Jake Diebler and the Ohio State basketball team received its second commitment in their 2026 recruiting class when Upper Arlington power forward Alex Smith (6-8, 195) pledged his services to the Buckeyes.
He chose Ohio State over offers from Cincinnati, Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio and Xavier, joining Cleveland Garfield Heights five-star point guard Marcus Johnson (6-1, 175) – who committed in April – in the 2026 cycle.
Some of Smith’s bigger offers didn’t come until recently, receiving five of them in the month of August, but he ultimately decided he wants to go to college in Columbus, a few minutes down the road from his high school.
His offer from Ohio State came after he participated in one of the Buckeyes’ recruiting camps. While he is unranked by 247Sports composite ranking currently, Diebler liked what he saw enough at that camp to extend an offer of June 17.
Since Diebler was named the full-time head coach for the Buckeyes, he has been on fire on the recruiting trail in both prep and the transfer portal, receiving commitments from Smith, Johnson and 2025 recruit Cleveland Richmond Heights four-star shooting guard Dorian Jones (6-4, 160), while also bringing in Meechie Johnson, Aaron Bradshaw, Ques Glover, Micah Parrish and Sean Stewart from the portal.
The Buckeyes could still look to add more to its 2026 class to go with Smith and Johnson. Jones is currently the only commitment in the Buckeyes 2025 class.
