Two down, two to go in the 2025 recruiting class for OSU safeties coach Matt Guerrieri

Two down, two to go in the 2025 recruiting class for OSU safeties coach Matt Guerrieri

When the Buckeyes moved on this past off-season from former safeties coach Perry Eliano, recruiting was just one of the aspects that Ohio State wanted to improve in the staff position. As the defensive scheme for the Buckeyes is very much driven by safety success, defensive coordinator Knowles knew that his next hire not only needed to know the defensive system inside and out, but also needed to be able to bring players to Columbus that could better run the high-pressure coverages.

Fortunately, the selection of Matt Guerrieri made sense in both aspects. First and foremost, the existing relationship between Guerrieri and Knowles made for a seamless transition. The former not only worked for the latter at Duke, but he also spent the 2022 season on Ohio State’s staff before going to Indiana to be their co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Guerrieri likely knows Knowles’ system better than anyone else available to take the job, so his addition should be a major improvement for the Buckeyes’ on-field production.

Secondly, Guerrieri has wasted no time in the recruiting efforts and has shown that he has no problem going up against the top programs in the country for the best players on OSU’s board. Knowing how important it is to this defensive class to bring in up to four safety commits, the Buckeyes are halfway there and have multiple top targets left on their leaderboard for who needs to and who will round out the rest of this class specifically on the back end.

Two down, two to go for 2025

For those who follow recruiting, the safety spot at Ohio State is off to a great start in the 2025 cycle. From the jump, the class has a very impressive stock of talent at the position, and the Buckeyes have been a major player for many of those top prospects nationally. As Tim Walton is absolutely crushing it at cornerback recruiting, Guerrieri is trying to keep pace. His position group now sits at two members with two spots left up for grabs.

In the last three weeks, Ohio State has added the commitments of DeShawn Stewart and Cody Haddad. Both are currently three-star prospects, and while their rankings might not be as high as many fans and onlookers would like, that can likely be ignored for the time being for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, the staff isn’t going to accept commitments from guys — especially this early — that they don’t fully believe can get the job done. If Ohio State is taking these kids in April, it’s for a reason. Not to mention, typically when a player commits to the Buckeyes an inevitable rankings boost tends to follow shortly thereafter.

Starting with Stewart, the New Jersey native is the No. 294 player nationally and the 25th-best safety in the class per the 247Sports Composite Rankings. An athlete who was very closely linked to Penn State for some time, the Buckeyes landed his pledge on the last weekend of March when he was able to visit the team for spring practice and clearly came away needing to see nothing else.

A scheduled visit to Penn State is still slated for June, but time will tell if that actually takes place. Right now, DeShawn is locked in with the Buckeyes and is a welcomed member of the 2025 class that needs to find some safeties to replace Lathan Ransom — who will exhaust his eligibility after this year — Cedric Hawkins who is entering the transfer portal, and more.

Moving on to the latest commit, in-state product Haddad gave his commitment to the Buckeyes this past weekend while on campus for the spring game and it was a major win, to say the least. A one-time Wisconsin commit, Haddad quickly re-opened his recruitment when Ohio State started to work their way into his process. Multiple visits after getting his OSU offer showed that Haddad almost certainly wanted to be a Buckeye, and on Saturday he sealed his decision.

The No. 519 player nationally and 29th best athlete per the 247Sports Composite Rankings, this is one pledge where you can totally ignore the grades. A simple five minutes of watching his highlight film will tell you all you need to know about why Ohio State is so high on him.

A hard-hitting, downhill athlete, Haddad brings an old-school style of play to the field and is willing to strike anything in his sights. He is likely lacking in the rankings due to only playing four games in his junior campaign, but it’s going to be no surprise when he sees his stock increase in the coming months, especially during his senior campaign.

Overall, both of these guys are legitimate players who the staff expects to see the field during their careers. Not just depth pieces either, yes Ohio State is going to still chase the top-ranked players at safety down the stretch, but these two additions are big-time gets and should be treated as such.

Where to go from here for the next in line

All that said, the Buckeyes still have work to do. As always, recruiting always starts at home for Ohio State and that will be the case with the top safety in the country thanks to Ohio native and Buckeye legacy, Trey McNutt.

The No. 24 player nationally and top safety in the 2025 class per the 247Sports Composite grades, McNutt has long been on Ohio State’s radar, but the Buckeyes are working hard to get the job done. McNutt is going to take his time during the recruiting process, and even though Trey’s father Richard played for Ohio State, that doesn’t mean that this a done deal by any means.

Yes, the Buckeyes are in a good position, but fending off the other top suitors is a full-time job, and this staff is hoping they’ll have done enough to win out in the end. Regardless, when you have the top player at the position within your own state, that is a recruitment that this staff usually wins… and needs to do so again.

The back end of the defense is going to have multiple areas to replenish after this season and Ohio natives from the 2023 and 2024 classes will be first in line to fill the voids. The Buckeyes are hoping that they can continue their elite run of success within their own borders with McNutt’s eventual commitment.

With McNutt being the No. 1 safety on OSU’s board, the second is Maryland native, Faheem Delane. Maybe the safety Ohio State has recruited the hardest this cycle, Delane’s name has been mentioned as much as anyone’s, and for good reason. The No. 30 player nationally and second-best safety per the 247Sports Composite Rankings, the Buckeyes already have the top two cornerbacks in the class, and landing the pair of McNutt and Delane would give them the top two safeties too.

For many reasons, Ohio State is circling in on these two top targets the most to complete the haul of four safeties. The class could certainly be at just three if they were to lose a player, but four here is the goal. Other names such as Kainoa Winston and even Dorian Brew who likely could play either cornerback or safety at the next level are going to also be continued themes the rest of the way, but make no mistake about it, Ohio State is targeting both Trey and Faheem the rest of this cycle to finish what could be an epic haul of defensive backs.