Texas Linebacker Rasheem Biles Says Ohio State Called Him in the Portal. He Told Them No.

Rasheem Biles grew up in Columbus, Ohio. He went to Pickerington High School, less than 20 miles from Ohio State's campus. The Buckeyes never offered him a scholarship.

Three years and 183 tackles later at Pitt, Biles says Ohio State finally came calling, after he entered the transfer portal in January. He turned them down flat.

"I ain't really trying to be in Columbus. I ain't trying to be a Buckeye," Biles said, according to CJ Vogel of OnTexasFootball. "They didn't want me out of high school and I was right there, so ain't no point in trying to get me now."

Biles committed to Texas instead. He's a senior now, coming off a career year: 101 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and two interceptions in 2025, according to figures reported by Saturday Down South and thescore.com.

The timing lines up with a real need. Ohio State lost both starting linebackers, Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, to the 2026 NFL Draft's first round, according to scarletandgame.com. The Buckeyes ended up adding Wisconsin transfer Christian Alliegro to fill the gap. Biles says he was another name on that call sheet.

Out of high school, OSU wasn't the only program that passed

Biles was a three-star recruit in the 2023 class, according to 247Sports rankings cited by Newsweek. He collected 13 scholarship offers overall, but Saturday Down South reports that only three Power Five programs, Pitt, Purdue and West Virginia, offered him coming out of high school.

Ohio State wasn't uniquely dismissive of Biles as a prospect. Most of the sport's biggest programs passed on him too. What makes it sting, by Biles' own account, is proximity. Ohio State is his hometown school, and hometown snubs cut differently than a pass from a program hundreds of miles away.

A game already circled on the calendar

Texas is scheduled to host Ohio State on Sept. 12. Biles says he's been looking forward to it since he committed.

"That's circled on my calendar for sure," Biles told Inside Texas, as reported by Newsweek.

Biles now plays for Longhorns defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, and he's been vocal about how much better the fit is. "It's amazing playing in his defense," Biles said. "He really puts you in position to make plays. You can just be so versatile in his defense. He's never going to put you in a bad position."

Is this actually tampering, or just recruiting?

Scarletandgame.com frames this within a broader pattern at Ohio State, where players like receiver Jeremiah Smith have publicly accused rival programs, Miami among them, of improper contact with Buckeyes still on the roster. That outlet notes Ohio State itself hasn't faced tampering allegations under head coach Ryan Day despite being an aggressive portal player, and frames Biles' account as a rare instance of the shoe being on the other foot.

Contacting a player who has already entered the transfer portal isn't tampering under NCAA rules. Tampering refers to improper contact with players still under contract at another school who haven't entered the portal. Once Biles declared for the portal in January, any program, including Ohio State, was free to reach out. Scarletandgame's write-up doesn't allege NCAA rule-breaking; it uses the word loosely to describe hometown recruiting overtures, and that distinction matters.

No NCAA complaint or investigation has been reported in connection with Ohio State's outreach to Biles. This is a recruiting story, not a compliance story.

Ohio State didn't want Biles at 17, wanted him at 21, and got told no. Texas and Ohio State kick off Sept. 12, and Biles will be lined up against the program that grew up down the road from him.