Taison Chatman might be a redshirt sophomore, but in many ways, the 2025-26 season feels like his first.
Well, in one way, primarily. It’s the first campaign of his career that Chatman enters healthy. The composite No. 39 prospect in the recruiting class of 2023, he missed time to start the 2023-24 season with an injury and never seemed to reach 100%.
Then, in the summer of 2024, Chatman tore his ACL. His entire sophomore season was wiped away.
“It was hard,” Chatman told Eleven Warriors at Ohio State basketball media day. “Probably the first two or three weeks was the hardest, just realizing that I’m gonna miss the whole year. Once you get past that, I feel like there's definitely bumps in the road of recovery. But you've got to lean on the people in your circle, your teammates, coaches, family, anybody for real, to try and get through.”
Chatman’s always had talent. But how deeply he can tap into that potential now that he finally has a chance to play real, healthy minutes is a major X-factor for the Buckeyes that can boost their entire guard rotation behind star starters Bruce Thornton and John Mobley Jr.
“We experience some of those maybe young player mistakes at times, but for him, the biggest thing is he's gifted with the ball in his hands,” Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler said. “He's gifted at catch-and-shoots, playing off others. He's just got to continue to get better with some of the physicality and the pace of the game, particularly on the (defensive) side. As that continues to get better, it just raises the potential of impact that he can have.”
Imagine, for a moment, having your ability to walk functionally suddenly snatched away from you for a few weeks as a 19-year-old in prime physical condition. That’s the reality Chatman experienced in the time following his ACL repair surgery last summer.
That physical component of rehab was difficult. But the emotional toll of watching every game from the sidelines proved even tougher for Chatman to grapple with. Though he felt ready to play, his healing body could do nothing as Ohio State lost seven of its last 11 games and missed the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year.
“The first half was definitely more physical, because you've got to learn how to walk again,” Chatman said. “You've got to learn how to jog, run, all of that. Then the second half, I'd say, was mental because you are near midseason in January, you want to be out there. You feel like you're ready to go, but you've still got like a month or two of recovery left. I'd say the last half was probably the hardest.”
Chatman’s parents and Ohio State basketball head athletic trainer Tony Laurenzi were instrumental in his recovery, he said. Once he returned to the court that spring and summer, he blew Diebler away with his work ethic.
“He's been so consistent from really last spring to now that I forget sometimes what he's gone through the last couple of years,” Diebler said. “Because he's been in there every day. And I think it's important to remember that he's yet to have a true kind of freshman year.”
That work ethic is likely rooted in Chatman’s simple joy of being healthy.
“It's amazing, I can't lie,” Chatman said. “I'm excited to be back. I'm excited to be fully healthy. It's the first season I'm going into that I’ve been here that I’m fully healthy. So I'm ready. I'm excited.”
To the public and pundits, Chatman is a major unknown for the 2025-26 team. But the third-year guard said he, his teammates and coaches know what he’s “capable of.” Both in the halfcourt and pushing the pace in transition, he feels he’s someone who can create offense, be it for himself or others.
“Being a scorer, playmaker,” Chatman said. “Getting the ball in the right spots, I’d say. And then, when it’s time, looking for my shot or drawing two on the screen for my teammates.”
Chatman and fellow redshirt sophomore Gabe Cupps, who transferred from Indiana this offseason, will be the primary backcourt backups to Thornton and Mobley. French-born, German-raised freshman wing Mathieu Grujicic could also slide over if needed.
Bench production is something that Ohio State could use in 2025-26. During Diebler’s debut season, the Buckeyes ranked 253rd nationally in bench points per game, managing just 17.3 points per contest from their reserves.
“An issue last year was our bench production,” Diebler said. “Like we were, again, one of the lowest teams in the conference at getting bench production. So I think our depth this year and the type of depth we have, again, fixes an issue from last year. And he certainly, I think, helps with that depth that we have. No question.”
Above all else, Chatman’s No. 1 goal for this season is to win. He won’t be watching from the sidelines as Ohio State begins its chase for its first NCAA Tournament bid in four years.
“We talk about it every day as a team,” Chatman said. “We all talk about it. That's the goal this season, is to make the tournament. That's the biggest goal this season.”
