Khmari Bing

Physical Profile

Listed between 5-11/182 (247Sports profile) and 6-1/190 (decommitment-era reports) — the real number is likely a lean 6-0, 185-190, which is prototype free-safety length with room for another 10-12 pounds without costing range. Verified testing of a 4.49 forty and a 4.32 short shuttle is the important pairing: the forty confirms he can carry the deep half and run the alley from the middle of the field, while a 4.32 shuttle at that height is corner-level change of direction, which is why St. Frances could play him at nickel. Frame is currently narrow through the chest and hips; that is the one measurable that separates him from being an every-down box defender right now.

Play Style

He plays the game from the top down. On film he's a center-fielder who reads the quarterback's shoulders, opens cleanly to either hash, and covers ground in a hurry to take away seams and post routes — a true two-high safety who doesn't need help rotating late. In quarters he's comfortable capping the No. 2 vertical; in the slot he mirrors well and doesn't panic on double moves, a byproduct of the corner reps. As a tackler he takes proper pursuit angles and arrives under control in space, and he's opportunistic rather than passive when the ball is in the air — he attacks the catch point instead of playing to make the tackle after the catch. He is not, currently, a player you use as an extra fitter in the box on early downs.

Strengths

• Deep-middle range and ball tracking — 247's Andrew Ivins credits 'enormous range and sharp tracking skills' and flags him as functional in both two-high and single-high, which is the rarer of the two skills; playing the post alone at the high school level against St. Frances' national schedule is a real proving ground.
• Positional versatility with corner background — he took meaningful reps at cornerback and nickel during his prep career and was recruited by several staffs as a corner (Rivals still lists him CB). That gives a defensive coordinator a safety who can travel down over a slot without a personnel substitution.
• Active eyes and recovery speed — the 4.49/4.32 combination means he can trigger on a route stem, be wrong, and still make up ground. He produced on the ball, including a documented pick-six for St. Frances, and processes route concepts fast enough to drive on throws rather than just arriving to tackle.

Areas to Improve

• Play strength and tackling in traffic — at roughly 185 pounds he wins with angles and instincts rather than pop. Against Big Ten play-action and gap schemes he needs functional weight and improved leverage to take on pulling linemen in the alley; the tackling instincts scouts praise are currently instinct-driven, not power-driven.
• Consistency against elite competition and against the run fits — St. Frances plays a national schedule, but his evaluation is built heavily on coverage snaps. Diagnosing run-pass conflict as the single-high defender in a Big Ten offense, and eliminating the freelancing that a high school free safety can get away with, is the gap between a rotational freshman and a starter.

College Projection

True freshman contributor on special teams in 2026 with a real path to a defensive rotation role by 2027 and a multi-year starting projection thereafter — 247 explicitly projects him as a potential multi-year starter for a CFP contender. The immediate obstacle is the room, not the talent: Ohio State returns Jaylen McClain, Leroy Roker, Faheem Delane and Malik Hartford, and signed three other safeties (Blaine Bradford, Simeon Caldwell, Kaden Gebhardt) in the same class, though Caleb Downs' departure to the NFL opens the top of the depth chart. Realistic timeline: year one on coverage units and dime packages, year two as the first free safety off the bench or nickel sub, year three as a starter. A redshirt is plausible and would not be a negative outcome given the weight he still needs to add.

NFL Outlook

Legitimate mid-round to Day 2 draft trajectory if the projection holds, with the upside tied entirely to whether the deep speed translates against pro route concepts. Free safeties who verify at 4.49 with sub-4.35 shuttle quickness and can play both single-high and quarters are a scarce commodity, and his corner background is exactly the flexibility the NFL now demands from the position given the volume of nickel and dime snaps. The bear case is a body that tops out under 195 pounds, which would cap him as a coverage-only sub-package safety and special-teams contributor. Evaluate again after two college offseasons of strength work — that's the swing variable, not the athletic testing.

Best Fit

A defense that plays significant two-high structure and asks its free safety to cover ground rather than fill the alley — exactly what he signed into at Ohio State, where the staff recruited him as their top free safety in the class. He is maximized by a coordinator willing to use him as a movable chess piece: post safety on early downs, drop him to nickel over the slot in obvious passing situations. He is a poor fit for a heavy single-high, box-safety-driven scheme that would ask him to be an eighth man in the run fit on early downs before he adds weight.