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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The national championship window has once again opened wide for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
NIL money helped keep the cupboard stocked with returning starters and attracted other key contributors from the transfer portal. New sporting director Ross Bjork has said it cost about $20 million from donor collectives and brand affiliates to assemble this collection of players.
The way the pieces have fallen into place, including an experienced starting quarterback in Kansas State transfer Will Howard, coach Ryan Day couldn’t have done much better. AP Top 25 voters recognize that, too, ranking the Buckeyes No. 2 in the preseason poll.
In TreVeyon Henderson and Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State will have one of the most formidable running back tandems in college football.
Emeka Egbuka is poised to be the No. 1 receiver after playing in Marvin Harrison Jr.’s shadow the past two seasons. He racked up 1,151 receiving yards in 2022, but an ankle injury that required surgery limited his production in 2023.
“It’s the same expectations that people put out there every year when it comes to Ohio State,” Egbuka said. “It’s more of the same. We try not to let it get to our heads. We try to stay grounded and keep working and recognize that we have to get everything right on the field.”
With the nation’s second-best scoring defense last season, the unit could be even better this time around as seven starters return and the addition of Alabama transfer safety Caleb Downs bolsters an experienced secondary.
QB room with a lot of talent
Behind Howard, Day and new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who left his head coaching job at UCLA to join the Buckeyes, have a plethora of players at quarterback. They won’t be able to keep them all happy.
Howard is Mr. Now. He’s been there, done that, throwing for nearly 5,800 yards and 48 touchdowns in four years at Kansas State.
“The only thing I would say is I don’t feel like I have to be a hero here,” Howard said. “And I feel like I have the guys around me and I just need to make the game easier for them and get them the ball and make good decisions. At the end of the day, I don’t have to go out there and do anything superhuman.”
Other quarterbacks on the team include third-year player Devin Brown, who was a candidate for the starting job last year and will again begin the season as the No. 2 option. Sophomore player Lincoln Kienholz and heralded recruits Julian Sayin (who transferred to Ohio State after briefly enrolling at Alabama) and Air Noland will wait their turn.
Last year’s starter, Kyle McCord, transferred to Syracuse.
That team from the north
The Buckeyes have lost to their biggest rival, Michigan, the past three years, the first time that has happened in nearly three decades.
Ohio State has been dominated of late by teams led by Jim Harbaugh, which has rattled Buckeye Nation and raised thorny questions for Day. Michigan won 30-24 last November without Harbaugh, who was serving a suspension due to a sign-stealing scandal.
The 14-3 loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl that followed only compounded the bad mood in Columbus. Harbaugh left for the NFL.
“I’d be lying if I told you it didn’t light a fire inside of us,” said fourth-year defensive end Jack Sawyer, who grew up in suburban Columbus and decided he didn’t want to go out without beating Michigan. “It’s definitely something we think about and we know what’s at stake when we play those guys. All of our goals and aspirations for the season hinge on that game in November. They hate us, we hate them. That’s the way it has to be. That’s the way we want it to be.”
Player to watch
No Ohio State receiver — not even Harrison, who would eventually be selected in the first round of the NFL draft — has generated the kind of hype surrounding rookie Jeremiah Smith. The top national prospect in the class of 2024, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound receiver from Miami Gardens, Florida, is considered a generational talent and will immediately be in the spotlight.
The schedule
With the addition of USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon to the Big Ten this season, schedules had to be reshuffled.
The Buckeyes open Aug. 31 against Akron and have a pair of more tune-up games after that, against Western Michigan and Marshall. Big games include Iowa (Oct. 5), at Oregon (Oct. 12), at Penn State (Nov. 2) and Michigan (Nov. 30). They play Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Nov. 16.
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