'I'm just going to compete': Why Brody Lennon joined Ohio State's 2025 recruiting class
Colin Gay2025 three-star tight end Brody Lennon was used to watching the tight end position. For most of his first two high school football seasons at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio, Lennon, a defensive end, was tasked with stopping one.
But as a junior, Lennon found a home as a âcomplete tight end,â he said, one could be an in-line blocker on duo or power run plays, or flex out wide as a receiver. To Lennon, tight end was his opportunity to showcase what he loved about football.
âYou have to be physically talented, mentally talented,â Lennon said. âItâs just a challenge to play the game, and itâs competitive all the time. So itâs fun.â
Ohio State was always Lennonâs dream school. And once he earned an offer to join the Buckeyesâ top-ranked 2025 recruiting class at OSUâs summer recruiting camp June 13, it was a no-brainer. Lennon announced his commitment Thursday after his Ohio State official visit June 21-23.
It did not matter to Lennon that in Ohio Stateâs 2025 class, he would share the limelight with Oklahoma four-star tight end Nate Roberts, who committed to the program in April. If anything, Lennon viewed it as an opportunity to do what he loves.
âIâm just going to compete,â Lennon said. âI donât really care whoâs in the room or not. Doesnât matter with stars or what anybody says. Iâm just going to compete and try to be the best player I can be. It didnât really matter how many guys were in the room or not.â
But throughout his recruiting process, Lennon said tight ends coach Keenan Bailey and Ohio State were clear. Both Lennon and Roberts were going to be weapons for the Buckeyes, sometimes even in the same formation.
Why Brody Lennon was 'sold' on Ohio State
Itâs how Gilmour Academy football coach Tom Kaufman uses a 6-foot-4, 230-pound athlete like Lennon at the high school level.
âWe literally try to utilize him in every way possible that you could utilize a big, strong athlete like that,â Kaufman said.
As a junior at Gilmour, Lennon had 750 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on 32 catches. He finished second-team All-Ohio.
And while Lennon was a top-600 prospect and a top-30 tight end nationally according to 247Sportsâ composite rankings, Kaufman remembers Bailey leaving a May workout at Gilmour impressed.
âYou could tell he was really excited,â Kaufman said.
Lennon said his relationship began with Bailey and Ohio State in February with conversations about how a tight end like him would be used in the Buckeyesâ offense. In June, Lennon had a chance to be that tight end, working out for Bailey and Ohio State at a summer recruiting camp and leaving with an offer.
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A week-and-a-half after receiving an offer from Ohio State, adding to a list that included schools like Kentucky, Wisconsin and Missouri, Lennon was on an official visit. And from the moment he arrived in Columbus, he said, âit felt right.â
âIt all just kind of sold me,â Lennon said. âThey all just showed that competitive environment. I want to be in (a place) like that, a school thatâs going to compete and make me be my best. Ohio State just sold me on that.â
How 2025 TE Brody Lennon will be used at Ohio State
While on an official visit with Roberts, Lennon said he got a preview of what they would both do in Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kellyâs scheme.
Lennon said Ohio State aims to âincorporate more 12-personnelâ with him and Roberts with the sole purpose of finding mismatches and holes in opposing defenses.
âMost linebackers arenât probably going to be able to keep up with me and Nate,â Lennon said. âWeâre both pretty fast guys. Theyâd probably want to use us as advantages of smaller, slower guys that canât really keep up with us as well.â
Lennon said he became very close to Roberts during his official visit, and said the pair are âprobably going to room togetherâ at Ohio State.
Lennon and Roberts are Ohio State's second-straight two-man tight end class after the Buckeyes landed Damarion Witten and Max LeBlanc in 2024. Ohio State originally had two tight ends in 2023 as well in Jelani Thurman and Ty Lockwood. But Lockwood ended his commitment and flipped to Alabama.
Kaufman said Lennon is not a player that had to be reassured of his role in a two-man tight end class.
âNever once did I ever hear him ask another coach like âHey, how many tight ends do you have on your roster? How many tight ends are you taking in this class?â â Kaufman said. âAs humble as he is and he doesnât have an ego, heâs extremely self confident. He believes in himself. Heâs not afraid. He doesnât back down from anybody. I donât think it would have mattered if he was the third or fourth tight end in the class. He believes in himself.â
Itâs the mentality Lennon said he plans to take into his senior season at Gilmour, playing even harder knowing that the defensive end heâs lining up against knows heâs facing an Ohio State commit.
âIf guys are going to make me work my hardest, itâs fine by me,â Lennon said.