Ohio State football to lose key defensive back to transfer portal

The Ohio State football program has, by and large, not been hit too hard with key transfer portal departures since the advent of all of the noise it has made in earnest. Every program has been hit, but the stability and success of OSU has kept most of the top-line players on board.

And so far, after being eliminated by Miami in the Cotton Bowl of a College Football Playoff quarterfinal, the Buckeyes have seen some significant defections, but nothing considered key, until now. A former high 4-star recruit in the 2023 recruiting class, Aaron Scott Jr. was expected to be a big part of the cornerback rotation, and should have been in line to compete for a starting spot next season because of the graduations upcoming on the Buckeyes' roster.

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However, on Saturday, multiple reports surfaced that Scott was intending to enter his name in the transfer portal. It's a surprise, at least to outside onlookers and media, and there has yet to be any indication of why Scott is on the move.

Ohio State will now have to reconsider how things will look in the secondary with 2025 starting cornerback Davison Igbinosun and starting nickelback Lorenzo Styles Jr. set to graduate from the program. We are also still waiting for word on whether or not Jermaine Matthews Jr. will declare for the NFL draft or not.

OSU has options. Devin Sanchez received a lot of playing time this past season and should be next up to replace Igbinosun, and the Buckeyes are rumored to be in the running for a couple of incoming transfers as well. However, Scott is a key loss along with his fellow Ohio cornerback class commit, Bryce West, who also announced his entry into the portal.

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The portal giveth and taketh, and in this case, it looks like it sucked in a talented part of the plans for the future on the back-end of the defense.

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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State football will lose key defensive back to transfer portal