Phil Steele recently released his yearly college football preview magazine with the season about a month and a half away.
Steele provides in-depth previews for all Football Bowl Subdivision teams and one of the best components of his magazines are his top 65 position group rankings. For defense, he ranks where each team’s unit falls for defensive line, linebackers and defensive backs.
The Buckeyes’ defense the last few seasons hasn’t necessarily been bad but hasn’t quite performed to the standard needed for the team to achieve what it’s capable of.
The unit has struggled in particular against top-tier teams and has been the reason Ohio State lost some big games in recent years. The unit gave up 42 points in each of the Michigan losses the last two seasons, 35 points against Oregon, and 42 points against Georgia in the College Football Playoff semi-final matchup in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
It’s defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ second season, and, with highly touted recruits due for breakout seasons, the defense projects to improve. The question will be how consistent it’ll be and if it shows up in big games.
Steele ranked the Buckeyes in the top 12 in college football in each of the three defensive position groups. Here’s where OSU landed.
Defensive Line
Rank: No. 4 in college football, 2nd in Big Ten
The Buckeyes lost Zach Harrison and Taron Vincent, but still return a lot of talent along the defensive line. The unit projects to be amongst the best in college football as it features high-level players and good depth.
The edge rotation features J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer as the starters, with Kenyatta Jackson, Caden Curry, Omari Abor, and Mitchell Melton all very good options as rotational pieces.
Mike Hall Jr., Tyleik Williams, and Ty Hamiton project to get a lot of snaps in the defensive tackle rotation. Tywone Malone, a transfer from Ole Miss is a very exciting addition to the unit. Jaden McKenzie and Hero Kanu are two players who project to at least compete for snaps along the defensive line.
Linebackers
Rank: No. 8 in college football, 4th in Big Ten
Ohio State returns both of its starters at linebacker from last year’s unit, Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers. Eichenberg was named to Steele’s preseason first-team all-American list. Chambers, a converted running back has transitioned to linebacker very well and has been a very solid player for the Buckeyes in each of the last two seasons.
C.J. Hicks, a former top 10 player in the 2022 recruiting class projects to play a role in the defense. It’s unclear just how big of a role that will be with Eichenberg and Chambers returning, but he will certainly be utilized in some capacity.
Cody Simon returns for his senior year and is a nice depth piece. Reid Carrico and Gabe Powers are also two names to keep an eye on as they look to climb the depth chart.
Defensive Backs
Rank: No. 12 in college football, 4th in Big Ten
Coming into the season, the secondary looks like a big X-factor for this defense. Just the like the defense as a whole, the secondary hasn’t quite played to the standard needed at Ohio State.
It’s a tough unit to project exactly how the playing time will sort out because there are a lot of solid options at both corner and safety.
At outside corner, Denzel Burke and Ole Miss transfer Davison Igbinosun are good bets to be the starters. The play of each of them will be key to the success of the unit as a whole. Jyaire Brown, Jordan Hancock, Ryan Turner, and Jermaine Mathews Jr. are players to keep an eye on to receive significant playing time.
At nickel corner, the job will likely come down to Cameron Martinez and Ja’Had Carter. Martinez played sporadically last season, getting on the field in 11 games and 175 defensive snaps. Carter is a transfer from Syracuse who started in each of the last three seasons.
Latham Ransom is locked in to be a starter at strong safety and one of the leaders of the defense. Besides him between former five-star Sonny Styles, Josh Proctor who returns for his sixth season, and Kye Stokes. There are many good options to receive significant playing time in the secondary.
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