Stock Trending Up(All Players, Not Just Draft Eligible): Miyan Williams, RB; Emeka Egbuka, WR; Marvin Harrison Jr., WR; Michael Hall Jr., DL; JT Tuimoloau, DL
Stock Trending Down(All Players, Not Just Draft Eligible): Julian Fleming, WR; Denzel Burke, CB
Potential Draft Steals: Cade Stover, TE; Tommy Eichenberg, LB; Steele Chambers, LB; Ronnie Hickman, S; Lathan Ransom, S
In-Depth Team and Season Preview:
Continuing to sit in the No.3 spot of the AP Poll this week is the Ohio State Buckeyes. In week 2 of the 2021 college football season, the Buckeyes suffered a devastating loss to the Oregon Ducks, 35-28. Despite the loss, as the season progressed and first year QB CJ Stroud(at the time) got more comfortable, the Buckeyes rolled through opponents week after week. Many believed that they were College Football Playoff Contenders despite the week 2 loss to the Ducks. It was all until “The Game”, as some people call it, when the Buckeyes faced their rival (X)ichigan. They traveled to Ann Arbor on a snowy day, and for the first time since 2011 fell to the Wolverines 42-27. They lost a ton of talent to the NFL back in April, but their 48-45 comeback victory over Utah in the Rose Bowl showed Buckeye fans that there was a lot to be excited about this season. Going into the Rose Bowl everyone wondered how Stroud and the Buckeye offense would look without Olave and Wilson. Enter Sophomore WR3, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who had a field day against the Utes secondary going for 347 yards and 3 TDs on 15 receptions. JSN brought hope and excitement to Buckeye fans while having his 2023 Draft stock increase tremendously. Let’s get a closer look at this 2022 Buckeye team.
Offensively, as mentioned above, Ohio State lost a ton of talent to the NFL: standout receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, tight end Jeremy Ruckert, and offensive linemen Nicholas Petit-Frere and Thayer Munford. Despite the losses of Olave and Wilson the Buckeye offense doesn’t really look like it’s skipped a beat from last season to this season. Despite the hype around JSN after his record-breaking Rose Bowl performance, he’s been nearly non-existent in the Buckeye offense this season so far. However, he has only appeared in one full game, which was their week three matchup against Toledo. He suffered a hamstring injury in the first quarter of week one against Notre Dame and missed week two against Arkansas State as well. In unsurprising fashion, without Olave, Wilson, and JSN the Buckeyes didn’t skip a beat. Stroud and the Buckeyes offense looked to Redshirt Freshmen Emeka Egbuka and Marvin Harrison Jr. to power the passing game, and they have done just that. Egbuka through three weeks seems to be a focal point of this offense, although statistically the two are pretty similar. Egbuka has 324 yards and 3 TDs on 20 receptions, while Harrison has 342 yards and 5 TDs on 18 receptions. The other name to remember is Junior Julian Fleming. Fleming, a 5-star recruit and the 3rd ranked player that year according to 247 Sports, has never really been able to get going due to injury. He missed the first two games of this season due to a shoulder injury but was able to make his 2022 debut against Toledo. Fleming didn’t have a crazy day but was able to haul in 3 catches for 23 yards and 2 TDs. They also have Redshirt Freshman Jayden Ballard and Redshirt Senior Xavier Johnson, who have played a pretty solid role in the rotation early on. It’s safe to say that WR Coach, Brian Hartline, may be the best receiver coach and recruiter in the country.
