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The Ohio State Buckeyes went crashing out of the College Football Playoff with a 24-14 loss to Miami in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve, and things haven’t gotten much better in Columbus in the days since.
The Buckeyes have lost several notable members of their 2025 team to the transfer portal, including wide receiver Quincy Porter, who many projected as a future star, and starting guard Tegra Tshabola, among a host of others.
Ohio State portal entries so far, with 9 Days left in the portal:
– QB Lincoln Keinholz
– RB James Peoples
– RB Sam Williams Dixon
– WR Quincy Porter
– WR Mylan Graham
– WR Bryson Rodgers
– WR Damarion Witten
– TE Jaleni Thurman
– IOL Tegra Tshabola
– IOL Jayvon McFadden…— Swish (@swishxvibes) January 7, 2026
Now it sounds as if things could get even worse for Ohio State, with star freshman running back Bo Jackson potentially testing the waters of the transfer portal.
Bo Jackson Wants A Big Payday From Ohio State
Jackson, a four-star running back in the class of 2025 out of Cleveland, won the starting job for the Buckeyes by the end of the year and racked up 1,090 yards and six touchdowns on 179 carries, good enough for a 6.1 yards per carry average.
Now, he’s looking to get paid for his production.
Longtime Ohio State recruiting reporter Jeremy Birmingham appeared on his YouTube show, The Beat with Austin & Birm, on Thursday and reported that Jackson is threatening to leave the Buckeyes unless he sees a major pay raise in 2026.
“From what I understand, the request from that side is more than what (former Ohio State RB) TreVeyon’s (Henderson) salary was for the New England Patriots this year,” Birmingham said. “And more than both TreVeyon and Quinshon (Judkins) made here in their final year at Ohio State.”
That is quite the ask.
According to Spotrac, Henderson made a base salary of $840,000 this year with the Patriots. Anything above that number would make Jackson among the highest-paid running backs in the entire country in 2026.
While Jackson certainly had a strong freshman campaign, it’ll be interesting to see if the Buckeyes will be willing to break the bank at what is not considered a premium position in the NIL market.