Each season, for every team across college football, there are players with question marks surrounding them that can make or break the campaign.
Entering the 2024 season, Ohio State didn’t know how quarterback Will Howard’s game would translate from Kansas State. He ended up setting the school’s single-season completion percentage record and being the leader the Buckeyes needed to take them to a national championship. Josh Fryar overcame pass protection concerns, online harassment and on-field heartbreak and gutted out injuries to become an anchor at right tackle.
Now there’s a new crop of players whose performance will directly influence the ceiling and floor of Ohio State football in 2025. The five pivotal guys we’re running through here are all embracing new roles, whether that’s going from depth piece to starter or undergoing a position change.
Julian Sayin
Surprise, surprise, the first player to be listed as pivotal for Ohio State plays the most important position in football.
Sayin seemed destined to be the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback since he transferred in from Alabama mere weeks into his tenure there. The No. 1 quarterback prospect in the recruiting class of 2024, Lincoln Kienholz gave him a true run for the starting job, but ultimately Sayin’s consistency and ability to do the right things with the football won the day.
“I just started to see some throws and some anticipation,” Day said on Monday when announcing Sayin as his starting quarterback. “There was a couple reps where the rush was getting to him; in those moments, you have to make quick decisions … either throw it away or find a way to put it in a spot, even if it's a checkdown or something like that, I saw some of those things going on. Making the routine plays routinely. I also saw command in the huddle. Not that I didn't see some of those things with Lincoln, but you're asking about Julian in particular. Saw those things and started to feel like, ‘OK, we can win with this guy.’”
Sayin appeared in four games as Ohio State’s third-string quarterback in 2024, going 5-of-12 for 84 yards with a 55-yard touchdown strike to tight end Bennett Christian.
Julian Sayins first career touchdown pass is a 55-yard strike to Bennett Christian pic.twitter.com/z0MIGWcLhW
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 8, 2024
Sayin’s quick, smooth release is a treat to watch and easy to observe when he throws alongside other quarterbacks. The zip and accuracy of his throws can be outstanding at times, too. But there’s much more than those things that go into playing quarterback at Ohio State, especially when No. 1 Texas is coming to town in nine days. Can Sayin live up to his five-star billing, and how fast can he tap into that potential? No single player’s development will have more impact on the outcome of the Buckeyes’ 2025 campaign.
“The way it spins out of his hand, the way it spins, and then the way it just comes softly into your hands,” tight end Max Klare said on Wednesday. “It's just a different feel.”
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.
By all accounts, Jackson has answered the call to become the alpha dog among Ohio State’s defensive ends in 2025. Named an Iron Buckeye this summer, he’s embraced a leadership role that was, at first, uncomfortable for him.
“I'm going to be honest, I did not want to be the leader of this room at first,” Jackson said on Aug. 14. “In the winter, it was tough. It was tough. I don't tell nobody this, but there would be times, there would be days where Coach Mick (Marotti) and the other coaches be hard on D-line. It’d be tough. And I'd go home and shed tears, like, real talk. But I stayed with it. I stuck with it. Coach J, Coach Day, Coach Mick, they helped me along with it. And I'm in this position now.”
Jackson’s been Ohio State’s top defensive end off the bench behind Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau the last two seasons, but the role he’s expected to take on this year is a much larger leap from that. In 2024, he had 16 tackles with three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. It was a tick above his production in 2023, where he had seven tackles, two TFLs and 1.5 sacks, but another level will be expected of him in 2025.
Pressure beats coverage and is central to elite defense in football, so a breakout fourth year for Jackson can skyrocket the lethality of the Silver Bullets. His teammates have all the confidence in the World it’ll happen.
“I think last year with those two in the room, Jack and JT, it's kind of hard for him to find his way into leadership,” Sonny Styles said at Big Ten Media Days. “And now, he feels like it's his time. I can tell his confidence is through the roof. His maturity is through the roof. He's so mature. He's just doing so well. I think he gained a few pounds. He looks like a first-round D-end. Exactly what it’s supposed to look like. He has all the tools, so it’s going to be a big year.”
