Quite often, the recruiting star changes that stick with OSU fans are those of disrespect — a kid commits to OSU and then goes from a four-star to a three-star, or decommits from OSU and commits elsewhere and jumps from a three-star to a four-star — but new Pokes pledge Jelani McDonald is helping rewrite that narrative.
McDonald committed to OSU at the beginning of July as an unranked prospect in the 2023 class with only a handful of offers (Arkansas, Colorado State, SMU and Texas Tech). When 247Sports updated its rankings this week, though, McDonald shot up significantly both in the Composite and in the 247Sports rankings.