Class Autopsy

Ohio State 2023 — what happened to every signee.

Ohio State’s 2023 class brought in 24 signees, including 1 five-star. 3 reached the NFL.

24
signees, National Signing Day 2023
1
five-star signees
3
reached the NFL.

The promise

1 five-star signee, ranked nationally — what the hype looked like before a single snap.

No.36National

The journey stack

One row per signee, ranked by signing-day national rank. Each chit is a stop; the line between them is a transfer. Open a row for the season-by-season record.

Brandon Inniss
No.36 national · WR
ohio-stateOSU
StayedNever transferred
Ohio State — 2023: 22.0, 2024: 27.0, 2025: 37.0
Jermaine Mathews Jr.
No.52 national · CB
ohio-stateOSU
StayedNever transferred
Ohio State — 2023: 34.0, 2024: 18.0, 2025: 66.0
Noah Rogers
No.54 national · WR
ohio-stateOSUnc-stateNCST
1 transferNC State
Ohio State — 2023: unscored
NC State — 2024: 45.0, 2025: 44.0
Carnell Tate
No.60 national · WR
ohio-stateOSU
R1 · #4Tennessee
Ohio State — 2023: 32.0, 2024: 65.0, 2025: 80.0
Tennessee · 2026 draft — No. 4 overall, round 1.
Calvin Simpson-Hunt
No.63 national · CB
ohio-stateOSUbaylorBAY
1 transferBaylor
Ohio State — 2023: 3.0, 2024: 3.0
Baylor — 2025: 3.0
Ian Moore
No.68 national · DL
ohio-stateOSU
StayedNever transferred
Ohio State — 2023: unscored, 2024: unscored, 2025: unscored
Luke Montgomery
No.93 national · IOL
ohio-stateOSU
StayedNever transferred
Ohio State — 2023: unscored, 2024: unscored, 2025: unscored
Jelani Thurman
No.105 national · TE
ohio-stateOSU
StayedNever transferred
Ohio State — 2023: 21.0, 2024: 30.0, 2025: 26.0
Joshua Mickens
No.120 national · EDGE
ohio-stateOSU
StayedNever transferred
Ohio State — 2023: unscored, 2024: 0.0, 2025: 0.0
Malik Hartford
No.152 national · S
ohio-stateOSU
StayedNever transferred
Ohio State — 2023: 11.0, 2024: 0.0, 2025: 0.0
Lincoln Kienholz
No.191 national · QB
ohio-stateOSU
StayedNever transferred
Ohio State — 2023: 21.0, 2024: unscored, 2025: 25.0
Arvell Reese
No.212 national · LB
ohio-stateOSU
R1 · #5New York
Ohio State — 2023: unscored, 2024: 31.0, 2025: 84.0
New York · 2026 draft — No. 5 overall, round 1.
Showing 12 of 24

The receipts

No recruiting service wrote a word here. The national rank was the promise; what happened next is the whole story.

Never made the league

“The No. 36 player in America.”

signed Ohio State → never drafted

Peak grade of 37 on our 0–100 scale.

The report card

Star power and cohesion are graded against all 297 qualifying classes, 2021–2023. NFL production and on-field value are graded against just the 107 other 2023 classes — a 2023 signee simply hasn’t had as many draft-eligible years as a 2021 signee, so those two dimensions compare like-for-like instead of penalizing recency. Overall GPA still ranks across all 297.

A
Star power
22 recruiting points
A
Cohesion
79% never transferred
A
NFL production
3 drafted, vs. 2023 peers
B
On-field value
mean peak grade 36.8, vs. 2023 peers

The class the draft ignored

NFL production, 2023 signing classes in Ohio State’s conference

Ohio State’s 3 draft picks against every other qualifying class its conference signed the same year.

Ohio State
drafted: 100%
3
drafted: 100%
3
drafted: 33%remaining: 67%
1
drafted: 33%remaining: 67%
1
remaining: 100%
0
remaining: 100%
0
remaining: 100%
0
remaining: 100%
0
remaining: 100%
0
remaining: 100%
0
Source CFB Index · player_recruiting_profiles + player_nfl_draft

The fine print

Other ways to read the same class.

Star-weighted retention
79%
Of the class’s combined star rating, this much stuck around.
Fed the conference
0
Transfers that landed at another program in Ohio State’s current conference.
Dropped a level
0
Signees whose portal move landed below FBS.
The quiet middle
4
Never transferred, never drafted, 3-star or below. The class nobody writes about.