Austin Siereveld
Most general managers worth their salt will tell you the three most important issues to address in roster construction are finding a quarterback, protecting that quarterback and getting after opposing quarterbacks. It’s no coincidence that the first three pivotal players for Ohio State listed here are at quarterback, defensive end and left tackle.
Much like Jackson, Siereveld has received nothing but praise all offseason. To an even greater degree, in fact. He’s an Iron Buckeye twice over. He’s a team captain. Despite switching from guard to tackle just this offseason, he’s the only starter Day or offensive line coach Tyler Bowen has named on the OL.
“His work ethic, his leadership, those two things (have stood out),” Bowen said on Aug. 12. “Coming out of the summer and the spring with some of the things that he did with Coach Mick in the weight room, you see those things translating on the field. He’s always been a powerful, athletic guy. We’ve got to get him to play within his technique better. But you can see the things that he generated in the weight room and the leadership and the edge that he brings.”
But that’s just it, despite all those facts, Siereveld will be playing a new position to start the 2025 season. The spacing at tackle is different from that at guard. The athletes one faces are different. But it says something that he locked down the job as Sayin’s blindside protector so emphatically.
Siereveld has plenty of experience from 2024, too, starting six games at guard and playing 130 snaps in the College Football Playoff. If he proves an asset at left tackle, the Buckeyes have the weapons on the interior for a ferocious offensive line.
Eddrick Houston
Defensive tackle concerns have been addressed time and time again this offseason in articles such as these, primarily as it pertains to the depth. But Houston is a young athlete with the potential to explode at an essential position, 3-technique defensive tackle.
Houston arrived in Columbus with a five-star rating next to his name, though it was as a defensive end. He quickly moved inside during preseason camp as a freshman in 2024, then sped past the more senior Hero Kanu, Jason Moore and Tywone Malone Jr. to emerge as the Buckeyes’ backup 3-tech. When Tyleik Williams was injured, he made his first career start against Purdue.
After picking up seven tackles and breaking up two passes in 141 snaps, Houston set to work packing on weight this offseason and added 22 pounds of muscle, now at 292 pounds. He suffered a knee injury in the first practice of preseason camp but said he’ll “be ready Week 1” on Aug. 14. That’s good news for the Buckeyes if he can get and stay healthy.
“I think he’s got a chance to be really special,” defensive line coach Larry Johnson said. “But again, he's a young player learning how to develop. So I don't want to put all that pressure on him about, ‘He's got to go do this.’ He's just got to go play to his ability. And If he can do that, it gives him a chance to play really, really solid defensive line.”
While inexperienced, Houston is as crucial a cog as any in Ohio State’s defense, especially given the depth concerns behind him at 3-tech, amplified after Jason Moore was spotted in a walking boot after practice on Wednesday.
Lorenzo Styles Jr.
Nickelback is one of the most demanding positions in a modern defense, and Styles has worked three years since transferring from Notre Dame to Ohio State and switching from wide receiver to cornerback for his starting shot as a redshirt senior.
Styles got his first dose of meaningful playing time in dime packages a year ago, getting 161 snaps off the bench. He recorded 16 tackles and four PBUs. That momentum translated to a strong spring, which he capped with a PBU and tight coverage to prevent a touchdown on separate plays in the spring game.
At nickel, he’ll have to provide run support while covering open-field matchups against dynamic slot receivers. Ohio State will have other options if Styles isn’t up to the challenge; sliding Caleb Downs over, plugging in someone from its cornerback room or enlisting the services of backup nickel Bryce West. But Styles oozes confidence, and that’s vital at one of the most unforgiving positions in the sport. Former Ohio State safety Lathan Ransom called him "the most confident dude I know" in March.
“You've got to be a little delusional,” Styles said in April. “You've got to be a little delusional coming into such a competitive place. I came here playing receiver. I want to show my boy (Lathan Ransom) that I wasn't delusional. So I'm going to put it all together this year. I've always been a guy who's still talking trash, even when I might not have it all together yet. I'm just still trying to get better every day.”
