Ohio State Fighting Two Big Ten Rivals for Critical Defensive Recruit

The Ohio State Buckeyes are the class of the Big Ten right now, even if they have lost four straight meetings to their archrival Michigan Wolverines.

Ryan Day's club just won the national championship and was clearly the most talented team in the country right now, so Michigan and everyone else in the conference is chasing Ohio State.

That means the rest of the Big Ten will have to try to one-up the Buckeyes on the recruiting trail, which is never an easy feat. Especially these days.

Well, Ohio State now finds itself locked in a recruiting battle with two of its biggest conference rivals: Michigan and Penn State.

Four-star edge rusher Jackson Ford recently visited Columbus for the second time and is closing in on a decision. However, he won't be able to finalize anything until he completes his visit with the Wolverines in Ann Arbor later this week.

What's more, Ford is a Pennsylvania native who also met with the Nittany Lions earlier in the month, so the Buckeyes have their work cut out for them when it comes to landing the pass rusher.

The good news is that Ford has had great things to say about Ohio State.

“They’re definitely a top school for me entering the final stretch here of my recruitment,” Ford said, via Eleven Warriors.

Ford doesn't even have a nominal position on 247 Sports and is listed as an "athlete," where he is ranked 18th in the country, via 247 Sports' composite rankings. He is also the eighth-ranked player in the state of Pennsylvania.

We'll see if the Buckeyes are able to best both Michigan and Penn State — not to mention numerous other power conference schools — for Ford's services.