Twenty-one Ohio State football players will participate in Senior Day festivities before the Buckeyes’ final home game of the season against Minnesota.
The full list of Buckeyes who will participate in Saturday’s Senior Day ceremony, as provided by Ohio State on Friday:
- K Parker Lewis
- QB Tristan Gebbia
- OL Jack Forsman (retired)
- OL Grant Toutant (retired)
- QB Chad Ray
- DB Andrew Moore
- OL Quinton Burke
- DB Cameron Kittle
- OL Trey Leroux
- TE Patrick Gurd
- DT Jaden McKenzie
- RB Miyan Williams
- LB Cody Simon
- LB Steele Chambers
- WR Julian Fleming
- S Lathan Ransom
- S Josh Proctor
- RG Matt Jones
- WR Xavier Johnson
- TE Cade Stover
- LB Tommy Eichenberg
Tomorrow, we recognize our Seniors for all that they have done for the program, Thank you Seniors
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) November 17, 2023
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While all of those players have chosen to go through Senior Day festivities on Saturday, that doesn’t necessarily mean all of them will be leaving Ohio State after this season. Because of the extra year of eligibility all college football players received in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only four of this year’s Senior Day honorees are actually in their final year of eligibility: sixth-year seniors Xavier Johnson, Matt Jones, and Josh Proctor and seventh-year senior Tristan Gebbia.
Johnson, Jones and Proctor all participated in Ohio State’s Senior Day last year before ultimately deciding to use their extra year of eligibility, and Ryan Day said Tuesday that any player considered to be a senior would have the option to participate in Senior Day and still have the option to return for the 2024 season if they still have remaining eligibility.
“If they're eligible, then we certainly allow them the option to do it, and then kind of go from there,” Day said. “It’s a lot different than it was a decade ago.”
Players who are listed as seniors on Ohio State’s roster who will not be going through Senior Day festivities include running back Chip Trayanum; tight ends Gee Scott Jr. and Joe Royer; offensive linemen Victor Cutler Jr., Josh Fryar, Jakob James and Enokk Vimahi; defensive tackle Ty Hamilton; defensive end Mitchell Melton; and safeties Cameron Martinez and Ja’Had Carter. That likely indicates that all of them plan to return to Ohio State for the 2024 season; with redshirt years and the additional year of eligibility, all of them except Trayanum, Scott, Cutler and Carter still have two more years of eligibility.
Ohio State does not allow third-year players to participate in Senior Day, but there are numerous juniors who will also likely be playing their final games in Ohio Stadium on Saturday before entering the 2024 NFL draft after this season. Wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, running back TreVeyon Henderson, cornerback Denzel Burke, defensive end JT Tuimoloau and defensive tackle Tyleik Williams are among the prime candidates from the junior class to enter the NFL draft early; others who will have decisions to make after this season include defensive tackle Mike Hall, defensive end Jack Sawyer and left guard Donovan Jackson.
Seniors who are expected to play in their final home game as Buckeyes on Saturday include fifth-year tight end Cade Stover, who said he expects Senior Day to be “special.”
“Truly special to look up there and see your family in the stands and run out there with all the boys that you've been through a lot with here,” Stover said. “Knowing that these times are coming to an end very quick, you try and make the most of them and probably wish you could go back and make the most of more of them, but you live and you learn.
“Hard to believe that you are a senior, but then again, time don’t stop for anybody, so it’s special to go out there one last time with these guys and enjoy it.”
Jones said it’s hard to believe his Ohio State career is coming to an end even though he’s been with the Buckeyes since 2018.
“It's six years, but it's gone really fast,” Jones said. “Everybody's obstacle is different, and it's just about how you respond and how you take it in. And that's just the mindset I've grown with for the past six years, and I have no doubt about it, like I enjoyed every six years.”
Fifth-year senior linebacker Steele Chambers gave a pragmatic answer when asked about Senior Day, saying “time passes, so you gotta move on.” But he said he has had some moments of reflection in recent weeks about his Ohio State career nearing its end even though he hasn’t spent too much time thinking about it.
“You never really realize it till you get into the moment. Like they said one time in ‘The Office,’ you never really realize that you're in the good times till you finally get there,” Chambers said. “But I mean, like, you just get some moments. Like me and Tommy (Eichenberg) realized that this last week is gonna be the last time we're just going to be chilling in the hotel room on Friday nights. Just realize like you only get a few more times just hanging out with the guys at the house and stuff. So it's just cherishing those moments.”
Day plans to cherish the opportunity to celebrate Senior Day with every player who gets recognized during Saturday’s ceremony, knowing that all of them have had to overcome their own share of struggles to get to where they are now regardless of how big their roles have become on the team.
“One thing I appreciate about Senior Day is when you see that player come across the field, they come with a history of adversity. Almost all of them,” Day said. “They have their own story, their own journey along the way. Whether it is an injury, whether it's losing a family member, whether it's someone was diagnosed with cancer, whether it was just something along the way that they have to work through, and that's life. Life is a fight, life is working through adversity. And if you're around long enough, you're gonna go through adversity. And the fact that they've started off as recruits and then they get here as a freshman and then they work through and then they graduate, and along the way, they have their own story.
“Each guy has their own story, which I think that's the one thing that I recognize as those guys run across the field. And usually it's not exactly how you designed it, right? When you come up, you think, ‘Alright, this is going to happen, this is going to happen.’ You have your boxes of things you want to check off, life just doesn't work that way. But so many great success stories on our team.”
