Ohio State lands commitment from four-star LB Payton Pierce

The Buckeyes’ 2024 recruiting class is quickly taking shape, and now there’s some movement on the defensive side of the ball.

On3 Industry Ranking four-star Texas linebacker Payton Pierce committed to Ohio State on Tuesday. Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida State and Oklahoma were other finalists for Pierce, who made his first visit to Columbus last month.

The Buckeyes have been trending heavily with the No. 21-ranked linebacker in the country out of Lucas (Texas) Lovejoy High School since landing an offer — soon after James Laurinaitis made his way onto Ryan Day’s staff. Since seeing Ohio State up close, Pierce’s mind has been made up.

“It felt right,” Pierce told On3.

“I’ve been really wanting to commit for a while,” he continued. “What really set it apart from other schools was the way that Coach (Jim) Knowles runs his defense, the way they run their program and the players on the team. I love how competitive practice was and how Coach Day runs it; it’s why they win and why they’re so successful. Ohio State checked all these categories of the things I look at in a school.”

“You come there to be the best and play the best and win, and the coaches have that same mentality,” Pierce went on. “Coach Laurentius, the coaches, people at Ohio State care about Ohio State, and that’s why players come back to live in Columbus. It’s the very top of the food chain in college football. Where else could u go better than Ohio State? What set them apart is how they coach their players — it’s super competitive and feels like the way I want to be coached and pushed on another level.”

Buckeyes’ standard sets them apart

Pierce may have committed early, the four-star linebacker made his decision with confidence.

After visiting Notre, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida State and also Ohio State this spring, only one visit checked all of his boxes.

“When you go on these trips, I was hyped in my head. When you do that, a lot of times you get disappointed, but that didn’t happen. My expectations were blown out of the water,” Pierce started on his time in Columbus.

“When we got there we went into a special teams meeting, and even though it was special teams, the coaches and players were interactive in the meeting, talking and being loud,” he said. “It was a good environment and it got me fired up about practice.”

“The way they ran practice was so competitive,” Pierce continued. “Everyone is competitive if you’re playing for the team. In the team meeting room, the leaders are in front and that’s different than other schools. It was a good environment during practice. It was super competitive. It came down to the offense versus defense, and it came down to points, and the last play was fun to watch. With the level of the guys on the team, there is no excuse for being the best of the best in the country.”

The culture at Ohio State was second to none.

“That’s why they’re so successful — they have the best wide receiver room in the country. If you’re a linebacker you practice against all those guys every day and vice versa. They have a really good thing going.”

Ohio State’s 2024 class continues to ascend

Pierce is the latest major addition to Ohio State’s 2024 haul.

The Buckeyes entered the week with the No. 3 class in the country — only bolstered by the addition of Pierce, a top-250 player in the nation.

“Ohio State’s recruiting class is about to turn into something crazy,” the newest Ohio State commit said. “It already is right now on offense. It’s a special opportunity with me committing to help build up the defensive side of the ball and class with the type of guys we want on that side of the ball. It’s a unique opportunity and I’m super excited to be in group chats about it. After I told the coaches I was committing I texted the other linebacker commit (Garrett Stover) about building class.”

“I’m having fun and not looking back,” Pierce added.