Snap Counts: 60 Buckeyes See Playing Time As Ohio State Opens Second Half of Season with Blowout Win over Iowa

Exactly 60 Ohio State players saw game action by the end of the Buckeyes’ 54-10 win over the Hawkeyes. Twenty-eight players got in the game on offense and 24 Buckeyes got reps on defense while eight Buckeyes – including five specialists – played on special teams only.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba returned to action on offense after missing each of Ohio State’s previous three games. He played only 22 snaps before coming up limping and not returning to the game, though Ryan Day said after the game that the plan all along was for Smith-Njigba to only play about 20 plays against Iowa.

Chip Trayanum played his first two snaps of the year at running back after playing 36 defensive snaps at linebacker in the first half of the season, while Jordan Hancock played his first 15 snaps of the season at cornerback. Mason Arnold saw his first action of the season at long snapper after Bradley Robinson exited the game with a knee injury.

Miyan Williams also returned to action at running back after missing the Michigan State game, while Kyion Grayes made his second game appearance of the season at wide receiver and Palaie Gaoteote IV saw his first action in three games.

Buckeyes who were among the 63 players who saw action at Michigan State but did not play against Iowa were running back TC Caffey, tight ends Bennett Christian, Patrick Gurd and Sam Hart, defensive tackle Jaden McKenzie, cornerbacks Cameron Brown and Ryan Turner and safeties Josh Proctor and Kourt Williams. Brown, Williams and Caffey were all unavailable to play against the Hawkeyes.

Our full report on how many snaps each Buckeye played at each position and on every special teams unit is below. All offensive and defensive snap counts are courtesy of Pro Football Focus’ premium statistics, while special teams snap counts were compiled by Eleven Warriors data analyst Matt Gutridge. All snap counts should be considered unofficial as they were not provided by Ohio State.

Quarterbacks

C.J. Stroud: 59
Kyle McCord: 5

Stroud played every snap of Ohio State’s first 14 possessions against Iowa. He attempted passes on just over half of his snaps, completing 20 of 30 passes for 286 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.

McCord entered the game for the Buckeyes’ final two drives. He attempted passes on two of his five snaps, completing both of them for eight combined yards.

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Running Backs

TreVeyon Henderson: 38
Miyan Williams: 21
Dallan Hayden: 3
Chip Trayanum: 2

Henderson made his sixth start of the season at running back against Iowa and was on the field more than half of Ohio State’s 64 offensive plays. He ran the ball on only 11 of his 38 snaps, gaining 38 net yards, while he also caught one pass for four yards.

Williams returned to action against Iowa after missing the Michigan State game and played 21 snaps with the first-team offense, running the ball on 10 of them for 19 net yards with the day’s only rushing touchdown.

Both Hayden and Trayanum saw snaps on Ohio State’s final two possessions, with Hayden running the ball twice for five combined yards and Trayanum, who played exclusively on defense and special teams in the first half of the year, gaining nine yards on his first carry of the season.

Wide Receivers

Marvin Harrison Jr.: 53
Emeka Egbuka: 40
Julian Fleming: 33
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 22
Kojo Antwi: 5
Kyion Grayes: 5
Kaleb Brown: 3
Xavier Johnson: 2
Reis Stocksdale: 2
Jayden Ballard: Special teams only

Smith-Njigba was on the field for 22 of Ohio State’s first 26 offensive plays before checking out of the game. Egbuka started the game at Z receiver and rotated with Fleming at that spot in the first quarter, but moved to slot receiver after Smith-Njigba’s exit, with Johnson checking in for just two snaps at that position with the first-team offense.

Harrison led all wide receivers in playing time for a sixth consecutive game as he played all but six snaps with the first-team offense, while Fleming played more than half of Ohio State’s offensive plays despite being replaced by Smith-Njigba in the starting lineup. Harrison, Egbuka and Fleming all scored touchdowns as they combined to catch 15 of Stroud’s 20 completions against Iowa.

The freshman trio of Antwi, Brown and Grayes entered the game at wide receiver on Ohio State’s second-to-last possession while Stocksdale replaced Brown at slot receiver on the Buckeyes’ final series. Brown caught his first pass as a Buckeye on the last of his three snaps in the game.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba returned to action against Iowa but played only 22 snaps before leaving the game.

Tight Ends

Cade Stover: 59
Mitch Rossi: 20
Gee Scott Jr.: 10

Stover played every snap with the first-team offense against Iowa, catching two passes for 25 yards. Rossi joined him on the field for 20 plays in multi-tight end packages, catching a touchdown pass out of the backfield on one of his three plays lined up as a fullback.

Scott also played five snaps with the first-team offense in big personnel and played the final five snaps of the game at tight end, catching one pass for three yards.

