BOOM!!! Nation’s No. 1 safety Blaine Bradford commits to Ohio State
The Ohio State football team has been busy the last couple weeks as spring practices have started. The coaching staff is hard at work with this current crop of Buckeyes and getting ready for the upcoming season, where every team will be giving Ohio State their best shot trying to dethrone the reigning champs.
Another big aspect of spring ball is recruiting, which has been dominating the Ohio State football headlines as of late. It seems like every day Ohio State is playing host to a handful of the nation’s top recruits, as well as seeing another handful of recruits schedule upcoming visits.
The hard work continues to pay off, as Ohio State opened the week earning one of the more surprising commitments of the cycle from one of the nation’s most coveted recruits when 2026 five-star safety Blaine Bradford announced on Monday that he is now the newest member of Ohio State’s recruiting class.
Bradford chose to commit to Ohio State over the likes of Texas, LSU, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oregon, Alamaba, Michigan and more than a dozen others. He has official visits scheduled with the Buckeyes, Texas and LSU this summer, but following a weekend unofficial visit with Ohio State, he felt comfortable enough to announce his pledge to the Buckeyes.
The commitment was a major victory for Ohio State safety coach Matt Guerrieri, who was successful in securing an elite safety in last year’s cycle with Faheem Delane. It is unknown right now if he will still take the upcoming official visits to LSU and Texas, but he did mention he thinks he is ready to shut his recruitment down.
Bradford is the eighth commitment for the Buckeyes in the 2026 recruiting cycle and Ohio State now sits at No. 7 in the 247Sports Class Rankings. He joins a class headlined by the likes of five-star wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. and Ohio offensive tackle Maxwell Riley.
He is the No. 1 safety in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 23 overall recruit. He is also the No. 2 recruit out of the talent-rich state of Louisiana. For more on what Bradford could bring to Ohio State, below is his scouting report from Gabe Brooks of 247Sports:
Good-sized safety who presents a linebacker play style/mentality. Could become a special teams demon. Physical, accelerates on a line, arrives with power. Possesses frame space to add mass if off-ball linebacker is a desired long-term home. Flies downhill. […] Relishes tone-setting aspect as a striker. […] Also plays baseball and got some track reps in Spring 2024 (11.73 100, 4×100 relay). […] Projects as a high-major recruit who could become a multi-year starter with potential beyond college.
Quick Hits
Ohio State is far from finished hosting recruits on spring recruiting visits. The unofficial visits will continue over the next month or so, including for the Buckeyes annual Spring Game, which creates one of the best recruiting environments in the offseason all across the nation.
As a result, Ohio State will continue to see the nation’s top recruits schedule upcoming visits with the Buckeyes for this spring. Below are just some of the recruits to announce an upcoming visit to Columbus:
- 2027 four-star RB Amir Brown
