New Jersey product Jaelyne Matthews became the second offensive tackle to receive an Ohio State offer in the 2025 recruiting class on April 27.
The offer came from OSU offensive line coach Justin Frye after he stopped by Matthews’ high school, Toms River North (Toms River, New Jersey), to extend the offer personally.
“He got on the phone with my coach basically, he came down to the school and I bumped into him,” Matthews told Eleven Warriors. “And then I came down to the classroom and he basically offered me a full scholarship to Ohio State. They said they offered me because of my aggressiveness on film, how smart I am on the football field and my size.”
The 6-foot-6, 300-pound Matthews was ecstatic to receive an offer from the Buckeyes, knowing how many of his friends would be excited for him. He currently holds 12 Division I offers.
“They have a really big fan base at my school in New Jersey,” Matthews said while explaining how many of his peers are Ohio State fans. “It was an honor to get that offer.”
Matthews plans on making his first visit to Columbus this June.
“I’ll be there this summer,” he said.
The Toms River North standout started playing football when he turned 12 years old.
“That’s when I decided I really wanted to do this,” he said. “A coach came up to me then and said ‘You should really play football.’ Then a lot of people started saying it.”
Convincing his mother to let him play the sport took some work, though.
“I told my mom I wanted to play football. At first she wasn’t with it, because you know, momma’s little boy and all she didn’t want me getting hurt,” Matthews said. “But then I told her I really wanted to do it and she let me do it.”
Now with his size and tenacity, Matthews may be one of the fastest-rising tackle prospects in the 2025 class.
Chiles offered by OSU
Ohio State offered two players from Maryland on Monday, both of whom attend Our Lady Good Counsel High School (Olney, Maryland). One of the prospects offered was 2024 four-star linebacker Aaron Chiles, who is considered a top-100 player in his class.
Chiles is ranked as the 85th-best player and the seventh-best linebacker in the 2024 class, per 247Sports’ composite rankings. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound prospect has 27 Division I offers, a list that includes Auburn, Boston College, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Liberty, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Penn State, South Carolina, Texas A&M, USC, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Last season, Chiles helped lead Our Lady Good Counsel to a 7-5 record while lining up as both an inside and outside linebacker. He is the seventh linebacker the Buckeyes have offered thus far in the 2024 class.
Delane picks up Buckeyes offer
Cornerback Faheem Delane was the other Our Lady Good Counsel player offered by the Buckeyes on Monday. Delane just finished his freshman season and is part of the 2025 class.
The 6-foot-2, 182-pound prospect has six Division I offers, the other five being Alabama, Boston College, Penn State, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. Delane is the second cornerback Ohio State has offered in the 2025 class, joining Jontae Gilbert.
Ohio recruits clamor for spring football
A busy 16 days for the Ohio High School Athletic Association came to a close Tuesday, with 813 member schools voting on 14 separate issues, 12 of which passed.
One of the two issues that did not pass, though, was a proposal for Ohio prep athletes to benefit from endorsement deals regarding name, image and likeness guidelines that would have mirrored the ones passed at the collegiate level last summer.
Perhaps even more upsetting to Ohio high school football players, however, was that no proposal to add the option of schools having spring football practices or 7-on-7 competitions was even voted on this spring.
The desire to add those practices that allow for additional development has been expressed by many coaches and players in recent years, including from Ohio State coach Ryan Day. At Big Ten Media Days last July, Day said he’d like to see Ohio adopt spring practices similar to other large states, such as Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and Arizona.
“I think it’s close to happening, it’s something I’ve been a big part of, meeting with the Ohio (High School Athletics) Association,” Day said last July. “It’s being pushed for very strongly to play some spring football. We were about to get it done, I think, I don’t want to speak for the people there. But once COVID hit, it got put on the back burner, now it’s coming back to the front burner again. There’s been a lot of conversation on 7-on-7, which I believe is something we need to get going in the state of Ohio like, yesterday.”
2023 Ohio State offensive tackle commit Luke Montgomery and 2024 four-star tight end target Tayvion Galloway both tweeted on Tuesday that they think spring football in Ohio is overdue.