How Ohio State’s Roster Stacks Up At Every Position With Transfer Portal Now Closed for 2026
More than half of Ohio State’s roster of scholarship players will be different in 2026 than it was in 2025.
Including 31 transfer portal departures, five early NFL draft entries and 11 players who exhausted their collegiate eligibility, 47 of Ohio State’s 91 scholarship players from 2025 are no longer with the team. Despite all of that attrition, Ohio State still has 88 scholarship players for 2026 after adding 16 players from the transfer portal and a 28-man freshman class.
The season of attrition is finally over for Ohio State as the transfer portal closed when the clock struck midnight Saturday morning. While the Buckeyes still have room to add a few more players to their roster – players who entered the portal before the midnight deadline can still sign with new teams even though the portal is closed – most of their portal work is likely now complete as they’ve addressed their most pressing needs.
That allows us to take our first real look at how Ohio State’s roster stacks up at every position for the 2026 season.
Below, we’ve compiled a position-by-position look at who’s returning, who’s new to the roster and who’s gone from last season at every position, along with some initial thoughts on what Ohio State retained, added and lost at each spot.
The list of players at each position only includes players who were on scholarship in 2025 or are expected to be on scholarship in 2026.
Quarterback (4)
Returners (2): Julian Sayin (Starter in 2025), Tavien St. Clair (No. 3 QB in 2025)
Additions (2): Justyn Martin (Transfer), Luke Fahey (Freshman)
Departures (2): Lincoln Kienholz (Transfer), Eli Brickhandler (Senior)
In an ideal world, Ohio State would have loved to retain Kienholz as its backup quarterback, but his departure to become a starter elsewhere – an opportunity he’ll get at Louisville – was always anticipated.
With Sayin returning as a Heisman Trophy finalist from last season, Ohio State’s quarterback room remains in great shape. St. Clair is likely in line to be Ohio State’s No. 2 quarterback in 2026 now that he has a year of development under his belt, while the Buckeyes added a veteran quarterback in Martin and a talented freshman in Fahey to supplement its depth.
Brickhandler still has one year of eligibility, but with four other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, it’s not anticipated that he will return in 2026 after playing no snaps and participating in Senior Day last season.
Running Back (6)
Returners (3): Bo Jackson (Starter in 2025), Isaiah West (No. 3 RB in 2025), Anthony "Turbo" Rogers (Redshirt in 2025)
Additions (3): Ja’Kobi Jackson (Transfer), Favour Akih (Freshman), Legend Bey (Freshman)
Departures (3): CJ Donaldson (Senior), James Peoples (Transfer), Sam Dixon (Transfer)
Bo Jackson returns as Ohio State’s top running back from last season while West is likely in line to be the Buckeyes’ No. 2 running back after flashing in limited action as a freshman. While they’re the only returning running backs who saw game action in 2025, Ohio State supplemented its depth behind them with the addition of Ja’Kobi Jackson, a seventh-year senior from Florida who ran for 509 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024 before missing most of last season due to injury.
Retaining Peoples would have helped Ohio State’s running back depth, but his departure was unsurprising after he fell to fourth on the depth chart last season. Dixon appeared unlikely to play a significant role if he stayed at Ohio State.
Jackson, West and Rogers are all in their second year at Ohio State while Akih and Bey are both true freshmen, giving Carlos Locklyn a unit full of young players with high upside.
Wide Receiver (11)
Returners (5): Jeremiah Smith (Starter in 2025), Brandon Inniss (Starter in 2025), David Adolph (Second-String in 2025), Phillip Bell (Redshirt in 2025), De’Zie Jones (Redshirt in 2025)
Additions (6): Devin McCuin (Transfer), Kyle Parker (Transfer), Chris Henry Jr. (Freshman), Brock Boyd (Freshman), Jerquaden Guilford (Freshman), Jaeden Ricketts (Freshman)
Departures (6): Carnell Tate (NFL Draft), Mylan Graham (Transfer), Quincy Porter (Transfer), Bryson Rodgers (Transfer), Bodpegn Miller (Transfer), Damarion Witten (Transfer)
With Brian Hartline’s departure to become the head coach at USF, Ohio State was hit harder by transfer attrition at wide receiver than any other position, losing five players to the portal including its top three backups from last season (Graham, Rodgers and Porter). In turn, Ohio State did something it never did during Hartline’s tenure as wide receivers coach by bringing in two transfer wide receivers, Parker (who played for new wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton at LSU) and McCuin (a three-year starter at UTSA).
