John Mobley Jr. on decision to stay at Ohio State: 'This is home'

There’s never a promise in modern college sports that an athlete returns to a program from one season to the next. Still, the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to return rising sophomore point guard John Mobley Jr. ahead of the 2025-26 season.

Mobley broke down what went into that decision-making process recently. He explained that he didn’t want to leave the Buckeyes because Ohio State is a place he thinks of as his home.

“This is home,” John Mobley Jr. said. “I’ve got no plans on, you know, leaving Ohio State. Ohio State is home. I grew up watching Ohio State. It’s my dream school. There’s nothing else you can ask for.”

Coming out of high school, John Mobley Jr. at Wasatch Academy in Utah, Mobley was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2024. He was the 55th-ranked player nationally and the ninth-ranked point guard in that recruiting cycle, and chose to attend Ohio State over offers from schools like Creighton, St. John’s, and LSU among others.

As a freshman, Mobley would play in 32 games and make 22 starts. He averaged 27.8 minutes per game for the season and flashed his potential throughout the year. For the season, he’d average 13.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. Mobley did that on 38.9 percent shooting from the field, 38.5 percent shooting from three-point range, and 88.2 percent from the free-throw line. Then, on the defensive end of the floor, he averaged 0.7 steals and 0.1 blocks per game.

For the week of December 23, 2024, Mobley would also be named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. That was shortly after he began starting games for the Buckeyes and played 36 minutes against Kentucky. He’d put up 15 points in that effort.

It was, in many ways, a breakout season for Mobley. With that came plenty of questions about the future. At one point, going into early March, he was even regarded as a potential NBA Draft prospect. However, he made the decision that it was best to return to school. After that, Ohio State proved to be the place to be for him to continue to develop and potentially look at the NBA down the line.

In the meantime, the Buckeyes are going to hope to get as much production out of Mobley as is possible. Coming off a 17-15 season where they missed the NCAA Tournament, head coach Jake Diebler is hoping for a better year next year, which won’t come without players like Mobley showing that growth.