One top wide receiver is set to commit this weekend.

The No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes will finally take to the field on Saturday as they open the 2-24 college football season against the Akron Zips at 3:30 p.m. ET in a game to be broadcast on CBS. However, despite the fact that the season is now officially at hand, that doesn’t mean that recruiting has stopped… or even really slowed down.

Over the past two days, the Buckeyes have picked up crystal ball predictions to land three different blue-chip prospects, one in each of the next three recruiting classes. Let’s run through each of the players currently projected to be Buckeyes, with one little bonus nugget thrown in.

Phillip Bell | Wide Receiver | No. 184 in 2025 Recruiting Class

The first prospect on the list, at least in terms of commitment date. is 2025 four-star wide receiver Phillip Bell. He is the No. 184 player in his recruiting cycle and the No. 19 WR and 16th-rated player in the state of California according to 247Sports Composite Rankings. The Mission Viejo native is set to announce his college commitment on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. ET (likely sometime in the fourth quarter of OSU’s game against Akron). Bell is down to two schools. In addition to the Buckeyes, the USC Trojans are also finalists, but it currently appears that he is set to spurn the in-state power in order to choose the Men of Troy’s new conference rival.

In June On3’s director of recruiting Chad Simmons and vice president of recruiting Steve Wiltfong put in predictions for Bell to land in Columbus, well, yesterday On3’s Oregon reporter Max Torres and USC reporter Scott Schrader both joined the chorus of Buckeye predictions. The recent onslaught of OSU prognostications has moved On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine to spit out a 92.1% chance of Bell committing to the Buckeyes on Saturday, with USC holding just a 2% possibility.

Check Out Phillip Bell’s Highlights:

Aiden Harris | Defensive Line | No. 42 in 2026 Recruiting Class

Next on the crystal ball list is the latest top prospect on Larry Johnson’s radar. Aiden Harris is the No. 42 player in the 2026 cycle according to 247Sports Composite Rankings and the No. 2 defensive lineman and fourth-ranked player out of North Carolina. On Monday, 247Sports’ Anna Adams logged a crystal ball prediction for the Buckeyes noting that the program is the standalone leader in his recruitment.

Harris is going through the recruitment process along with his twin brother Drew Harris (who also has an offer from Ohio State) and his first cousin Thomas Davis Jr. who recently said that Notre Dame was his No. 1 school with OSU in the second spot. Drew and Aiden live with their cousin Thomas, whose dad — Thomas Davis — was a three-time Pro Bowler and Walter Payton Man of the Year during his 15-year NFL career, primarily with the Carolina Panthers.

None of the three have yet indicated that they are a package deal in any way, but obviously having family to go through the process with can be helpful in figuring out your priorities.

Watch Aiden Harris’ Highlights:

Brady Edmunds | Quarterback | No. 14 in 2027 Recruiting Class

Next up is the latest in Ohio State’s ever-impressive line of top quarterback recruits, Brady Edmunds. While Ryan Day and company have had a problem holding onto highly-rated QBs at times (looking at you Quinn and Dylan), with Julian Sayin and Air Nolan in the fold, Chip Kelly now running the offense, and Day’s track record of producing QBs, it is obvious to see why top signal callers around the country are as interested in OSU as ever.

Since Edmunds has yet to begin his sophomore season, the 247Sports Composite Rankings haven’t been tabulated yet. However, 247 has him as the No. 14 player in the cycle, the No. 2 QB, and the third-rated player out of California. Despite his age, he is already 6-foot-5 and weighs 200 pounds and threw for 2,691 yards and 24 touchdowns as a freshman for Huntington Beach High School last fall.

There is obviously a long way to go in his recruitment, but on Tuesday, both 247’s national recruiting analyst Greg Biggins and On3’s Chad Simmons logged predictions in favor of the Buckeyes. Given the aforementioned drama surrounding top QB recruits and Ohio State in recent years, I don’t know that I would consider this a slam dunk, but the fact that multiple well-respected voices in the recruiting world put their predictions on the record on the same day, certainly is something to pay attention to. Biggins notes that Edmunds plans to soon trim his list of contenders to a final five and then make a commitment by the end of the year.

It certainly would not be the first time that OSU landed a five-star prospect incredibly early in the process and he became the cornerstone of his specific class and embraced the role of being a de facto recruiting coordinator for the class. So, if Edmunds wants to take on that role for the 2027 cycle, then we would welcome him with open arms.

Take a look at Brady Edmunds highlights:

Quick Hit:

In addition to the Aiden Harris crystal ball logged by 247Sports’ Anna Adams, she also made note that another North Carolina defensive lineman could be on the verge of committing to the Buckeyes. She said that there is reason to believe that Zavion Griffin-Haynes could be committing soon, and she said, “If that’s the case I like the Buckeyes…”

Griffin-Haynes is the No. 114 player in the 2026 class according to 247Sports Composite Rankings. He is also the No. 11 edge rusher in the cycle and No. 9 player from the Tar Heel State.