Ohio State recruited David Gabriel Georges as aggressively as any prospect in the 2027 class, but that wasn’t enough to land his commitment in the end.
The five-star running back committed to Tennessee on Wednesday, handing the Buckeyes their most disappointing recruiting loss of the 2027 cycle as Carlos Locklyn misses out on his clear-cut top target in the class.
— David Gabriel Georges (@DavidGG27) July 22, 2026
Ohio State pursued Gabriel Georges for nearly two years, offering him in August 2024, and it was clear by last summer that the Canadian running back was Locklyn’s prospect of choice in his class. The Buckeyes went to great lengths to try to land Gabriel Georges, sending their entire offensive coaching staff to visit him at Baylor School this spring, reportedly offering him more than $1 million per year in NIL money and even offering his high school teammate, unranked safety Jordan Darren Djila Tchuisseu.
Tennessee, however, reportedly offered Gabriel Georges a deal in the range of $2 million per year, according to On3’s Chris Low. The Volunteers were also able to offer proximity to his high school, which is located less than two hours away from Knoxville in Chattanooga, Tennessee, along with a faster path to a starting job.
As such, Gabriel Georges decided to be a Volunteer, sending Ohio State back to the drawing board at running back, where the Buckeyes don’t currently have any commits in the 2027 class.
Buckeyes must now reset the board at RB
While the reward of landing Gabriel Georges would have been massive, as he’s the No. 10 overall prospect in the 2027 class and the reigning MaxPreps National High School Player of the Year, the risk of going all in on a singular prospect at a position is that it leaves the Buckeyes without a clear plan to fill what’s now a gaping hole at running back in their 2027 class.
There are four running backs with Ohio State offers in the 2027 class who remain uncommitted: Landen Williams-Callis, Caden Waye, Asa Barnes and CJ Cowley. That said, Williams-Callis and Barnes are scheduled to make commitments within the next two weeks from groups of finalists that don’t include Ohio State, while Waye and Cowley’s recruitments have gone quiet in recent months.
The most likely flip target for Ohio State is Florida State commit Jayden Miles, the only running back other than DGG that made an official visit to Columbus this summer. Given that he committed to the Seminoles just one day after his official visit to Ohio State concluded, however, it’s quite possible the Buckeyes missed their chance to land Miles – the No. 28 running back in 247Sports’ composite rankings for 2027 – by choosing not to take a commitment from any other running back as long as Gabriel Georges remained on the board.
Ohio State is unlikely to make the same level of financial commitment to any other running back in the class that it would have made to Gabriel Georges, given that DGG was clearly the back the Buckeyes valued most. But even a significant chunk of that money could be enough for Ohio State to make a late run at another top running back in the class. With less than five months to go now until signing day, however, Locklyn and the Buckeyes must work quickly if they're going to make that happen.
Ohio State still has plenty of young talent at RB
The good news for Ohio State is that the Buckeyes will still have plenty of talented young running backs on their roster next season. Bo Jackson and Isaiah West are only sophomores, so they’ll both be back in 2027, assuming neither transfers. Legend Bey, who the Buckeyes signed after another intense recruiting battle with Tennessee, is another budding star in the room who should be at Ohio State until at least 2028.
Sophomore running back Anthony “Turbo” Rogers was a top-100 prospect in the 2025 class, while freshman Favour Akih was a four-star prospect in the 2026 class, giving the Buckeyes five underclassman running backs on scholarship who all still have at least four years of collegiate eligibility.
Ohio State also has another potential future star in its running back pipeline in Elijah Newman-Hall, the third-ranked running back in the 2028 class, who’s already been committed to Ohio State for more than a year. Gabriel Georges’ commitment to Tennessee will likely increase the Buckeyes’ efforts to add another top running back in the 2028 class to pair with Newman-Hall.
Gabriel Georges is a special talent, so the impact of losing him can’t be dismissed solely based on the rest of the talent in the room. And even with that talent, Ohio State can’t afford to skip an entire cycle at running back, especially when acknowledging the reality that transfer attrition is always a possibility in the modern era of college football. But the Buckeyes’ future at RB is far from bleak even without DGG.
