COLUMBUS, Ohio — The days of simply collecting as many five-star talents as possible in college football recruiting are over.
In a revealing Buckeye Talk podcast episode, Ohio State analysts Stephen Means and Andrew Gillis detailed how the program has shifted to a more sophisticated “roster construction” approach that mirrors NFL team building more than traditional college recruiting.
“I think that because the financial aspect has come into this but also just logical roster building that has become more of a focal point than star, star, star, star, stars,” explained Stephen Means. “Because for a long time, college football was like, get as much talent as you humanly can, develop it, cuz you were living in a world where the top 1% of college football had all the talent. And that’s not true anymore.”
This fundamental shift in philosophy is perhaps most evident in how Gillis described Ohio State’s running back recruiting needs for the 2027 class. While five-star David Gabriel Georgees tops their board, the approach is more nuanced than just stacking elite talent.
“If they got three five stars running backs, the odds that we got on this podcast and said that’s actually probably not that good is higher than it might seem because we were saying why is your asset management this? Like because hey, look at your your receiver recruiting was down. You couldn’t have spent some of that money on a receiver,” Gillis explained.
The financial component of recruiting has transformed how Ohio State approaches each position group and recruiting class. It’s no longer just about who’s the best player available, but whether investing heavily in one position might shortchange another.
“It is a math equation. It is a money equation at this point. You’re not going to go get three five stars at running back in a single class,” Gillis emphasized.
Means further elaborated on how NIL money has forced this change: “You can’t pay a fivestar recruit, fivestar recruit money and then have the guy sitting on the bench because there’s another guy with there’s only so much money to go around.”
This strategic approach has Ohio State looking at players through different lenses: “ready to go” immediate contributors (typically five-stars and top-100 recruits), “developmental” prospects (usually ranked 200-350 nationally), and “depth” pieces who might be ranked lower but fill specific roles.
The analysts identified several instances where this approach is evident in Ohio State’s 2027 planning. At quarterback, they’re content with a developmental prospect in Brady Edmonds rather than chasing another five-star. At wide receiver, despite already having five-star Jir Brown committed, they believe Ohio State needs another elite receiver plus two depth pieces to properly structure the room.
“Now we are talking about roster construction,” Means said. “And the reason why we structured it this way is okay, they went and got a devel they have a developmental quarterback in 2027. They probably need a ready to go quarterback in 2028 and they probably need a depth quarterback in 2029. And the cycle continues, right?”
This staggered approach ensures Ohio State will have players at different stages of development at every position, creating a sustainable pipeline of talent ready to contribute when needed.
“Everybody everybody’s running the same race, but they can’t be running it at the same pace or you’re not going to have a team to field every single year,” Means added.
The conversation revealed how Ohio State’s recruiting approach now more closely resembles NFL roster management, with considerations for “salary cap” (NIL budget), positional value, and development timelines all factoring into decisions that previously might have been simply about collecting the highest-ranked players available.
As college football continues to evolve in the NIL era, this strategic roster construction philosophy may become the new standard for elite programs looking to maintain sustainable success.
Here’s the podcast for this week:
