Chris Henry Jr., son of the late NFL wide receiver and adopted son of former NFL cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones, committed to Ohio State on Friday. Henry, a Class of 2026 wide receiver from Withrow University High School in Cincinnati, received an offer from the Buckeyes on June 6, 2022, shortly before his freshman year of high school. “I just felt like I was ready. I was just tired of waiting,” Henry told ESPN. “I already knew where I wanted to go. So when I went back there, it just already felt like home and I already felt like this is where I wanted to be.” Chris Henry Sr., whose NFL career was hampered by multiple arrests, died in December 2009 when he fell out of the back of a pickup truck during a domestic dispute. Jones, the younger Henry’s adoptive father, was a close friend and teammate of Chris Henry Sr.’s at West Virginia from 2002 to 2004. Jones told ESPN in May that the “sky’s the limit” for 6-foot-4, 185-pound Henry because of his ball awareness, his ability to track the deep ball and the fluidity with which he runs his routes. Henry, who also strongly considered Georgia, Clemson and USC, is the first 2026 commit for Buckeyes coach Ryan Day and offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Brian Hartline as the program continues to seek highly ranked receivers. “They’re just letting me know that I’m their priority guy,” Henry said of Day and Hartline. “Every time I go up there, every time we speak, they’re just letting me know that I’m their guy, that they wanted me bad.” Since Hartline became the Buckeyes’ wide receivers coach in 2018, Ohio State has signed 18 ESPN 300 wide receivers.
Four-star cornerback Aaron Scott committed to Ohio State on Sunday. Scott (No. 49 overall in the 2024 ESPN 300) becomes the sixth top-50 prospect for Ohio State’s class, which ESPN has ranked third — just ahead of Michigan. “I feel like whoever I see myself playing for and how the coaches interact with me the most, that’s where I feel like my decision will be,” Scott told ESPN in April. With an eye keenly focused on who will develop him the best and help him eventually get to the NFL, the Springfield, Ohio, native decided to stay home and turned down offers from Michigan and Oregon to join the Buckeyes. He took official visits to all three schools last month. He told ESPN that his father grew up an avid fan of the Buckeyes, so the program had a built-in advantage because it was all he knew growing up. Last season, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Scott recorded 21 tackles with three tackles for loss while intercepting five passes (returning two for TDs) for Springfield High School (Ohio).
