COLUMBUS — A couple of notes on things we’ve heard about Ohio State football over the last few days.
1. Ryan Day said something that got my ears perked up last Saturday when he was asked to run through some freshmen who have impressed him so far in camp, and he mentioned the possibility of some young guys playing on the defensive line. He didn’t mention any specific names, but the program announced shortly after Day’s press conference that defensive end Khary Wilder had lost his black stripe.
Wilder was the fifth-highest-ranked player in Ohio State’s 2026 recruiting class, an edge from California ranked No. 54 overall in the country. When the Buckeyes are allocating money for high school prospects, they think of some as “first-round” type players who should be contributing in some capacity in year one. Wilder is one of those players, and it sounds like he’s making a push to make an impact.
“Khary has gotten much better from the spring to now,” fifth-year defensive end Beau Atkinson said this week. “He’s playing faster and more confident. I see that a lot from him.”