When Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng visited Ohio State for the second time in May, he felt his relationship with the Buckeyes’ coaching staff began to strengthen.
Fresh off an official visit with OSU over the weekend, the top-75 prospect in the 2025 recruiting class said his interest in the school only skyrocketed after James Laurinaitis, Jim Knowles and Ryan Day made him feel like a priority.
“Last time I was up there, it was great, but this time we got to dive deep into every aspect,” Owusu-Boateng told Eleven Warriors on Sunday. “My impression of Ohio State really went up. They’re probably in my top two, top three schools now with academics and what they have to offer in life after football and everything else. I had a great visit overall.”
— Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng (@_nob11) June 16, 2024
Laurinaitis spent plenty of time with Owusu-Boateng and extensively discussed his fit in Knowles’ defense and the playbook. He showed him Steele Chambers’ film from last year on how he was used in the Will position, the likely fit for Owusu-Boateng in Columbus if he eventually commits to OSU. Ultimately, the Buckeyes’ pitch to Owusu-Boateng was he’d be a potential game-changing player on the defense considering his versatility, quickness and high-IQ play.
While Laurinaitis has handled a good chunk of Owusu-Boateng’s day-to-day recruitment, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound prospect says he’s intrigued by playing for Knowles given his success with OSU.
“Coach Knowles is definitely an OG,” Owusu-Boateng said. “He definitely knows what he’s doing. He had the second-best defense in the country last year. You definitely have seen improvement there. My impressions of him were great being at Oklahoma State and coming to Ohio State, he’s making sure each player is playing to the best of their ability.”
Owusu-Boateng’s player host was a familiar face: his old high school teammate Jason Moore, as the pair last played together when Owusu-Boateng was a sophomore and resided in Maryland.
“I was just talking to him about how his experience has been at Ohio State,” Owusu-Boateng said. “And he was just really telling me that it’s about the people. Because you can go to different programs and things like that, but it’s really about how the people treat you. Not only that, but going somewhere where you feel like you’re going to get the best three to four years out of your experience. He told me that Ohio State was the best decision that he’s made. So that made me feel confident.”
“This is one school that I can say confidently has the best traditions in college football.”– Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng on Ohio State
OSU was the third official visit of Owusu-Boateng’s recruitment, as he visited USC and Notre Dame earlier this month. He’ll wrap up his visits next week by visiting Michigan. Notre Dame and Michigan are likely the biggest threats to OSU in this recruitment and it’s notable that his older brother, current Cleveland Browns Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, attended Notre Dame. Nonetheless, the Buckeyes have given themselves a chance in his recruitment.
“I’d say they’re high right now,” Owusu-Boateng said of OSU. “This is one school that I can say confidently has the best traditions in college football. Coach Laurinaitis was telling me that all All-Americans get their own tree, and I thought that was really cool because nobody else does that. There’s a lot of other great traditions as well. I also loved how close everybody is. You don’t see any player that’s divided, everybody’s close and everybody is family. I loved that aspect.”
Owusu-Boateng said he plans on committing sometime this summer, but he’s open to taking his decision into September if need be.
In his junior year at IMG Academy, Owusu-Boateng recorded 45 tackles, six tackles for loss, a pass breakup, a fumble recovery and a sack while playing in eight games on a national schedule. He’s ranked as the No. 9 linebacker and No. 75 overall prospect in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the 2025 class.
