Is safety Faheem Delane Ohio State's next 2025 target? 'He kind of knows what he wants'
Andy Stefanelli has an idea of what many college football programs are going through. Stefanelli already had to recruit 2025 four-star safety Faheem Delane to Our Lady Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland.
Delane was one of the top players Good Counsel wanted in the 2020 class and someone Stefanelli felt he didn’t have a shot at.
“It’s very few, when you are recruiting eighth graders, where you can watch a kid and say, ‘He’s different, and he’s going to be a guy for sure. Like a lock,’ ” Stefanelli said. “That’s what it was with Faheem. Like that kid is just bigger, faster, more athletic. Plays with great instinct in the eighth grade. Like you could tell.”
College football programs from around the country are seeing that same potential in Delane, the No. 29 player in the 2025 class per 247Sports’ composite rankings who has cut down his recruitment to Virginia Tech, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee and Ohio State.
According to 247Sports, Delane, standing at nearly 6 feet 3 and 195 pounds, finished his junior season with 69 tackles and 18 pass breakups as a versatile safety who can move around the field and “let his natural instinct kind of go.”
“Really, if you asked ‘What’s the difference’ besides the physical part of it — having the size and speed and athletic ability — he’s got just great football instincts,” Stefanelli said. “And you can’t teach that.”
Ohio State remains in the hunt for 2025 safety Faheem Delane
From Stefanelli’s perspective, Delane’s instincts are what have Ohio State’s attention.
Stefanelli said the Buckeyes have “done a good job up to this point” in recruiting Delane. Stefanelli said Ohio State has not only built a relationship with Delane and his family, but also explained specifically how Delane would be used in the Buckeyes' defense.
According to many major recruiting insiders, Delane is expected to join an Ohio State 2025 class that is loaded with highly-touted defensive backs, including five-star cornerbacks Devin Sanchez and Na’eem Offord.
Stefanelli pointed to the Delane's exposure to the recruiting process as a long-term benefit. Delane's brother, Mansoor Delane, was a three-star cornerback who signed with Virginia Tech before becoming a freshman All-American in 2022.
But while Stefanelli has seen major college football programs go to Good Counsel to recruit multiple players — including Ohio State for 2024 wide receiver Elijah Moore, who signed with Florida State — no recruitment has come close to Delane's.
“We’ve had a lot of highly recruited players. But he’s at the point now where he is as much as we’ve seen,” Stefanelli said. “That can overwhelm a kid, can distract a kid. And maybe early, early on there was a little bit. But now, I think he’s kind of just fallen into the groove of it where he’s asking the questions. He kind of knows what he wants. He’s been to a lot of different places and seen a lot of schools. I think as he’s gone through the process, he’s really been able to handle it well.”
Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Why Faheem Delane is Ohio State 2025 recruiting target
