In recent years, Ohio State has benefited from a multitude of talented freshmen seeing early playing time and making their mark on the team as pups. Players like Denzel Burke, J.K. Dobbins, TreVeyon Henderson, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson all made their mark immediately in their first years as Buckeyes.
Most of this year's freshmen haven’t had the extended opportunities to play in their first year that those Buckeyes did, but the following five freshmen have shown flashes of what they can bring to the team when given the chance, making them promising candidates to make a bigger impact for Ohio State in the future – whether that be in this year’s College Football Playoff, next year or in the years to come.
Dallan Hayden
| CATEGORY | STAT | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| GAMES PLAYED | 9 | ||
| OFFENSIVE SNAPS | 181 | ||
| SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | 6 | ||
| 102 rushes, 510 yards, 5 TDs | |||
With an injury-riddled Buckeye backfield, Tony Alford leaned on Dallan Hayden during the 10th and 11th weeks of the regular season. The running back from Memphis, Tennessee came through with 248 yards and four touchdowns on 46 carries in the two games against Indiana and Maryland.
Coming off of a career-high 146 yards and three touchdown performance against the Terrapins, many believed Hayden would be Ohio State's primary ballcarrier against Michigan, but the Chrisitan Brothers alum was only given two opportunities to run.
Even though his playing time hasn’t been consistent, Hayden has three 100-yard rushing games this season – the same number of 100-yard games as TreVeyon Henderson last season.
Dallan Hayden is (and will be) special. pic.twitter.com/nMtfvMSjl7
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 19, 2022
Caden Curry
| CATEGORY | STAT | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| GAMES PLAYED | 12 | ||
| DEFENSIVE SNAPS | 78 | ||
| SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | 189 | ||
| 14 tackles, 0.5 sack, 1.5 TFL | |||
The only scholarship freshman to get playing time in every regular-season game was Caden Curry. The defensive end from Indiana’s Center Grove High School leads the 2022 class with 14 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Against Arkansas State, Curry tallied a season-high four tackles and a six-yard tackle for loss. However, his best play of the season came on special teams against Iowa.
Trailing 13-7 and facing 4th-and-6 from his own 30, Kirk Ferentz sent the Hawkeyes' punt team onto the field. Tory Taylor received the snap and rolled right to punt the ball away. When the punter gave a quick glance down the field, he spotted an open field and decided to run for the first down.
Curry, along with Xavier Johnson and Lathan Ransom, spotted Taylor trying to make a play and made him pay. All three players converged on Iowa's punter and Curry buried him into Ohio Stadium's synthetic turf for a turnover on downs. The Buckeyes took over at the Hawkeyes' 34-yard line and six plays later extended the lead to 16-7.
Throughout the season Curry was called on for regular duty on the kickoff, kickoff return and PAT/FG units. With a combined 267 snaps on defense and special teams, Curry has seen the most action of any Ohio State freshman in 2022.
Caden Curry was ready for it. pic.twitter.com/yCS1kissjj
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 22, 2022
Sonny Styles
| CATEGORY | STAT | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| GAMES PLAYED | 11 | ||
| DEFENSIVE SNAPS | 55 | ||
| SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | 203 | ||
| 8 tackles, 1 TFL | |||
The talented defender who skipped his senior season of high school to start his college career a year early leads all Ohio State freshmen with 203 snaps on special teams this year. Although the majority of Sonny Styles' playing time has been in that phase of the game, the physically gifted safety rocked some Rockets in Week 3.
The Pickerington Central alum showed off his unique blend of size, speed, skill and power against Toledo. His first tackle as a Buckeye was a decleating of UT's Adam Beale. A few minutes after his first collegiate tackle, Styles crept up to the line and blew past a would-be-blocker to slam Willie Shaw III to the ground for a two-yard loss.
With Ronnie Hickman and Tanner McCalister leaving after this season and Lathan Ransom also having an NFL draft decision to make, Styles could parlay the promise he’s shown as a freshman into a starting safety job as a sophomore.
Jyaire Brown
| CATEGORY | STAT | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| GAMES PLAYED | 9 | ||
| DEFENSIVE SNAPS | 196 | ||
| SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | 53 | ||
| 8 tackles, 1 FF, 1 PBU | |||
The only freshman to start a game this season was Jyaire Brown. Ryan Day called upon the Lakota West graduate due to Cameron Brown and Burke being unavailable against Wisconsin in Week 4.
Brown played a career-high 52 defensive snaps and aided the secondary in holding the Badgers to 12 completed passes for 104 yards in the 52-21 victory.
In the inclement weather game against Northwestern, Brown was used as Ohio State's third cornerback. The defensive back's best play of the day occurred with under five minutes to play in the game when Wildcats quarterback Ryan Hilinski targeted Donny Navarro and Brown broke up the pass. Two plays later, the Buckeyes took over on downs and held on for the 21-7 win.
Brown finished the regular season with 196 defensive snaps, the most for any Buckeye freshman on either side of the ball, with eight tackles and a forced fumble.
Kye Stokes
| CATEGORY | STAT | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| GAMES PLAYED | 9 | ||
| DEFENSIVE SNAPS | 86 | ||
| SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | 55 | ||
| 12 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FF | |||
The second-leading tackler of the 2022 class so far is Kye Stokes, who has recorded 12 tackles in his freshman year, including a season-high of four against Iowa.
His biggest play of the game came when he forced a fourth-quarter fumble from Iowa's Kaleb Johnson in Ohio State's 54-10 rout of Kirk Ferentz's team. Palaie Gaoteote IV pounced on the ball and the Buckeyes took over on their own 44-yard line.
Stokes has also seen playing time on special teams with the kickoff coverage, punt and punt return teams.
