Ohio State Poised For Recruiting Battle With Michigan, Penn State And Others For 4-Star

The Ohio State Buckeyes are in the running for a big-time commitment from 4-star defensive lineman Damari Simeon, but it's going to be a tough fight.

Simeon is from Richland, New Jersey and he's an elite defensive line prospect. According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, he's the No. 26 defensive lineman in the 2026 class. Notably, On3 is much higher on him as a recruit, ranking him as the No. 7 defensive lineman in the nation.

He checks in at 6-foot-3, 275 pounds, which isn't half bad size for a recruit who hasn't even played his senior season of high school ball yet.

On Monday, Simeon announced on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that he'll be making a decision later this week. Ohio State is in his Top 4, as is Michigan, Penn State and Texas.

The big defensive lineman recruit just came off an official visit to Columbus. He visited Ohio State the weekend of June 20th, which capped off a run that saw him take officials with all the schools in his final grouping.

If recency bias is a thing on the recruiting trail, which it is, this is good news for the Buckeyes. The thing that may go against OSU in this one is the fact that Ryan Day and primary recruiter Larry Johnson were late to the party on this one.

Simeon has reportedly long been considered a top target for Penn State and the Nittany Lions offered him back in July of 2024. Ohio State offered him in February of 2025, though the Buckeyes clearly made up a ton of ground over the past few months.

Ohio State's No. 5-ranked 2026 recruiting class doesn't have a true defensive lineman committed just yet, so that could also be something that works in the Buckeyes' favor. To that point, the Nittany Lions have two defensive linemen committed to their No. 8-ranked class, though Simeon would undoubtedly be the cream of the crop.

Stay tuned. This will be interesting.