The Ohio State transfers who will matter most in 2026: A definitive ranking of who will make the biggest impact

Ranking all 18 of the Buckeyes' 2026 transfers by the impact they'll make this fall.

Linebacker Christian Alliegro joined the Buckeyes this offseason after three years at Wisconsin. (Photo courtesy of OSU football)

COLUMBUS — This is for posterity, so that you can tell me how wrong my offseason opinions were when everyone in Ohio State’s 2026 transfer class is thriving in the fall.

In case you missed it earlier this week, we talked about transfers on our Wednesday subscriber show: What we think of OSU’s class, how it compares to the classes of some other national title contenders, and, ultimately, what kind of impact we expect this group to have. Doug and I then drafted the class based on who we think will perform best and who we’re most confident will play meaningful roles.

You can listen to that whole show here.

Consider this a companion piece, because I wanted to get down in writing my full 1-18 projections for this class. You’ll notice that it doesn’t entirely reflect the outcome of our draft, but that’s because my mind was changed by some of our discussion.

At any rate, here are my rankings for you to bookmark and throw back in my face sometime this fall.

18. Brady Young, P, Houston Christian

Young isn’t a real threat to challenge Joe McGuire for the starting punting job, which means he’s a backup punter, which means he’s last on this list.

17. Vasean Washington, OL, Dartmouth

He wasn’t a multi-year starter at Dartmouth. He’s going to be a depth piece here.

16. Justyn Martin, QB, Maryland

It’s nice to have an old QB3, and Martin is in his fifth year. But he doesn’t have much game experience. He’s appeared in six games with one start over three years at UCLA and one at Maryland.

15. Dalton Riggs, LS, Central Florida

He’s a good long snapper. He’ll be the starter. That’s why he’s not last.