Each week at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day meets with the media ahead of the Buckeyes’ matchup that following weekend. Each week here at Land-Grant Holy Land, we will be bringing you three of the biggest storylines from said press conference. You can listen to Day’s full availability on LGHL’s Uncut here.
These are three of the biggest takeaway’s from Day’s Week 1 press conference previewing the marquee matchup against Texas on Saturday at noon…
1) Five defensive tackles are “ready to contribute”
It isn’t news that
the Buckeyes need to replace a ton of production from last year’s national championship-winning roster. At a place like Ohio State, the old saying goes that you don’t rebuild, you just reload.
That is the case at most positions on this 2025 team. Guys like Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss are ready to step up and fill the shoes of Emeka Egbuka. James Peoples and CJ Donaldson will take over for TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. Jermaine Mathews Jr. will fill Denzel Burke’s place. The list goes on and on…
Defensive tackle, however, has been a bit of an area of concern coming into this season.
Ohio State is tasked with replacing its entire starting defensive line from last season, with Jack Sawyer, J.T. Tuimoloau, Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton now all gone. The Buckeyes seem pretty set at the end spots, returning both Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. while adding Beau Atkinson and Logan George via the transfer portal in addition to moving CJ Hicks down from his previous spot at linebacker.
The interior of the line is not so clear. Williams and Hamilton each played more than 580 snaps at defensive tackle last season. Only one other player on the current roster — Kayden McDonald — played at least 200 snaps, while Eddrick Houston played 141 snaps in a rotational role having moved inside after being recruited as an edge rusher.
It was expected that McDonald and Houston would take over the reins at the position this season, but who would be relied upon to provide depth at a position that relies on keeping guys fresh?
According to Day, the Buckeyes are comfortable going at least five deep at defensive tackle, with McDonald and Houston being joined by Jarquez Carter, Tywone Malone and Will Smith Jr.
Malone played the most snaps of that trio last season, but at only 95 snaps. A former top-65 overall recruit in the 2021 class, the New Jersey native spent two seasons at Ole Miss before transferring to Ohio State in 2023. The senior has played in 35 total games, including 21 with the Buckeyes, totaling 26 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks.
Smith Jr., the son of 2002 Ohio State national champion Will Smith Sr., was a four-star prospect in the 2023 class. Smith Jr. redshirted his freshman season, and saw action in seven games last year. After registering 47 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and five sacks as a senior in high school, the Buckeyes are hoping he is ready to step up as an important depth piece in 2025.
Carter is the youngest of the three as a true freshman, coming to Ohio State as the No. 18 defensive lineman in the 2025 class by way of Florida. Listed at 6-foot-1, 288 pounds, Carter racked up 81 tackles for loss and 26 sacks across 33 varsity games. The Buckeyes clearly expect to see some of that in action this season if he is already being mentioned as a valuable depth piece in year one.
2) Phillip Daniels “will play a lot” vs. Texas
Switching gears to the other side of the line, Ohio State didn’t quite have to replace the entire unit, but they did lose a bunch of production. Josh Simmons and Seth McLaughlin, who each missed the latter half of the season with injuries, are gone, as well as Donovan Jackson and Josh Fryar, who finished the year as the Buckeyes’ two starting tackles.
Luckily, Ohio State also returns a bunch of experience, and was able to land a pair of potential starters in the transfer portal in Ethan Onianwa and Phillip Daniels. Throughout the offseason it seemed as though both of those guys would simply slot in as the new starters at the tackles, especially Onianwa, who appeared primed to take over as the starting left tackle.
However, with the season now less than four days away, the Buckeyes’ offensive line did not shake out how the early depth charts projections thought.
Three of the positions appear to be locked up, and aligned with what many had thought prior to camp.
Carson Hinzman will once gain be the team’s starting center, beginning last season at guard before taking over at center after McLaughlin’s injury. The two guard spots will be manned by Luke Montgomery and Tegra Tshabola. Montgomery was awesome at guard down the stretch for Ohio State last season, playing a season-high 64 snaps in the national title game, while Tshabola had the most snaps played in 2024 of any returning offensive lineman on the roster.
The tackle spots are where things get interesting. In addition to being named one of the team captains, Austin Siereveld has been pegged as the starting left tackle. Siereveld spent all of last season at guard, playing nearly 500 snaps between the two guard spots and finishing the year as the team’s starting left guard. The junior repped at tackle throughout the offseason, and has impressed enough to earn the job at the most important position along the front.
Right tackle officially remains undecided, but it sounds like the starter will be the Minnesota transfer, Daniels. The Cincinnati native was a three-star prospect in the 2023 class, playing his first collegiate season with the Golden Gophers before returning home to Ohio State. Originally expected to be more of a depth piece in his first season with the Buckeyes, Day said that Daniels will be getting the bulk of the playing time at right tackle against Texas.
3) “When Jeremiah is touching the ball, good things are happening.”
When Ohio State beat Texas 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl last season, they did so without basically any production from star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
The Longhorns’ entire game plan focused on slowing down the sensational freshman, who just the game prior in the Rose Bowl against Oregon put up 187 yards and two touchdowns. Texas wasn’t going to allow Smith to beat them, and so they made sure to slant their defense towards his side of the field, sending double and triple teams his way and doing everything they could to keep the ball out of his hands.
Despite still losing the game, the strategy worked. Smith caught only one pass for three yards, and as a result Ohio State scored only 21 points on offense — by far their fewest of the College Football Playoff run. With Smith and the Buckeye offense held in check, Texas had a chance to tie in the final minutes before Jack Sawyer’s scoop-and-score touchdown put the game out of reach.
Day seems determined to get the ball to Smith more this time around, or at least make more of an effort if the plays are there.
“When Jeremiah’s touching the ball, a lot of good things happen. So that’s our job to make sure that that’s happening. But at the same time, we’ve got to make sure we do what we can to win the game and then go from there,” Day said. “They’re a very disciplined team, and we have to do a better job than we did in that game.”
“We’ll do everything we can to try to get the guys in position to make plays,” Day continued. “But ultimately we have to have a balance. If you have a balance, then you’ve got a chance to attack teams. The goal here is not to get a certain player a certain amount of touches. It’s to win the game.”
Smith will obviously be a favorite target of first-time starting quarterback Julian Sayin, but Texas is going to be well aware of that. The Longhorns have to replace a good portion of their defense from last season, including some of their top guys in the defensive secondary, so we will see if they are able to hold down the Heisman hopeful receiver for a second time in a row.
