In a world where the Georgia Bulldogs are the Kings of College Football let’s not forget that the Ohio State Buckeyes are one FG away from a trip to LA to play the TCU Horned Frogs for the 2022 National Championship.

Despite the losses to their roster, Georgia has earned the right to be the Kings. There is only one king at a time; however, we believe that as of this moment there is only one serious contender to the throne. Yes, this series will consist of multiple teams we think could be playoff bound, but there’s only one team we believe is a viable threat to take down Kirby Smart and the Dawgs, and that’s the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Ohio State stood toe-to-toe with the defending National Champs and had them on the ropes for a majority of the game. For a while it felt like watching Rocky vs. Ivan Drago in Rocky 4. The only kryptonite of this Ohio State team since Ryan Day took over seems to be the Michigan Wolverines. He’s 1-2 since 2019.

Even if Michigan smacks down on the Buckeyes for the third year in a row, if this year showed us anything it’s that Ohio State will most likely hold a spot in the CFP… as long as they can keep it together the rest of the year unlike 2021 where they lost to Oregon early or 2018 when Purdue mopped the floor with them out of nowhere. 

The Buckeyes team lost key members that helped nearly lead them to another CFP National Championship game, but for the most part they return a very young, star-studded team that’s going to be extremely hungry heading into 2023.

Offense:

Key Losses: QB CJ Stroud, WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, H-Back Mitch Rossi, OTs Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones, C Luke Wypler

This is not a shot at JSN, we believe he is a talented young WR; however, he is not as big of a loss as some of the other names the Buckeyes lost. Remember, JSN only played in a couple games last season due to injury. The Buckeyes won most of their games including putting Georgia on their heels without JSN. Even with JSN going to the league this OSU WR room is still probably the best in all of CFB. The three projected starters heading into 2023 are:

• Marvin Harrison Jr.- 20214-Star WR21(Recruit 160 OVR)
• Emeka Egbuka- 2021 5-Star WR1(Recruit 9 OVR)
• Julian Fleming- 2020 5-Star WR1(Recruit 4 OVR)
• Plus 2022 role player Jayden Ballard- 2021 4-Star WR4(Recruit 55 OVR)

That doesn’t include their 2023 Recruiting Class:

• Carnell Tate- 5-Star WR3(Recruit 22 OVR)
• Brandon Inniss- 4-Star WR5(Recruit 35 OVR)
• Noah Rogers- 4-Star WR8(Recruit 40 OVR)

Not to mention WR/RB hybrid Grad Student Xavier Johnson who was more of a role player all year long, but made a HUGE impact as a runner and receiver against Georgia. Yes, JSN is a key loss, but we can promise this WR room is going to be just fine. 

H-Back Mitch Rossi was a pretty important piece lost; however he wasn’t an everydown starter. Cade Stover, who we believe is an underrated TE prospect for the 2024 draft, decided to come back for another year… as well as converted WR Gee Scott. Rossi’s blocking as a TE2 and FB will be missed, but the room should still be in good shape.

One of the biggest issues for the Buckeyes offensively is going to be that they have to replace 3/5 starters(bookend tackles and center) on the offensive line. OGs Donovan Jackson and Matthew Jones return. At LT the Buckeyes lost Paris Johnson Jr. who was arguably the best OT in this year’s draft class and went 6th Overall to the Cardinals. It sounds like the Buckeyes already have their LT replacement in RS Junior Josh Fryar.

OSU also lost Luke Wypler who went in the 6th round to the Browns, although we had a Day 2/Early Day 3 grade on him. Wypler was arguably one of the better centers in CFB. It sounds like it’s a three man race between RS Freshman Carson Hinzman, RS Junior Jakob James, and RS Junior transfer from ULM Victor Cutler to replace Wypler. Hinzman seems to be the favorite to win, but hasn’t officially been named the starter.

At RT it sounds like it’s another three man race to replace “Big Thanos” Dawand Jones: RS Freshman Tegra Tshabola, RS Sophomore Zen Michalski, and RS Sophomore transfer from SDSU Josh Simmons. Simmons didn’t transfer until after the OSU spring game, but is very much in the competition. It sounds like Tshabola is the favorite after spring ball, although both he and Michalski looked rough in the spring game. The line up-front means everything when it comes to an offense being at its best. OSU needs to hope that one of these three RT candidates can improve and emerge as “the guy” by summer’s end.

