With the transfer portal winding down, won’t be long till Diebler and staff turn their focus towards high school recruiting. The importance of high school recruiting has certainly lessened with the portal available, but everything indicates that Diebler still plans to pursue recruits, just possibly being a bit more picky as to who they go after, and taking smaller overall classes.
Believe it or not, OSU’s 2026 class is actually the #1 rated class in the country right now! We all know that won’t last but it’s fun while it lasts. Two current commits in the class, Diebler and staff seem to be looking for at least 1 more guy, if not 2 more. The 2027 class is empty, but that’s neither surprising or disappointing- Iowa St. is actually the only team listed on 247 with a 2027 class commitment.
Going to start a running list of the commitments and known targets. Can’t say I have a big list of names, so fill me in and I’ll update it. Using 247 sports composite for rankings, I’ve always felt that the composite averaging several sources gives the best ranking. Targets in bold reportedly have offers.
2026 Commits - 2
- Marcus Johnson - PG 6’1” 175 Lbs - 4* #30 overall and #7 positionally - Garfield Heights (Cleveland OH)
- Alex Smith PF 6’9” 195 Lbs - 3* #185 overall and #33 positionally - Upper Arlington (Columbus OH)
2026 Targets
- Anthony Thompson - SF 6’8” 185 Lbs - 5* #11 overall and #3 positionally - Western Reserve Academy (Hudson, OH)
- Jalen Montonati - SF 6'7" 175 Lbs - 5* #18 overall and #7 positionally - Owasso High School (Owasso OK)
- Cole Cloer - SF 6'7" 185 Lbs - 4* #33 overall and #14 positionally - Caldwell Academy (Greensboro NC)
- Tristan Reed - PF 6'8" 210 Lbs - 4* #78 overall and #16 positionally - John Burroughs School (St. Louis, MO)
- Steven Reynolds - SG 6'5" 170 Lbs - 4* #87 overall and #11 positionally - Faith Family Academy of Oak Cliff (Dallas, TX)
- Jason Singleton - CG 6'4" 175 Lbs - 4* #100 overall and #13 positionally - Columbus Academy (Columbus, OH)
- TJ Crumble - PF 6’7” 210 Lbs - 3* #129 overall and #24 positionally - Richmond Heights (Cleveland, OH)
- Justin Caldwell PF 6'8" 215 Lbs - 3* #186 overall and #34 positionally - Berean Baptist Academy (Fayetteville, NC)
- Julian Washington - SG 6'4" 170 Lbs - Currently unranked - Margaretta (Castalia, OH)
2027 Commits - 0
- N/A
2027 Targets
- Baba Oladotun - SF 6'9" 175 Lbs - 5* #1 overall and #1 positionally - James Hubert Blake High School (Silver Spring, MD)
- Obinna Ekezie Jr. - C 7'0" 220 Lbs - 5* #7 overall and #2 positionally - Prolific Prep (Napa, CA)
- Jaylan Mitchell - PF 6'7" 220 Lbs - 5* #9 overall and #3 positionally - SPIRE Academy (Geneva, OH)
- Cayden Daughtry - PG 6'0" 155 Lbs - 5* #19 overall and #3 positionally - Calvary Christian Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
- Jason Gardner Jr. - PG 6'1" 185 Lbs - 4* #32 overall and #6 positionally - Fishers High School (Fishers, IN)
- Demarcus Henry - SF 6'6" 180 Lbs - 4* #52 overall and #17 positionally - Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, CA)
- Joshua Tyson - CG 6'2" 170 Lbs - 4* #85 overall and #9 positionally - Lakota West (West Chester, OH)
- Shawn Foster - PG 6'1" 160 Lbs - 4* #95 overall and #22 positionally - Lima Senior HS (Lima, OH)
- Isaiah Mack-Russell - SG 6'4" 180 Lbs - 4* #98 overall and #13 positionally - Central Catholic HS (Toledo, OH)
- Joshua Tyson - CG 6'2" 170 Lbs - Unranked - Lakota West (West Chester, OH)
- Jaylen Gunther - PG 6'0" 150 Lbs - Unranked - Youngstown Ursuline HS (Youngstown, OH)