Offensive Linemen

Paris Johnson Jr.: 59
Donovan Jackson: 59
Luke Wypler: 59
Matt Jones: 59
Dawand Jones: 59
Josh Fryar: 7
Zen Michalski: 5
Enokk Vimahi: 5
Jakob James: 5
Toby Wilson: 5

The starting five of Johnson, Jackson, Wypler, Jones and Jones played every snap with the first-team offense against Iowa, while the second-team offensive line for the Buckeyes’ final two series consisted of Michalski, Vimahi, James, Wilson and Fryar. It was the second straight game Wilson played with the second-team offensive line instead of Tegra Tshabola, signaling the Buckeyes could be opting to preserve Tshabola’s redshirt after playing him in four games.

Fryar joined the first-team offense as a sixth offensive lineman in jumbo packages for two snaps.

Defensive Ends

Javontae Jean-Baptiste: 39
J.T. Tuimoloau: 27
Jack Sawyer: 24
Zach Harrison: 20
Caden Curry: 10

Even though Harrison and Sawyer started at defensive end against Iowa, Jean-Baptiste and Tuimoloau ended up playing the most snaps. Jean-Baptiste was the only defensive end to play more than half of Ohio State’s defensive snaps as he saw regular action in the starting rotation while he also remained in the game opposite Curry (who was in for 10 of Ohio State’s final 12 defensive snaps) on the Buckeyes’ final three defensive series in the fourth quarter.

Despite playing the fewest total snaps of Ohio State’s top four defensive ends against Iowa, Harrison made a massive impact as he was frequently in the game on third downs and made four drive-ending plays while recording five pressures on just nine pass-rushing snaps, per PFF.

Ohio State did not use its Jack linebacker package against Iowa, resulting in Sawyer playing his fewest snaps of the season to date, though he has played between 24 and 28 defensive plays in all seven of the Buckeyes’ games so far.

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Defensive Tackles

Mike Hall Jr.: 26
Taron Vincent: 24
Tyleik Williams: 24
Jerron Cage: 19
Ty Hamilton: 19

Although Cage started in place of Hall for the second game in a row, Hall played the most snaps of any defensive tackle against Iowa after he was limited to only seven snaps while nursing an injury against Michigan State. Vincent started his seventh consecutive game to begin the year but played his second-lowest snap count of the season as Williams played his second-highest snap count of the season to date.

Many of Hamilton’s snaps came in the fourth quarter, though he entered the game at nose tackle for several plays when the Buckeyes used a 3-2-6 alignment with only one defensive tackle on the field in third-and-long situations.

Linebackers

Steele Chambers: 51
Tommy Eichenberg: 51
Cody Simon: 24
Palaie Gaoteote IV: 8
Reid Carrico: Special teams only
C.J. Hicks: Special teams only

Jim Knowles did not rotate his inside linebackers at all with the first-team defense for the third game in a row as Eichenberg – who has played every first-team snap at middle linebacker all season – and Chambers were on the field for every defensive snap until Iowa’s final two possessions of the game.

Simon, who rotated with Chambers at Will linebacker for the first four games of the year, still played 16 snaps with the first-team defense against Iowa as a Sam linebacker in three-linebacker packages. He also played the final eight snaps of the game at inside linebacker alongside Gaoteote, who saw playing time on defense for just the second time all year, replacing Trayanum as a second-team linebacker.

Steele Chambers played every first-team snap at Will linebacker for the third game in a row.

Cornerbacks

JK Johnson: 50
Denzel Burke: 40
Jordan Hancock: 15
Jyaire Brown: 13

Johnson started in place of an unavailable Cameron Brown for the third time in Ohio State’s last four games and played 50-plus snaps for the fourth time this season as he led all cornerbacks in playing time against Iowa. Burke made his sixth start of the season and was on the field for all but seven defensive plays prior to the fourth quarter.

Hancock – who, like Smith-Njigba, was also on a pitch count against Iowa according to Knowles – rotated in with both Johnson and Burke to play his first 15 snaps of the year. With a win well in hand, Brown replaced Burke in the lineup for Ohio State’s final 13 defensive plays of the game. 

Safeties

Ronnie Hickman: 51
Lathan Ransom: 51
Tanner McCalister: 26
Cameron Martinez: 21
Kye Stokes: 8
Sonny Styles: 8

Like Chambers and Eichenberg, Hickman and Ransom were on the field for every defensive play until Iowa’s final two drives of the day. Ransom made his second consecutive start at bandit in place of Josh Proctor, who did not play in any capacity against Iowa even though he was not listed on the Buckeyes’ status report.

McCalister played just over half of the snaps with Ohio State’s first-team defense – and intercepted passes on two of them – as Martinez also saw a share of the first-team action at nickel safety against Iowa. Both of them were on the field when the Buckeyes utilized their dime package in third-and-long situations, but neither of them was on the field when the Buckeyes utilized their three-linebacker package.

Stokes and Styles entered the game to play alongside Martinez for Iowa’s final two possessions.

Field Goals/Extra Points

Noah Ruggles (kicker): 10
Jesse Mirco (holder): 10
Caden Curry (wing): 10
Zen Michalski (end): 10
Paris Johnson Jr. (tackle): 10
Donovan Jackson (guard): 10
Enokk Vimahi (guard): 10
Dawand Jones (tackle): 10
Jakob James (end): 10
Cade Stover (wing): 10
Bradley Robinson (long snapper): 6
Mason Arnold (long snapper): 4

On a day where Ruggles made and attempted more field goals (4-for-4) than he did in the entire first half of the season (2-for-3), Ohio State utilized the same lineup it’s been using all year until Robinson was injured covering a punt in the third quarter, after which Arnold replaced him as the long snapper for Ruggles’ final four extra points of the game.

