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Brady Smigiel has ruled out a commitment to Ohio State, for now, after Chip Kelly left for the NFL. He will pursue other opportunities to play college football during the continuation of his recruiting process.
The Buckeyes are not too worried about his decision.
Smigiel hails from Newbury Park, California. At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, he is rated as a four-star prospect in the college football recruiting Class of 2026— which is now the current cycle. Most major recruiting sites rank him behind Faizon Brandon, Ryder Lyons, Jared Curtis, Dia Bell and Landon Duckworth but he is a strong-armed pocket passer with real Sunday potential.
As things currently stand, the four-year starting quarterback at Newbury Park High School has 33 scholarship offers from programs all over the country. Smigiel previously committed to play at Florida State back in June but he changed his mind and decommitted at the end of January when Alex Atkins was fired as the offensive coordinator in Tallahassee.
Around that same time, Kelly took a trip out to California as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. The Buckeyes need to add depth at quarterback behind Julian Sayin while also preemptively finding his replacement. Smigiel, fresh off his decommitment, seemed like a good option. Why not see what’s up?
Thanks to National Champ Chip Kelly for coming by the house today. @ryandaytime @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/2uu9ZpLB5W
— Joe Smigiel (@joe_smigiel) January 25, 2025
Kelly was named as the new offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders just a few days later. The 61-year-old will get paid $8 million per year.
As a result, Brady Smiegel told On3 that he is no longer interested in Ohio State.
It was coach Kelly from Ohio state, but now he got the Raiders job. It’s kind of off the table right now. But I would say Washington, UCLA, Auburn, South Carolina and Michigan [are in the mix].
— Brady Smiegel
This probably will not be a huge loss for the Buckeyes. They are in competition with Georgia for Jared Curtis, the top-ranked player at the quarterback position. They don’t necessarily need a guy in this class as much as they would like one. Things could also change in the next 10 months.
Still, the departure of Chip Kelly is the primary reason Brady Smiegel is looking at other schools. Will this become a trend?