Ohio State won some massive recruiting fights in Florida after Urban Meyer took over in Columbus and turned the state into a major battleground for the Buckeyes.

They landed Joey Bosa in 2013 and Johnnie Dixon in 2014 to open the floodgates, and they rattled off wins for Nick Bosa, Torrance Gibson, Jamel Dean, Shaun Wade, Trevon Grimes, Nicholas Petit-Frere and Taron Vincent as part of 18 Florida signees over those six recruiting classes (2013-18).

Ohio State’s work culminated in bagging three of the 10 highest-ranked players in the state (Petit-Frere, Vincent, Tyreke Johnson) in the Rivals 250 in 2018, when the Buckeyes signed a program-best five players in one class out of Florida.

The cupboard, though, had become more bare for the Buckeyes after Meyer stepped down and Ryan Day took over. Ohio State signed just one player from Florida in each of the 2019 and 2020 classes and signed none in 2021.

The Buckeyes wanted to get back into the state in a big way, marking Florida as one of its biggest target areas to attack in the 2022 and 2023 classes. The strategy is paying off.

Ohio State signed three players from Florida in 2022 and put an even stronger emphasis on the state in the 2023 cycle.

The returns have been tremendous thus far.

Ohio State landed two Florida commitments last Sunday, one from receiver Bryson Rodgers (a native of Warren, Ohio) and cornerback Dijon Johnson, both from the Tampa area. Rodgers and Johnson make up a total of eight players who have committed to Ohio State over the past two cycles as the Buckeyes have hit the state hard in the four biggest areas of the state for talent: