Jayden Fielding has spent most of his Ohio State career drilling kicks with the kind of consistency that makes special teams coaches sleep a little easier. With 45 makes in 56 attempts, he's hitting at an 80.4% clip-good enough to sit just behind Buckeye legend Mike Nugent on the school’s all-time accuracy list.
That’s elite company. But as anyone in the kicking game knows, the past only buys you so much grace.
It's a position defined by the moment, and Fielding's latest moment didn’t go the way he-or Ohio State fans-hoped.
In the Big Ten Championship clash between No. 1 Ohio State and No.
2 Indiana, Fielding connected on a 30-yarder in the second quarter, but a late miss from 27 yards out-one that would’ve tied the game-loomed large. The Buckeyes came up short, and the reaction back home in Columbus was swift and, at times, ugly.
Fielding later shared that he’d been the target of harassment in the wake of the miss, a cruel reminder of just how unforgiving the spotlight can be, especially at a program where the stakes are always sky-high.
Still, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day isn’t flinching. On Tuesday, he confirmed that Fielding will start in the Cotton Bowl against Miami. “We’ll keep a close eye on it,” Day said, “but we’re going to go with Jayden to start the game.”
It’s a show of confidence from a coach who’s seen Fielding bounce back before. Last season offered a similar arc: after missing two kicks in The Game against Michigan, Fielding responded with a rock-solid postseason. He hit two field goals in the Rose Bowl win over Oregon, then came through again in the national championship against Notre Dame-including the one that effectively iced the game.
Ryan Day says Jayden Fielding will start at kicker for Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl- his last kick being a miss in the Big Ten Championship Game against Indiana pic.twitter.com/KVRwnwSQqd
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 30, 2025
That’s the thing about kickers. They live on a razor’s edge-one swing of the leg can flip a narrative.
Fielding’s résumé speaks for itself, but in this sport, redemption is earned in real time. The Cotton Bowl offers another chance for him to do just that.
And if history is any indication, he’s more than capable of delivering.