Ohio State added one other coveted prospect to its top-ranked recruiting class on Saturday when five-star linebacker Riley Pettijohn dedicated to the Buckeyes stay on 247Sports. Pettijohn selected Ohio State over Texas, Texas A&M and USC to present the Buckeyes yet one more massive win on the path.

Pettijohn is getting into his senior yr at McKinney Excessive Faculty in McKinney, Texas. Along with starring on the soccer subject for McKinney, Pettijohn has excelled in observe, posting a ten.7 second 100-meter sprint time as a junior. That velocity interprets nicely to the soccer subject, the place he posted 125 tackles in 2023.

He additionally comes from a robust soccer pedigree. His father, Duke Pettijohn, starred on the defensive position for Syracuse from 1997-2000. Riley Pettijohn is taken into account the nation’s No. 5 linebacker prospect by 247Sports and is ranked the No. 10 general prospect from the state of Texas.

“Athletic quantity tackler who can match a number of off-ball linebacker roles in various schemes,” wrote 247Sports scouting analyst Gabe Brooks in an analysis of Pettijohn. “Effectively-developed construct with a stout, athletic base. Early on, regarded like a candidate to in the end play off the sting, however now clearly belongs as a conventional linebacker who displays broad pursuit vary with glorious verified athleticism to bolster his long-term projection.”

Pettijohn is Ohio State’s twenty third dedication within the 2025 class and the tenth who’s ranked contained in the top-100 of the Top247 Rankings. His pledge softens the blow after the Buckeyes struck out on one other front-seven prospect, four-star linebacker Justin Hill, earlier within the month when the in-stater dedicated to Alabama.