Why Ohio State ratcheted up its presence in the transfer portal

Ohio State has brought in some of the biggest names in the transfer portal this offseason. Although the Buckeyes have added only six players through the portal, they lead all teams with three players who rank in the top 10 according to On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings.

That includes names such as former Alabama safety Caleb Downs, the No. 1 transfer in the country, as well as Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins. They won SEC Freshman of the Year honor in each each of the past two seasons before making the jump to the Big Ten.

Bobby Carpenter, a Buckeyes linebacker from 2002-05 and host of The Bobby Carpenter Show, joined Andy Staples on Monday to explain how he thinks Ohio State was able to have so much success landing top players.

“I think there is a little bit more nature of being aggressive with this, but I think a lot of it is it’s the right situation,” he said. “They brought in Davison Igbinosun from Ole Miss (in 2023). He has the connections with Judkins, obviously. There’s some movement on the staff. When you bring guys in with the portal, then there’s also guys that may wanna leave. Maybe that was the case at Ole Miss. Especially with NIL dollars, people maybe don’t feel like they got exactly what they wanted or maybe they are not ‘respected’ enough or whatever. So you have to be really careful and make sure.”

Carpenter went on to explain that the pairing of two stars like Judkins and Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson could be a benefit for the players individually. Judkins rushed 271 times this past season for 1,158 yards, but also battled with injuries throughout the year.

Perhaps the thought of going to a team where he would not have to handle such a large number of carries and still have a chance to compete for a national championship as appealing.

“So bringing in Judkins with TreVeyon Henderson, that was a key to make sure that those guys were on board that, ‘hey, you’re not gonna carry the ball 300 times. Are you guys good with each carrying 200?'” Carpenter said. “Honestly, I think that they were both ecstatic about that for their load management and not getting beat up. To win a national championship this year, you’re talking 16-17 games. This is gonna be a long and arduous season. So I think that they had been targeted.”

As for Downs and quarterback Julian Sayin, the No. 5 player in the 2024 cycle, it was just a matter of good timing for the Buckeyes. Alabama coach Nick Saban announcing his retirement allowed both players to enter the portal, and Ohio State once again used its connections.

The Buckeyes knew Downs from recruiting him out of high school, while new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien helped recruit Sayin to Alabama when he worked for Saban.

“Part of it is sometimes these things just manifest themselves,” Carpenter said. “Nick Saban leaving obviously opened up a ton of talented players. When you’re second in the running for Caleb Downs out of high school and you see what he can do. He’s now a known quantity. You bring in Bill O’Brien, who probably allows you to have that relationship with Julian Sayin.

“So I think that there was some of those things that just naturally happened. The fit kind of worked out and it was a way to get it done without upsetting or being crazy aggressive with just trying to throw spaghetti on the wall and see if it sticks.”

Either way, Ohio State is riding the high from its big transfer portal wins and now has high expectations heading into 2024. We’ll see how it turns out and whether they can add to their big haul even more.