Alabama Takes Over No. 1 From Ohio State In 2025 Recruiting Rankings

The commitment of five-star offensive tackle Ty Haywood has pushed the Crimson Tide ahead of the Buckeyes in On3's 2025 recruiting class rankings.

Jan 1, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; General view of an Ohio State Buckeyes helmet prior to the 2015 Sugar Bowl against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports / Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The Ohio State Buckeyes held the No. 1 recruiting class for the 2025 cycle across the board headed into the weekend. Things change quickly in recruiting and Saturday's success for the Crimson Tide altered rankings on one major recruiting website.

Following the announcement of five-star offensive tackle Ty Haywood committing to the Alabama Crimson Tide, On3 moved the SEC program ahead of the Buckeyes in the 2025 recruiting class rankings.

RISING TIDE! 📈🐘

Alabama now has the nation's No. 1 recruiting class after landing 5-star OT Ty Haywood‼️

Read: https://t.co/F5EBib3yrP pic.twitter.com/cEXaVpj1Pz

— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) July 14, 2024

The Buckeyes remain in the top spot on 247 Sports and Rivals at this very moment.

Part of why this commitment helped the Crimson Tide so much on On3's site is because Haywood is ranked slightly higher there compared to any other website. On3 lists the 6'4", 297-pound tackle from Denton, Texas as their No. 3 prospect at the position. 247 Sports lists him at No. 4 and Rivals has him at No. 5.

Haywood chose Alabama over Oklahoma, Florida State and TCU. This decision was announced after the announcement of five-star wide receiver Caleb Cunningham also chose the Crimson Tide over Auburn, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

These two major commitments for Kalen DeBoer's program takes Alabama to 23 commits, the same number of commits as the Buckeyes. The difference is that the Buckeyes only have three five-star prospects with On3, while Alabama now has four five-star prospects.

Even if Alabama jumps the Buckeyes in the rankings on every single major recruiting website, that may only be temporary. The Buckeyes have several opportunities to land some more top prospects within the next month. Five-star safety Trey McNutt announces his commitment on July 19th, five-star wide receiver Vernell Brown III announces his commitment on July 21st and five-star offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. is set to announce his commitment on August 17th.

McNutt feels like the longest shot for the Buckeyes of this group of three excellent prospects. If Ohio State manages to even snag one of these three in the near future, then they will be in prime position to go back to the top spot.