Losing a pair of five-star prospects in Porter and Graham (who both transferred to Notre Dame), but Ohio State still has the best wide receiver in college football with Smith back for his junior season. Inniss is also a returning starter, while Henry will contend for an immediate starting job as the No. 1 wide receiver in the 2026 recruiting class.
Coupling them with Ohio State’s two transfer additions, two redshirt freshmen and three additional true freshmen, the Buckeyes still have a well-stocked wide receiver room even with the losses of Tate and five transfers.
(Note: Adolph is listed as a returner because he still has another year of eligibility, but it’s unconfirmed whether he will be back for another season at Ohio State after participating in Senior Day festivities last season.)
Tight End (7)
Returners (4): Bennett Christian (No. 3 TE in 2025), Nate Roberts (No. 4 TE in 2025), Max LeBlanc (No Snaps in 2025), Brody Lennon (Redshirt in 2025)
Additions (3): Hunter Welcing (Transfer), Mason Williams (Transfer), Nick Lautar (Freshman)
Departures (3): Will Kacmarek (Senior), Max Klare (NFL Draft), Jelani Thurman (Transfer)
2026 Ohio State Transfer Portal Additions
CLASS POS NAME STAR RATING FORMER SCHOOLS
JR (RS) TE MASON WILLIAMS ★★★ OHIO
SR (RS) LS DALTON RIGGS N/A UCF, BYU
JR (RS) DT JOHN WALKER ★★★★ UCF
SR WR DEVIN MCCUIN ★★★ UTSA
SR LB CHRISTIAN ALLIEGRO ★★★ WISCONSIN
SR (RS) S EARL LITTLE JR. ★★★★ FLORIDA STATE
SR (RS) S TERRY MOORE ★★★ DUKE
SR (RS) TE HUNTER WELCING ★★★ NORTHWESTERN
SR (RS) QB JUSTYN MARTIN ★★★★ MARYLAND, UCLA
SR DT JAMES SMITH ★★★★★ ALABAMA
JR (RS) DE QUA RUSSAW ★★★★ ALABAMA
SO (RS) K CONNOR HAWKINS ★★★ BAYLOR
JR (RS) CB CAM CALHOUN ★★★★ ALABAMA, UTAH, MICHIGAN
SR (RS) RB JA'KOBI JACKSON ★★★ FLORIDA, COAHOMA CC
SO CB DOMINICK KELLY ★★★★ GEORGIA
JR (RS) WR KYLE PARKER ★★★★ LSU
... (rest of the data is omitted for brevity)
Ohio State has to replace its top two tight ends from last season in Kacmarek and Klare, with Klare leaving a year of eligibility behind to enter the NFL draft. Even so, the Buckeyes should have strong depth at tight end once again after bringing in Welcing from Northwestern and Williams from Ohio – both of them were starters at their previous schools – while Christian and Roberts return after seeing regular playing time last season.
While Ohio State surely would have liked to have Klare back for another season, none of the departures from this unit came as big surprises, and the Buckeyes did a solid job rebuilding the room by adding two veteran transfers who should be capable of leading Ohio State at tight end in 2026.
Offensive Line (15)
Returners (10): Austin Siereveld (Starting LT in 2025), Luke Montgomery (Starting LG in 2025), Carson Hinzman (Starting C in 2025), Phillip Daniels (Starting RT in 2025), Joshua Padilla (Rotational RG in 2025), Gabe VanSickle (Rotational RG in 2025), Ian Moore (No. 3 OT in 2025), Deontae Armstrong (Third-String OT in 2025), Carter Lowe (Third-String OT in 2025), Jake Cook (Third-String G in 2025)
... (rest of the data is omitted for brevity)
