Ohio State’s defense has no shortage of talent, but talent alone doesn’t hold a unit together when the pressure starts climbing. Every championship defense needs that one player everyone else can lean on, the steady voice when things get messy. For the Buckeyes, that role now falls on Jermaine Mathews Jr.
Ohio State has spent the last two seasons with several players filling that kind of space. Caleb Downs handled the secondary, Sonny Styles supplied the edge and emotion, and Davison Igbinosun never shied away from the opponent’s top wideout.
Those veterans helped set the tone, and the rest of the defense followed. But almost all of that group is gone now, and the Buckeyes are left with a roster full of promise and far less proven experience.
There is still plenty to like. Devin Sanchez has the tools to become one of the country’s best cornerbacks.
Earl Little Jr. comes in after an All-ACC season. Jaylen McClain looks ready for a bigger role.
Terry Moore has already played at an All-ACC level. Add in a wave of freshmen and sophomores spread across the position groups, and the upside is obvious.
What’s harder to find is a player who has already lived through Ohio State football and knows how it all works when the lights come on.
That is where Mathews stands apart.
His route to becoming the Buckeyes’ most important defensive back was not the fast track. He didn’t arrive as a five-star expected to take over right away.
He had to earn everything. As a freshman, injuries pushed him into snaps earlier than planned, and he handled the challenge with poise against some of college football’s best receivers.
The next year, he was one of the first defensive backs off the bench on a national championship team, soaking up the veterans around him while quietly growing into the job.
By 2025, the waiting was over. Mathews started every game, drew weekly WR1 assignments, and became what every defensive coordinator wants at corner: reliable.
That may not be the flashiest label, but at that position it matters. When quarterbacks stop testing you, the big plays often disappear.
The tape may not always scream for attention, but the coaches know what they have.
Now Ohio State needs more than steady play from him. It needs him to lead.
Matt Patricia’s defense asks a lot from its secondary. Communication has to be constant.
Corners have to know leverage, disguise coverages, swap responsibilities after the snap, and make adjustments before the offense even gets set. That gets complicated fast when so many players are settling into new roles.
Mathews, though, already knows the standard. He knows what winning football looks like inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
He knows what Saturdays demand in Columbus.
That makes him the connector between what Ohio State was and what it’s trying to become. The younger defensive backs need more from him than clean coverage.
They need him to show them how to play corner at Ohio State. That kind of influence won’t show up in the stat column, but it may be the difference in how quickly this defense finds itself.
And there’s still room for Mathews to become even more visible on a national scale. He already has the athleticism.
His feet are excellent, his recovery speed lets him stay attached downfield, and his competitiveness jumps off the screen. He attacks the catch point with real confidence.
What’s been missing is the kind of production that forces everyone else to notice.
If that changes - if he keeps delivering the same steady coverage and adds four or five interceptions - the conversation shifts fast. By next spring, Mathews could be in the mix as one of the Big Ten’s best corners, a First-Team All-Big Ten selection, an All-American, and maybe even a first-round draft pick.
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