As previously stated, the Buckeyes lost TE Jeremy Ruckert to the NFL; however, the tight end room is in better shape than many may think. The room is led by Redshirt Junior Cade Stover. Stover was a 4-star linebacker prospect in the 2019 recruiting class. When he got to Ohio State they were unsure if he was a defensive end or linebacker and the following season started his transition to the tight end position. Stover is a tight end prospect that has caught my eye through three weeks. Despite a pretty clear lack of speed, Stover is a super tough and physical tight end with an “old school” feel to his game. He seems to be a pretty strong blocker and is hard to bring down after the catch. I’m not saying he’s George Kittle, but when I watch him, I get a little bit of a Kittle feel from him. I believe that Stover could be a guy who either increases his stock or could be considered a mid-late round gem by April 2023. Also featured in the room is Senior H-Back, Mitch Rossi. Rossi seems to be the primary TE2 in 12 personnel for the Buckeyes. He seems to be a pretty good blocker and is occasionally used in the run and pass games. Rossi may or may not hear his name called in April, but I believe that he will get a training camp invite. The other primary guy in the rotation is Junior Gee Scott. Like Stover, Scott did not get recruited to OSU to play tight end. Scott was a 4-star receiver commit in the Buckeyes 2020 recruiting class. Due to minimal reps his freshman year, mixed with reports of his inability to keep weight off, and a recommendation from former All-Pro CB Richard Sherman, Scott decided to convert to TE. He still doesn’t see too many reps for the Buckeyes offense at TE, but when he does, he flashes. My suggestion to Gee Scott is to work on your craft at TE, come back next year, and under the assumption Stover and Rossi head to the league, be TE1, and raise your stock. I truly believe Scott could be at least a Top 5 2024 TE Prospect with one full season as TE1 for the Buckeyes offense.
In the running backs room, the 2021 standout freshman back, TreVeyon Henderson, returns to lead the back field. Last year, Henderson made the Freshman All-American team by running for 1,248 yards and 15 TDs on 183 carries and adding 312 yards and 4 TDs on 27 receptions. He was also voted a First-team Preseason All-American by Walter Camp. Through their first three games, Henderson has 197 yards and 3 TDs on 29 carries. However, make no mistake, Henderson is not the lone back in this room. Redshirt Sophomore, Miyan Williams, is making his case to split reps with the 2021 Freshman All-American. Williams seems to be having a breakout season. In 10 games last season, Williams rushed for 508 yards and 3 TDs on 71 carries and added 74 yards on 9 receptions. Through three games this season so far, Williams has rushed for 207 yards and 1 TD on 32 carries, and 23 yards on 3 receptions. The opportunities definitely seem to be there for Williams, and he is definitely capitalizing. The Buckeyes have an extremely strong, two headed monster in the back field this year, which helps make this offense even scarier.
Let’s look at the unit up front for Stroud and this backfield. The Buckeyes lost 2021 starting left tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere but replacing him is a familiar face up front. 2020 5-Star offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr., who played left guard last year, moves back to tackle this season to protect Stroud’s blindside. At left guard is a new face, Redshirt Freshman Donovan Jackson. Jackson was a 5-Star recruit coming out of high school and the number one ranked guard in the country. Luke Wypler returns for another year as OSU’s starting center. At right guard, taking over for Paris Johnson is Redshirt Senior Matthew Jones. Jones is in his first full season starting for the Buckeyes up front; however, he is a veteran who brings a lot of experience as he has made an appearance in 29 games and started five. Finally, is returning right tackle starter Dawand Jones. This is a unit that has been able to get it done both on the ground and through the air. On the ground they have paved the way for the Buckeyes to run for 621 yards and 8 TDs on 105 carries. This is a very solid average of 5.9 yards/carry. They are also getting it done for CJ Stroud in the passing game. Stroud has only been sacked twice so far this season. Both the sacks against Stroud in the Notre Dame and Arkansas State game, weren’t completely the offensive line’s fault. It was partially on the line, partially on Stroud. What I will say is watching Stroud’s pass protection in comparison to Bryce Young’s is night and day different. I remember watching the Ohio State vs Notre Dame game and thinking that Stroud may have one of the best, if not the best offensive line in college football.
