2025 B1G Team Talent Preview: Ohio State

Photo by Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Welcome to the 18th (and final!!!) part in our series looking at the rosters of every Big Ten team as we head ever closer to opening day.

The order is organized by my team talent rankings. For more information on how those numbers came about, check out the intro for the Maryland post

. And while you’re there, go ahead and read the whole thing then come back. We’ll wait for you.

Past Teams

Tier 5— 18. Maryland Terrapins, 17. Purdue Boilermakers

Tier 4— 16. Iowa Hawkeyes, 15. Minnesota Golden Gophers,

14. Northwestern Wildcats

Tier 3— 13. UCLA Bruins, 12. Illinois Fighting Ilini, 11. Washington Huskies, 10. Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 9. Indiana Hoosiers, 8. Michigan State Spartans, 7. Wisconsin Badgers

Tier 2 — 6. USC Trojans, 5. Nebraska Cornhuskers, 4. Oregon Ducks

Tier 1 — 3. Michigan Wolverines, 2. Penn State Nittany Lions

(Names in bold are projected starters by Phil Steele. Otherwise, names are listed in order of scoring in the talent ranking system)

Average 247 Composite Rating of Phil Steele Starter: 0.9459 (1st)

Average # of Snaps Played by Phil Steele Starter: 782 (14th)

Average Career PFF grade of Phil Steele Starter: 69.4 (3rd)

TOTAL OFFENSE- 1,203 (4th)

Quarterback- 129 (16th)

Starter- Tavien St. Clair (58)

Reserves- Julian Sayin (55), Lincoln Kienholz (50), Eli Brickhandler (43)

Last year I marveled at how Michigan could’ve come off a national title and been content with their QB situation which finished last in the B1G in my talent rankings and in reality. It’s a little easier to see the vision this year for Ohio State. They did bring in an FCS transfer late in the process to at least have one QB on the roster who has started a college game before. But the pedigree of Ohio State’s QB room is much better than Michigan’s was last year which is what raises them up to 16th.

It’s a relative crapshoot these days with elite QB prospects but Ohio State has given themselves multiple bites of the apple. The presumptive starter is Julian Sayin who switched from Alabama to OSU following Nick Saban’s departure at Bama. He was the top-ranked QB in last year’s class and was given the time to sit and learn for a year before being anointed this season. There’s another top-ten overall freshman QB in true frosh Tavien St. Clair also here to compete. Likely fighting for the backup job is former Husky QB commit Lincoln Kienholz who is the most experienced of the bunch at the P4 level but is still fighting to overcome the wave of 5-star QBs that come in every season.

Running Back- 126 (7th)

Starter- De’Carlo “CJ” Donaldson (78)

Reserves- James Peoples (69), Anthony Rogers (56), Bo Jackson (54), Isaiah West (42)

Ohio State could rely on the workhorse duo of Judkins/Henderson last year as each surpassed 1,000 rushing yards but both are now gone. Only one other running back saw double digit carries and it was James Peoples who is back and the presumptive starter for Phil Steele. Peoples averaged just 4.0 YPC for OSU as a four-star true freshman last season so he still has plenty to prove. Although Phil Steele clearly believes since he has Peoples on his preseason 3rd team all-conference list.

If Peoples struggles then West Virginia transfer CJ Donaldson is here to raise the floor of the group. He has 3 straight seasons of 500+ rush yards on 4.5+ YPC but has never looked like an All-American type player which is what the Buckeyes are accustomed to seeing. There are another pair of four-star true freshmen also coming in that will threaten for playing time.

Wide Receiver- 339 (2nd)

Starters- Jeremiah Smith (98), Carnell Tate (88), Brandon Inniss (72)

Reserves- Quincy Porter (58), Phillip Bell (52), Bodpegn Miller (51), Bryson Rodgers (50)

It may be blasphemous to some to see Ohio State #2 overall at this position but that’s a function of experienced depth rather than star power. Jeremiah Smith is the clear #1 in the conference after he had one of the best true freshman seasons of all-time (1,311 yards, 15 TDs) as the former #1 prospect in the country. He’s the clear option in the conference and one of the top three players overall. And that’s probably a little low.

There’s no running mate quite as good as Emeka Egbuka but Carnell Tate returns after starting 13 games last year and putting up 733 yards and 4 TDs. Phil Steele has him 2nd team all-conference (and Smith 1st obviously). Ohio State really didn’t spread the ball out much beyond their top three WRs which makes sense since they were really good. Brandon Inniss though was the #4 option with 14 catches for 176 yards and so projects as getting an upgrade to the starting lineup.

