Ohio State will have plenty of new faces as spring practices approaches as the Buckeyes turn the page from their national championship season.

All but five of the 26 high school recruits who signed with the Buckeyes in December enrolled in school for the spring semester, allowing them to participate in 15 practices that will be held through the middle of next month. Here are five to keep an eye on during the coming weeks.

I’ll try to keep my mouth shut because I think we’ve got to prove a lot of different things,” coach Luke Fickell said Thursday.

Everything second-year quarterback Jake Merklinger said during his time with the press following Wednesday's practice

Also new to the team is walk-on backup quarterback Bubba Thompson, a former McGill-Toolen star who spent the last eight years playing professional baseball. The 26-year-old Thompson was a first-round pick of the Texas Rangers in 2017, and played a total of 109 major-league games with the Rangers and Cincinnati Reds from 2022-24.

Ideally, Alabama would be at full tilt during spring practice, but the chance to build depth is a silver lining.

Ohio State lost its all-time leading pass-catcher after the 2024 season and it might not skip a beat in 2025. But that isn’t the most intriguing thing about the room. While OSU’s wide receivers spend this spring building on all the young talent that established itself amongst the nation’s best,

He made 12 contested catches on 24 targets in 2024, five more than any Auburn player, according to Pro Football Focus. Fields and Cam Coleman have the potential to emerge as a one-two punch as jump ball threats, with Singleton and Malcolm Simmons balancing the room with their speed and elusiveness.

This spring is an important one as the Buckeyes have to replace starters Lathan Ransom, Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock.