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Ryan Day's Ohio State secures commitment of four-star LB to the Class of 2026

Modified Apr 05, 2025 14:03 GMT

Four-star linebacker CJ Sanna committed to Ohio State's 2026 class on Friday. The Olentangy High School (Ohio) standout chose Ryan Day's program schools like Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Iowa, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Missouri.

Wisconsin was seen as OSU's main competition for Sanna, and he had even scheduled an official visit to the school. However, the Buckeyes' appeal was too strong to avoid.

“My favorite things about Ohio State, the culture, the development, they got the best coaches in the country,” Bradford told On3’s following his commitment. “Columbus is a really underrated city but it’s a great city to be in.”

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Sanna had a strong junior season in 2024, racking up 97 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and seven sacks. He earned first-team all-district and third-team all-state honors in Division I.

Sanna is the No. 30 linebacker in the 2026 class and the No. 20 recruit in Ohio State, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He also placed second in Ohio in the discus last spring, with a top throw of 174 feet, 9 inches.

Ohio State's 2026 class update following CJ Sanna's commitment

CJ Sanna has become the latest addition to Ohio State's 2026 recruiting class, joining safeties Blaine Bradford and Simeon Caldwell, who also committed earlier this week. With him on board, the Buckeyes now have 10 total commits in the class, ranking No. 3 in the nation.

Sanna marks the first linebacker commit for OSU in 2026 and the fifth player from within the state to pledge to the Buckeyes. He joins cornerback Jakob Weatherspoon, offensive linemen Maxwell Riley and Sam Greer and wide receiver Jaeden Ricketts.

Time is in favor of Ryan Day and his coaching staff, as five-star wide receiver Chris Henry Jr., the top-rated player in the 2026 class, had considered a possible switch to Oregon but told On3 this week that he is now fully committed to OSU and has ended his recruitment.

Following Henry, Simeon Caldwell also shut down his recruitment on Thursday and canceled all upcoming official visits to other schools.

About the author

Maliha is a High School Sports news and listicles writer at Sportskeeda. A post graduate in Management Information Systems, it was her love for writing and sports which led her down the path of sports content creation. An experienced NBA and NFL writer, she covered the two sports extensively at SportsZion and SportsKnot before joining SportsKeeda.

Maliha is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan and is in awe of quarterback Lamar Jackson's dual-threat abilities. She also admires Tom Brady and her all-time favorite coach is 3-time Super Bowl champion Andy Reid. She is a big advocate of high school sports and believes that elite athletes reach a top level owing to the discipline, hard work, team dynamics, resilience, adaptability and self-confidence learnt by playing sports in high schools. Aaron Rodgers leading the Green Bay Packers to victory on his debut against the Minnesota Vikings is one of her fondest NFL memories.

Maliha places a high emphasis on accuracy in her content. She does thorough research, always double checks facts, and only uses information from most relevant and credible sources for her articles. When not writing, she likes to read history and biographical books.

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