No other receiver on the roster has 50+ career receiving yards at Ohio State so there will be a host of players with plenty to prove. Of course, this is Ohio State which means there are 7 former four or five-star prospects behind that group who could easily turn into all-conference players sooner than later. All of them were recruited out of high school by Ohio State. No relying on transfers to fill the gaps here.

Tight End- 124 (2nd)

Starter- Jelani Thurman (74)

Reserves- Max Klare (71), Will Kacmarek (55), Nate Roberts (53), Brody Lennon (50)

This projects as a really nice top three even if my talent rankings get wrong who ends up starting. One of the few new transfers in this portal cycle is Purdue TE Max Klare who led the Boilermakers with 51 catches for 684 yards last season. Purdue was obviously not a good team so Klare was pretty much the only competent pass-catching option but it was in the same conference so it’s hard to see him not at least be a solid tight end for OSU. Phil Steele has even more hope than that and projects him 1st team all-conference.

The other competition will come from the returning backup options after Gee Scott Jr. graduated. Former Ohio transfer Will Kacmarek was last year’s #2 tight end and started 6 games. The option with higher pedigree would be Jelani Thurman who had 4 catches for 42 yards and 1 TD last year as a four-star redshirt freshman. Throw in a few four-star true freshmen and it’s hard to see this not being a well-above-average group.

Offensive Line- 486 (3rd)

Starters- LG Luke Montgomery (80), RT Austin Siereveld (73), Tegra Tshabola (73), Carson Hinzman (71), Phillip Daniels (58)

Reserves- Carter Lowe (57), Ian Moore (53), LT Ethan Onianwa (53), Jake Cook (49), Jayvon McFadden (48)

(A note that my listed starters here are the 5 highest scorers even if some of them play the same position. If the backup right tackle has a higher rating than the starting left guard, the LG gets bumped to reserves above.)

Despite the run to the title, Ohio State got pretty banged up on the offensive line last year and ended up playing 9 different linemen at least 150 snaps. Gone are the players who played the most snaps at LT, C, and RT as well as the player who started the season at LT and finished with second most snaps there. Needing reinforcements last season means there’s more depth for this season as several backups have gotten their feet wet already.

Four different players are back who started at least one game on the line last year for Ohio State and all of them are projected starters for Phil Steele. RG Tegra Tshabola and C Carson Hinzman are the most experienced with 16 and 22 career starts respectively. LG Luke Montgomery and RT Austin Siereveld are a year younger and have started 2 and 6 games respectively. All of them are former four-star recruits so they have the pedigree but also all of them have lower than a 66.0 career PFF grade so none have been dominant yet.

The last starter is projected to be Rice transfer Ethan Onianwa coming in to play left tackle. It’s a similar situation to Isaiah World going from Nevada to Oregon where the PFF numbers are pretty underwhelming but the scouts and the caliber of offer suggest that might be a byproduct of playing alongside substandard talent around the rest of the offense. Phil Steele has Onianwa projected as 3rd team all-conference and the RG Tshabola as 2nd team. Minnesota transfer OT Phillip Daniels (4 career starts) and some four-star freshmen are also here as the backups.

Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

TOTAL DEFENSE- 1,356 (1st)

Defensive Line- 241 (1st)

Starters- Eddrick Houston (90), Kayden McDonald (72)

Reserves- Tywone Malone (55), Jarquez Carter (54), Jason Moore (50), Maxwell Roy (50)

Ohio State lost just about their entire defensive line to the NFL draft and they didn’t add anyone in the portal so this is a group low in experience but high on pedigree. Last year’s #3 and #4 DTs are both back and projected as starters. Eddrick Houston missed a few tackles but showed promise as a dominant interior pass rusher as a five-star true freshman and Phil Steele has him preseason 2nd team all-conference. Kayden McDonald played a little bit more and is a totally different body type as a 326 lb nose tackle space eater. They should pair together nicely.

Tywone Malone is a former near-five-star who transferred in previously from Ole Miss and was last year’s #5 option. There are a few other four-stars on the depth chart but none have played more than 65 career defensive snaps and we’ll see which break out. This is a down year in general for DTs around the B1G after losing a ton of them to the draft so Ohio State might not be #1 here in most years but having the #2 and #10 as starters got it done.

Edge Rushers- 276 (1st)

Starters- Beau Atkinson (88), Caden Curry (86)

Reserves- Kenyatta Jackson (84), Logan George (66), Zion Grady (56), Epi Sitanilei (52)

Ohio State similarly lost both starters to the draft but this time they did feel the need to supplement through the portal. Their top transfer addition this cycle was North Carolina ED Beau Atkinson. He only had one start in two seasons but still racked up 12 sacks playing a pure pass rusher role. If Atkinson can be better in run support to stay on the field on early downs then he could be an all-conference type (not on Phil Steele’s preseason list though). They also brought in FCS Idaho State transfer Logan George, who had 37 QB pressures and 6 sacks last season, to fortify the depth.

The two primary returners are both encouraging options although neither has started a game after having the misfortune to come into the program the year after JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer. Both Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson were high four-star prospects that served as the #3 and #4 edge players on last year’s team. Neither has shown the pass rushing juice of JTT or Sawyer as of yet but have still played well enough in reserve that expectations are high with their pedigree. Another three former four-star players who haven’t really seen the field back them up. Ho-hum.

Linebackers- 240 (2nd)

Starters- Sonny Styles (95), Arvell Reese (87)

Reserves- Ty Howard (59), Riley Pettijohn (57), TJ Alford (55), CJ Hicks (54)

We get to our first defensive returning starter! No surprise then that that player is the #1 overall option at their position. Sonny Styles moved from safety before last season as a former five-star and finished with 84 total tackles and 6 sacks. He’s 1st team preseason all-conference for Phil Steele.

The co-starter from last year is gone so #3 option Arvell Reese gets the call-up to starter. He put up really nice per-snap numbers as a redshirt freshman and there’s no hesitation about him instantly producing. Phil Steele puts him 3rd team all-conference*. The depth does fall off after the starters though so Ohio State brought in FCS Duquesne transfer Ty Howard as another option after he had 51 tackles, 3 INTs and 4 sacks last year. The only other player with any experience is former five-star CJ Hicks who has 1 start in three seasons.

*Although Steele bizarrely includes 4 LB on each of his teams so it’s almost more difficult to not have a LB make one of his preseason all-conference teams.

Cornerbacks- 345 (1st)

Starters- Jermaine Mathews (92), Davison Igbinosun (88), Lorenzo Styles Jr. (76)

Reserves- Aaron Scott Jr. (65), Devin Sanchez (58), Bryce West (56), Jordyn Woods (35)

Ohio State loses their starting nickel back and one outside corner and still have the #1 group here. The primary returner is Davison Igbinosun who has 38 career starts and last season had 2 INTs and 8 PBUs. He’s 3rd team all-conference or Phil Steele. My system is very high on Jermaine Mathews who has had borderline elite coverage numbers as a high four-star recruit despite not yet earning a starting role. I expect him to break out and end up on a postseason all-conference team.

The nickel corner job may go to former Notre Dame transfer Lorenzo Styles Jr. (younger brother of Sonny). He was a starter at WR while with the Irish but switched positions when he transferred so I’ll admit he may be getting bumped up in my system by including his WR production from earlier in his career. No one else on the roster has played more than 75 career snaps but Aaron Scott Jr. was just short of a five-star recruit in the class of 2024 and incoming true freshman Devin Sanchez is the #1 rated corner in the class of 2025.

Safeties- 254 (1st)

Starters- Caleb Downs (99), Jaylen McClain (85)

Reserves- Malik Hartford (82), Faheem Delane (57), Deshawn Stewart (49)

There should be no argument about this one. Gone is long-time stalwart Lathan Ransom but back is Caleb Downs who may be the best defensive player in the country. Downs was the #6 player in the class of 2023, was a 2nd team All-American as a true freshman, transferred to Ohio State and was a 1st team All-American as a sophomore. There are no holes in his resume anywhere and he’s my #2 overall player in the conference.

It’ll be a relative newbie starting next to him. The two best options are former four-stars Jaylen McClain and Malik Hartford who each played ~100 snaps last year with very good PFF grades. Hartford is a year older and was the higher rated recruit so he gets the nod from Phil Steele as the second starter even though my system really likes what McClain did last year as a true freshman. The only other safety to play a single snap is former South Carolina transfer who started 4 games in the SEC but didn’t play at all last season after transferring in to Columbus.

OVERALL TEAM- 2,559 (1st)

When I started this process I’ll admit that I expected Penn State to be able to edge Ohio State out in the final totals. There was no question last year that the Buckeyes would be number one and completing this endeavor made me certain that Ohio State would win the national title. They were saved by virtue of the new CFP structure to get a second chance but ultimately redeemed that viewpoint.

That they could lose 14 draft picks to the NFL and still come out #1 here in a league with 18 teams and with Penn State gearing up for a title run is kind of astounding and speaks to how dominant their recruiting has been for years. The core of this year’s team is the fact that Ohio State had almost certainly the best two underclassmen in the country last year and so both were ineligible for the draft and had to return to school for another year. Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith finished #2 and #3 in the conference in these rankings but it wouldn’t be a surprise if at the end of the season we say they’re the top offensive and defensive players in the country (more of a sure thing if you compare Smith just to non-QBs).

The total elite talent is down a notch from last season as Ohio State merely has 5 of the top 26 players in the conference in my formula compared to a ridiculous 10 last season. It’s not even a question though that Ohio State has the most raw talent among their starters (per recruiting rankings) as their average starter was what would be equal to about the 115th best player in the country in a normal recruiting class. Insane.

You could make an argument though that Ohio State is vulnerable (relative term) due to their uncertainty at quarterback. The last time OSU had a QB with this little experience taking over it was Justin Fields in 2021. That worked out okay when he threw for 4,424 yards with 44 TDs and 6 INTs as a redshirt freshman on the way to being the #2 overall pick. Maybe that’s what Julian Sayin will be but there’s still a degree of uncertainty that isn’t always there. Sayin’s ceiling is certainly higher than what Will Howard did last year but his floor also is definitely lower.

When looking at Ohio State’s schedule it’s pretty easy to pencil them in at 11-1 with a loss at Michigan. The Buckeyes haven’t beaten Michigan since 2019 (4 straight losses). They also haven’t lost a regular season game to a team other than Michigan or Oregon since 2018 (at Purdue) and the Ducks aren’t on the schedule this year.

A team that is on the schedule? Washington. The Huskies are Ohio State’s first road game and it will be the most hostile environment Julian Sayin has ever played in by several orders of magnitude. But the Buckeyes do get a bye beforehand and the talent differential will be...significant. That’s a lot for UW’s home-field advantage to need to overcome despite the current 20-game home winning streak.

You also can’t expect Ohio State to be shocked by a higher level of competition because they open the season hosting Texas in non-conference play (the UW-OSU game will of course involve the 2 teams to beat Texas in the CFP semis the last 2 years). Ohio State could easily lose that Texas game, who should be a top-five team if Arch Manning lives up to expectations, and then recover to make the Big Ten title game.

It’s not an easy conference schedule with most of the toughest games on the road. Ohio State will be favored in all of them but if Sayin isn’t a stud from day one then you could talk yourself into OSU losing one of a trio of road games at Washington, Illinois, or Wisconsin. Although a 3-0 record is still the most likely outcome. The other two legitimate tests are a home game against Penn State with both teams getting a bye beforehand and the annual finisher at Michigan.

There’s a world in which Ohio State is the #6 team in the country per SP+ but finishes 9-3 because Penn State/Texas are 1 and 2 in some order and they have to play at Michigan who are also in the top ten. Would OSU get the benefit of the doubt in that world and still sneak into the CFP? Sadly, they probably would. This schedule is tough enough and there’s enough inexperience here that I think Ohio State drops at least one game somewhere but this analysis backs up the idea that OSU is still a legitimate national title contender if the young talent on the roster develops to live up to their pedigrees.

*************************

Top-10 Players (with position rank and overall conference rank)

1. S Caleb Downs, 99 (1st, 2nd)
2. WR Jeremiah Smith, 98 (1st, 3rd)
3. LB Sonny Styles, 95 (1st, 12th)
4. CB Jermaine Mathews, 92 (2nd, 19th)
5. DL Eddrick Houston, 90 (2nd, 26th)
6. WR Carnell Tate, 88 (5th, 36th)
7. ED Beau Atkinson*, 88 (5th, 42nd)
8. CB Davison Igbinosun, 87 (7th, 43rd)
9. LB Arvell Reese, 87 (4th, 50th)
10. ED Caden Curry, 86 (8th, 52nd)

*Incoming transfer

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