2024 OT Ben Roebuck looks to continue tradition, waits for Ohio State offer
Ben Roebuck spent his summer camping at some of the top college football programs in the country.
The 2024 offensive tackle’s final stop of his three-camp tour was Ohio State, after sessions at both Clemson and Notre Dame. At the other two, he said, there were more players vying for the coaches’ attention, while the Buckeyes gave him an opportunity to work closely with offensive line coach Justin Frye.
“It was a really cool experience,” Roebuck said. “Going to camps, it’s really one of the main things you go for is to get coached by these professional coaches. It was very interesting. I think it helped me and my game a lot.”
But nothing that Roebuck did was anything new to him.
The 6-foot-7, 320-pound offensive tackle comes from St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio, a program that produced former Ohio State and first-team All-Big Ten guard Alex Boone and former Michigan and second-team All-American guard Kyle Kalis.
“Half of the drills we did out there were, I mean it was things that with our O-line coach, we go over daily,” Roebuck said. “I mean, I think it’s just something, the way that my school’s O-line coach teaches it and like how we run our offense, it really just prepares you for the next level because it’s really what they run at the next level.”
Roebuck is starting to make a name for himself at St. Edward.
After taking over the starting right guard position three games into his sophomore season, it’s one he hasn’t given up, heading into his junior season as the prospective starting left tackle for the Eagles heading into the fall.
The No. 4 tackle in the 2024 class is also one of the biggest, something that Roebuck’s been able to navigate through his first two seasons of high school football.
"I think it’s really just my ability to move at my size,” Roebuck said of what programs like about his play. “I’m one of the bigger O-tackles and I move really well for my size. I’ve been told that by a couple coaches.”
It’s something that’s given Roebuck attention from programs around the country, but especially in the Big Ten, earning offers from Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers and Wisconsin.
But just like 2024 three-star tackle Ian Moore, who left Ohio State’s camp with an offer, and 2024 tackle Derek Jensen, who Roebuck worked with for most of the session, he sensed something unique about Ohio State, something he couldn’t quite understand until he got onto the practice field for the first time with the staff.
“That’s definitely something that you can just feel outside,” Roebuck said. “It’s just the vibe that it gives off is success and winning.”
Roebuck didn’t leave his camp session at Ohio State with an offer. But he remains interested in Frye and the program itself, calling a prospective offer “enticing.”
“I think I’m going to keep my commitment going throughout next summer, take my officials,” he said. “I think it would definitely be one of the schools at the top there.”
But Ohio State is still giving the 2024 four-star tackle love even without an offer, saying the Buckeyes, Clemson, Penn State and Michigan State are the programs he’s talking with most.
Roebuck is in no rush to make a decision. The 2024 tackle said he wants to come back to Ohio Stadium this fall for a game, but doesn’t know what he wants out of a school quite yet.
Instead, he’s just focused on following in the footsteps of Boone and Kalis as closely as he can.
“It’s kind of just understood that we want to keep carrying that tradition on,” Roebuck said.