraid, but he hasn’t embraced it fully.

Expect NIL to be a big recruiting pitch for the Ohio State football program

The use of NIL will only increase for the Ohio State football program as we go along. The 2024 class got some hefty paydays, but the 2025 class will probably get more. Once Bjork fully takes over in July, the Buckeyes will embrace NIL in its entirety. If they lose out on a recruit, it won’t be because they didn’t offer them enough money.

Of course, NIL money shouldn’t be the only thing on a recruit’s mind. If that’s their sole focus, Ryan Day and his staff won’t want them. They’ll move on to the next guy. They want someone who is going to come to Columbus and do the work that is necessary to be great. Day is trying to keep a good culture within the program.

Day will be wary of what happened to A&M’s 2022 recruiting class. That class was given a bunch of NIL money and was the number-one class in the country. Two years later, almost none of those kids are still at A&M. Ohio State wants kids who want to be there to win and be the best, not cash in on the biggest payday possible.

Once 2025 recruiting amps up more fully, I’ll be interested to see how much NIL money flows toward those recruits.