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2026 Upper Arlington Forward, Alex Smith, talks recent Ohio State offer and what it means to him to receive interest from his hometown school.
On June 15th at Midnight college coaches were allowed to contact 2026 prospects through phone calls and text messages. It has been a busy period for Coach Diebler and the Buckeyes staff as they have been in contact with many 2026 prospects.
One name that sticks out is local star Alex Smith. The Upper Arlington Golden Bears forward has been offered by several Division One programs such as Ohio University, Toledo, Bryant, Kent State, and Big Ten rival Indiana. Smith has been on Coach Diebler’s radar for the past year as he took his first unofficial visit on September 16th, 2023. Smith then was in attendance for The Buckeyes matchup against Maryland on February 11th. Recently Ohio State extended an offer to the local big man after an impressive performance at the Ohio State team camp.
After a conversation with Coach Diebler, I am grateful to say I received my 6th Division 1 offer from The Ohio State University! Thank you Coach Diebler and the rest of the OSU staff for this opportunity! pic.twitter.com/eQWEZ89IOB
— alex smith (@alexx_smith26) June 17, 2024
Alex currently plays with the popular Ohio AAU program Midwest Basketball Club and has been known to produce some of the best prospects not only in Ohio but the Midwest Region in general. The club has rostered prospects such as Landon Vanderwarker, EJ Walker, and Jonathon Sanderson.
Smith averaged 14.5 Points Per Game this past season with Upper Arlington and was voted as an All-Ohio Honorable Mention as he helped lead the Golden Bears to a 12-12 Record and a first-round playoff win against the Lancaster Golden Gaels.
I was able to talk with Alex about Upper Arlington’s recent attendance at the Ohio State team camp as well as being offered and how much contact he has had with the staff so far. He tells The Silver Bulletin “It was pretty cool playing in front of Coach Diebler” and “It’s always fun to play in front of a head coach because you know they care about you.”
“It was definitely a surprise. It was really cool because I didn’t know they were gonna offer me.” – Alex Smith on receiving an offer from his hometown school.
Ohio State was the first among a dozen programs to contact Smith on the first day. Other programs that contacted him were Cincinnati, Xavier, Butler, Indiana, Western Kentucky, Marshall, Toledo, Columbia, Radford, and Appalachian State.
Smith also tells The Silver Bulletin that he believes Coach Diebler will have success right away. “My first impression was that this program is going to be good this year because we talked about the accolades when I was there.” He also said that he has been in contact with the staff a lot over the week “I’ve talked to the Ohio State staff a good amount this week.” Smith has not taken any official visits to any programs so far and The Silver Bulletin can confirm that he has not set up an Official Visit with the Buckeyes yet. “I do not have any official visits scheduled yet but probably in the future.”
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AJ is currently a senior at Teays Valley High School and plans to attend college next year. He has been a sports fan and Ohio State fan since he was a kid, and has been covering sports since 2020. He was a student manager for his Boy’s Basketball team for two seasons where the team won back to back league championships. AJ runs his own podcast called Just Talkin Sports, where he interviews athletes from all sports. He has over 1,800 plays on Spotify and 300 followers on Instagram. AJ plans to study Sport Management and minor in Journalism while also becoming a student manager for his selected college.