Speaking of which, it is time to talk about 2021 Heisman finalist, CJ Stroud. Stroud is another QB that Zach has released his initial Prospect profile for, so I will not cover Stroud too heavily(https://thegridironreview.com/cj-stroud-draft-profile/). Stroud is a quarterback that doesn’t have a super elite arm, but it’s really good. We believe that Stroud is and, when it is all said and done, will be QB1 for the 2023 NFL Draft. One of our biggest question marks around Stroud is his ability to go through his reads. It is inconclusive right now as last year with Olave and Wilson, Stroud didn’t really have to go past his first read as his receivers were basically always open. The issue is that despite the losses, Stroud is still surrounded by a plethora of receiving talent. Even with our love for Stroud as a QB prospect, we still wonder if he gets drafted to a team like the Colts whose best target is Michael Pittman Jr., how will he be going through his reads? Right now, it’s more of a worry than just a question after watching the Notre Dame game. On Stroud’s first drop back of the day against the Fighting Irish, Stroud is sacked. If you watch the play, ND brought six, but OSU also had six in protection, and it’s not like the blitz hit right away. Stroud had a reasonable amount of time to throw. If you watch Stroud it looks like he is locked onto his first read, like he did time and time again last season. When Stroud starts to turn his head and go through his progression is when he gets sacked. Could the protection have been better? Certainly… But the amount of time Stroud spent staring at his first read was alarming. The positives are that through three weeks Stroud has for the most part picked up right where he left off last year, and is atop the Heisman Watchlist once again. There’s still a lot of season to learn and improve.
On the defensive side they only lost two contributors to the NFL, defensive linemen Tyreke Smith and Haskell Garrett. Most of their losses defensively came to the transfer portal. The Buckeyes lost 12 total defenders to the portal with DL Noah Potter, CB Sevyn Banks, and CB Andre Turrentine highlighting the major losses. However, Arizona State transfer LB DeaMonte Trayanum and Oklahoma State Grad Transfer CB Tanner McCalister made their way to the Buckeyes via the portal.
I’m going to make an extremely bold statement right now: I believe that Ohio State’s defense this season is a mirror image of what Georgia’s defense was last year. Do I think that their players are at the same level or “exact copies” of Georgia’s defense? No. However, the structure of it is closer to Georgia than anyone else I’ve seen. Much like Georgia it starts up front. Ohio State may have the deepest defensive line group in the country, and I don’t know if it’s particularly close. They have some veteran impact and leadership with guys like Zach Harrison, Taron Vincent, and Javontae Jean-Baptiste, but I wouldn’t say they lead the charge at all. Their defensive line is led by four Redshirt Freshmen: JT Tuimoloau, Michael Hall Jr., Jack Sawyer, and Tyleik Williams. Tuimoloau and Hall, in particular, have been the standouts in my eyes through three weeks. The linebackers are led by Redshirt Junior Tommy Eichenberg, and features Junior Cody Simon, and Redshirt Junior Steele Chambers. This group is not the trio Georgia had last season, but they certainly get the job done. The Buckeyes have two great safeties in Ronnie Hickman and Lathan Ransom, but the Achilles heel of this team, much like Georgia last year, is their CBs. Redshirt Senior Cameron Brown has seemed to play pretty good so far this season, but Redshirt Freshman Denzel Burke has not. Burke seems to be getting picked on week after week and giving up big play after big play. Tell me this doesn’t sound like the 2021 Bulldogs. This is a unit that needs to be watched this season.
Overall, this is an Ohio State team that has Championship Contender written all over them. An elite, high powered offense, which may even be the best in college football, and a young, strong defensive unit that’s looking to prove themselves. Despite the lack of competition from Arkansas State and Toledo, I feel good about Stroud and the Buckeyes. I felt like they played a good game against Notre Dame and there shouldn’t have been as much criticism around them in that game. Stroud has for the most part looked strong. The running backs have looked extremely good. The receivers… it’s Ohio State, what do you think? The offensive line play has looked top tier. The defense just has that feeling around them that I get excited about. If Ohio State were to play Alabama tomorrow, I would take Ohio State in a heartbeat. Don’t be surprised if they jump Bama in the polls within the next couple weeks. The craziest part of this all is that this is an extremely young team with a good number of players who aren’t even draft eligible this year. If Ohio State is to fall short this year, the future is still bright and should be considered a legit contender for next year as well.