Ohio State has four weeks before it lines up against Ball State, and the first crack at a Week 1 depth chart is already starting to take shape as fall camp opens.
At quarterback, Julian Sayin is set to enter his second season as the starter. He put together a big year last season, throwing for 3,610 yards, 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions while completing 77% of his passes and finishing fourth in the Heisman race.
The backfield picture is a little less settled than it looked before camp. Bo Jackson had been the obvious choice to open as the No. 1 running back, but through the first two days of camp, West has been working with the first unit while Jackson has been with the second. There’s plenty of time left before kickoff, but the early read is that West is the one being viewed as the starter right now.
Ohio State’s receiver group still looks loaded. Smith remains one of the top wideouts in the country, and Inniss is trying to lock down the slot spot for a second straight season. McCuin, a transfer from UTSA after three seasons there, is a less familiar name to many Ohio State fans, but he has a real shot to win the other outside receiver job opposite Smith.
Tight end is another spot where the Buckeyes are leaning on a younger option. Roberts, who was ranked by 247Sports as the 18th-best tight end in the 2025 high school class, is entering his second season at Ohio State. With Max Klare, Will Kacmarek and Jelani Thurman all gone from last year’s tight end rotation, Roberts looks like the main option in three-wide receiver sets.
Up front, the offensive line remains the biggest question on offense. Left tackle, right guard and right tackle are all still up for grabs.
Montgomery and Hinzman should have left guard and center settled, and Siereveld will definitely be part of the five-man group, even if his exact position is still being sorted out. He started at left tackle last season, but Ian Moore got first-team work there on Thursday, which pushed Siereveld over to right guard.
For now, the line may look its best with Siereveld staying at left tackle.
On defense, the ends should be Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Beau Atkinson. Ohio State is counting on Jackson after he had the option to go pro, while Atkinson, who arrived from North Carolina in the spring of 2025, is in line for a bigger role with the starting unit.
The tackle spots are a little more crowded. Ohio State added John Walker from UCF to play nose tackle and James Smith from Alabama to play defensive tackle, but both are new to the program. That could make it tough for them to crack the Week 1 starting lineup, especially with Will Smith Jr. and Eddrick Houston already bringing experience.
At linebacker, Pierce is trying to win the Mike job after appearing in all 14 games last season and starting three of them. Alliegro, a Wisconsin transfer, is also in the mix. He started eight games for the Badgers last year and finished with 53 tackles, eight tackles for loss and four sacks.
The safety spots come with their own challenge after Caleb Downs left for the NFL. Ohio State brought in Moore from Duke to handle free safety, while McClain is expected to keep the strong safety spot for another year.
Cornerback is the one place where the competition still looks wide open. Sanchez is expected to claim one outside spot, with Little in the slot.
The other outside job is still unsettled. Mathews, who passed on the NFL draft and returned for his senior season, had been the favorite to start opposite Sanchez, but that may no longer be the case.
On the first day of camp, Georgia transfer Dominick Kelly was taking first-team reps with Mathews behind him. Even so, Mathews’ four seasons in Columbus still leave him with a strong chance to win the job.
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Ohio States Biggest Fix Is Already Creating Camp Concern
Ohio State made the kicking game a priority this offseason after moving on from Jayden Fielding and bringing in Connor Hawkins from Baylor, hoping a fresh start would help steady one of the most frustrating parts of last season. The Buckeyes clearly viewed the spot as an important fix, and Hawkins arrived with the chance to give the staff more confidence in a phase that had become too shaky for comfort.
Early fall camp reports, though, have not exactly delivered the clean reset Ohio State wanted. The kicking work has already drawn concern, with multiple missed field goals showing the Buckeyes still have some sorting out to do before the season begins. There is still time for the operation to settle in, but for a team with championship expectations, the pressure to turn hope into reliability is already hanging over the camp battle. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Fall Camp Already Has A Depth Chart Battle Brewing
Fall camp opened with a few familiar Ohio State position battles already taking shape, and the most notable movement came on the offensive side. Wide receiver McCuin is getting a real look as a possible starter in the receiving room, while running back West was the one taking first-team reps ahead of Bo Jackson. Head coach Ryan Day pointed to Wests offseason work as a reason for the early bump, a sign that some of the camp questions are less about raw talent than about who has earned the staffs trust right now.
The intrigue extends to the secondary, where the Buckeyes are also sorting out their cornerback pecking order. Kelly, the transfer from Georgia, opened camp with the first-team defense ahead of Jermaine Mathews Jr., which suggests the staff is willing to let early practice reps speak loudly in an open competition. With so much still to be decided in August, these early alignments are less a verdict than a preview of how quickly the depth chart could keep shifting. [Read more 🡒]
Carnell Tate Just Sent Buckeyes Fans A Fresh NFL Reminder
Carnell Tates rise has been easy to appreciate from an Ohio State perspective, especially for fans who watched him climb from a crowded receiver room into one of the more productive playmakers in the program. He put up strong numbers before an injury interrupted his college run, and the buzz around his skill set has followed him into the league, where his size and style have drawn comparisons to NFL-level route technicians.
Now entering his rookie season with the Tennessee Titans, Tate is part of the next phase of a rebuild that also includes Cam Ward. For Buckeyes fans, it is another reminder of how quickly talent can move from Columbus to the pros, and another reason to keep an eye on what Tate looks like once he gets settled into an offense that should give him every chance to make an early impression. [Read more 🡒]