Kickoffs

Jayden Fielding (kicker): 11
Reid Carrico: 11
Caden Curry: 11
C.J. Hicks: 11
Xavier Johnson: 11
Cody Simon: 11
Sonny Styles: 11
Chip Trayanum: 11
Tanner McCalister: 9
Jyaire Brown: 7
Jayden Ballard: 6
Ronnie Hickman: 4
Kye Stokes: 4
Reis Stocksdale: 3

It’s not particularly common for a defensive end to cover kickoffs, but that’s exactly what Curry did on all 11 of Ohio State’s kickoffs against Iowa.

Hickman, McCalister and Ballard all started the game on the kickoff coverage unit but were replaced by the end of the game by Brown, Stokes and Stocksdale. Ballard’s early departure from the unit came after he was injured while covering a kickoff in the second quarter.

Kickoff Returns

Xavier Johnson (returner): 3
Steele Chambers: 3
Caden Curry: 3
Julian Fleming: 3
Palaie Gaoteote IV: 3
C.J. Hicks: 3
Xavier Johnson: 3
Gee Scott Jr.: 3
Cody Simon: 3
Sonny Styles: 3
Chip Trayanum: 3
Jayden Ballard: 2
Kojo Antwi: 1

Curry also made his debut on the kickoff return unit against Iowa, replacing Mitch Rossi. Johnson and Trayanum swapped spots on the return unit, with Johnson lining up deep as the lead returner after Trayanum dropped two kickoffs in the first half of the season, though Johnson did not actually return any kickoffs on Saturday.

Gaoteote also returned to the kickoff return unit against Iowa, replacing Kourt Williams. Antwi replaced Ballard on Iowa’s lone kickoff in the second half.

Punts

Jesse Mirco (punter): 3
Tommy Eichenberg (upback): 3
Mitch Rossi (upback): 3
Steele Chambers (guard): 3
Chip Trayanum (guard): 3
Emeka Egbuka (tackle): 3
Xavier Johnson (tackle): 3
Cade Stover (wing): 3
Kojo Antwi (gunner): 2
Julian Fleming (gunner): 2
Bradley Robinson (long snapper): 2
Mason Arnold (long snapper): 1
Jayden Ballard (gunner): 1
Kye Stokes (gunner): 1

Robinson suffered his injury on Mirco’s second punt of the game, leading to Arnold replacing him for the last of Mirco’s three punts. Everyone else who took the field for a punt against Iowa had taken snaps on the punting unit in previous games.

Punt Blocks/Returns

JK Johnson: 6
Emeka Egbuka (returner): 5
Lathan Ransom: 5
Jyaire Brown: 4
Sonny Styles: 4 
Reid Carrico: 3
Caden Curry: 3
Xavier Johnson: 3
Cameron Martinez: 3
Jack Sawyer: 3
Gee Scott Jr.: 3
Chip Trayanum: 3
Denzel Burke: 2
Steele Chambers: 2
Tommy Eichenberg: 2
Ty Hamilton: 2
Ronnie Hickman: 2
Javontae Jean-Baptiste: 2
Tyleik Williams: 2
Jerron Cage: 1
Palaie Gaoteote IV: 1
Mike Hall Jr.: 1
Zach Harrison: 1
Cody Simon: 1
Reis Stocksdale (returner): 1
Kye Stokes: 1

Ohio State’s primary punt block/return unit – consisting of JK Johnson, Ransom, Brown, Xavier Johnson, Styles, Carrico, Curry, Martinez, Scott and Trayanum with Egbuka deep at punt returner – took the field for each of Iowa’s first three punts. Curry, Johnson and Ransom were all in position, with Curry making the tackle, to snuff out the fake punt run Tory Taylor attempted on his second punt snap of the day.

The Buckeyes kept their defense on the field to play punt safe on each of Iowa’s final three punts, while Stocksdale replaced Egbuka at returner for Iowa’s final punt of the day.

Field Goal/Extra Point Block

Denzel Burke: 2
Steele Chambers: 2
Tommy Eichenberg: 2
Ronnie Hickman: 2
Javontae Jean-Baptiste: 2
JK Johnson: 2
Lathan Ransom: 2
Sonny Styles: 2
J.T. Tuimoloau: 2
Ty Hamilton: 1
Zach Harrison: 1
Jack Sawyer: 1
Taron Vincent: 1

Ohio State sent all of its top four defensive ends on the field to attempt to block Iowa’s lone extra point after Hawkeye defensive end Joe Evans returned a fumble for Iowa’s only touchdown of the game. The players on the field for Iowa’s lone field goal consisted of the defenders who were in the game for the previous play with the exception of Styles, who played in place of McCalister on the kick-blocking team for the second game in a row.