Last, but certainly not least is QB CJ Stroud. There was a lot of criticism around Stroud all year long, especially because he wasn’t able to take down Michigan over the last two seasons as the starter. People were saying he wasn’t a top QB and his stats were padded by playing him and throwing a lot in the 4th Q. Stroud silenced the haters and left with arguably the performance of his career in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl against Georgia.

Many speculated Stroud may return to OSU for one more run at a National Championship when he decided to wait until the very last moment to declare for the 2023 NFL Draft. He ended up declaring, and the rest is history. Now it seems like it’s a two man competition between Junior Kyle McCord and RS Freshman Devin Brown to replace Stroud. We will not go too in-depth on the competition since we covered it in our Ohio State QB Battle article, but basically we believe that Kyle McCord is going to end up being named the season starter. 

For those who don’t know, McCord and Harrison were HS teammates, which means that they already have chemistry throwing the ball together. Harrison was an absolute X-Factor, game changer, freak of nature last year with Stroud, imagine what he’s capable of with another year of development under WR Coach Brian Hartline and a QB who’s been throwing with him for years now.

Let’s forget about Harrison for a second though. Let’s just note that whoever actually ends up as the Buckeyes starting QB is going to be just fine, and quite honestly doesn’t need to be the second coming. The starting QB is going to have CFB’s best WR room filled with stars and top-tier talent, a reliable TE, and one of the best RB committee’s in all of CFB.

This room was headlined by RS Junior Miyan Williams and RS Sophomore TreVeyon Henderson, and also including Sophomore Dallan Hayden, RS Sophomore Evan Pryor, and RS Junior transfer from Arizona State Chip Trayanum.

Defense:

Key Losses: DT Taron Vincent, EDGE Zach Harrison, CB Cam Brown, NB Tanner McCallister, S Ronnie Hickman

Despite the losses of Vincent and Harrison, the Ohio State front seven is staying nearly the same as last year as all of their stud underclassmen defensive linemen(JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, and Michael Hall Jr.) are back for another year. Also, RS Senior Linebackers Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers, who are debatably the best returning LB duo in 2023, decided to stay for one more year before heading to the NFL.

All three of the young DL for the Buckeyes had breakout seasons in 2022 after Redshirting in ‘21. Hall was an absolute force in the middle of that defensive front, and Sawyer and Tuimoloau were forces on the outside. Vincent and Harrison were important pieces to the rotation. JT, Hall, and Sawyer are all capable of being three down players, but Ohio State is going to need some of their other young bucks to prove they can play to retool the rotation up front. This front seven is going to be one of the best in CFB.

The secondary is where the questions start to arise for the Buckeyes. Lathan Ransom will continue to start at one Safety spot. RS Senior safety Josh Proctor who has been a contributor and part of the safety rotation over the last couple years is expected to take over for Hickman, who is a pretty significant loss, at the other safety spot.

With CB1 Denzel Burke being a top returning CB in all of CFB, opposing QBs could look to pick on the other CB spot. As of this moment, Ohio State has not named their other starting CB. It sounds like a two man race between RS Sophomore Jordan Hancock, who missed a lot of last season due to injury, and Ole Miss Sophomore transfer Davison Igbinosun.

It sounds like Hancock may be the favorite heading into the summer, but it also sounds like Igbinosun looked good in spring ball and caught the coaches’ eyes with his size. Regardless of who takes the job, there are going to be high expectations due to the expectations of the young, returning defense as a whole. Don’t be surprised if Ohio State has one of the best, if not the best defense in all of CFB next season. 

In our Georgia article we talked about Georgia having a MASSIVE target on their back, and our highest tier contender OSU has their eyes set on that target. Ohio State in theory should have, regardless of who the QB is, one of the highest powered offenses in all of CFB and arguably the best defense in all of CFB this coming season. Ohio State has most of the tools needed and more motivation than just about anyone in the CFB landscape. They need to find replacements on the line at C and RT and a new starting CB opposite Burke, but no matter what just understand they are going to attack anyone in their way and are going to be one of CFB’s scariest teams.