Ohio State doesn’t have a ton of proven stars entering the 2025 season, but it has no shortage of talented players.
That was reflected in the voting for this year’s first edition of the Buckeye 20, our year-round ranking of Ohio State’s 20 best players.
In news that will surprise no one, the Eleven Warriors unanimously agreed that Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs are Ohio State’s top two players. Smith received all but one first-place vote, with Kyle Jones – who outlined just how valuable Downs is to Ohio State’s defense in his most recent Film Study – giving Downs the other No. 1 vote.
There was a clear consensus on the rest of the top five, too, as all but one of the nine members of our voting panel ranked all three of Sonny Styles, Carnell Tate and Max Klare between the third and fifth spots on their ballots.
After that, however, the voting became far more varied. Seventeen different Buckeyes received at least one top-10 vote, and 30 different players received at least one top-20 vote.
The full results from our preseason Buckeye 20 vote can be found below. Each player received 20 points for a first-place vote, 19 points for a second-place vote, 18 points for a third-place vote and so on down to one point for a 20th-place vote, with 180 points being the maximum total any player could receive. (Note: The tie between Eddrick Houston and Brandon Inniss was broken by Houston receiving the highest individual-ballot ranking between the two.)
| Rank | Pos | Player | Pts (1st) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WR | JEREMIAH SMITH | 179 (8) |
| 2 | S | CALEB DOWNS | 172 (1) |
| 3 | LB | SONNY STYLES | 158 |
| 4 | WR | CARNELL TATE | 152 |
| 5 | TE | MAX KLARE | 148 |
| 6 | DE | KENYATTA JACKSON JR. | 110 |
| 7 | LB | ARVELL REESE | 104 |
| 8 | LT | AUSTIN SIEREVELD | 95 |
| 9 | CB | DAVISON IGBINOSUN | 94 |
| 10 | DT | EDDRICK HOUSTON | 87 |
| 11 | WR | BRANDON INNISS | 87 |
| 12 | CB | JERMAINE MATHEWS JR. | 86 |
| 13 | DT | KAYDEN MCDONALD | 84 |
| 14 | QB | JULIAN SAYIN | 65 |
| 15 | C | CARSON HINZMAN | 57 |
| 16 | DE | BEAU ATKINSON | 56 |
| 17 | RB | JAMES PEOPLES | 54 |
| 18 | LG | LUKE MONTGOMERY | 40 |
| 19 | S | JAYLEN MCCLAIN | 16 |
| 20 | RB | CJ DONALDSON | 11 |
| Also receiving votes: RG Tegra Tshabola (8), DE Caden Curry (8), WR Mylan Graham (4), RT Phillip Daniels (4), TE Will Kacmarek (3), CB Devin Sanchez (3), S Malik Hartford (2), DE C.J. Hicks (1), LB Payton Pierce (1), CB Lorenzo Styles Jr. (1) | |||
Some notes on the first Buckeye 20 of 2025:
Top two among just five returners
One of the biggest things Ohio State has going for it entering 2025 is that its two best players from last season – arguably the two best players in all of college football – are both still on the roster. Smith and Downs ended last season as the top two players in the Buckeye 20, and they’re still there entering this season.
That said, only three other players from last season’s year-end Buckeye 20 are still at Ohio State. All three of them made huge jumps up the rankings from where they ended last year: Styles climbed from No. 15 to No. 3, Tate leaped from No. 19 to No. 4 and Davison Igbinosun jumped from No. 20 to No. 9.
Fourteen of the other 15 players from last season’s Buckeye 20 were selected in the 2025 NFL draft. The only one who wasn’t was center Seth McLaughlin, and he likely would have been if not for a season-ending Achilles tear.
Balanced on offense and defense
While the lack of returning stars from last season means our preseason Buckeye 20 is based largely on projection rather than proven production, we believe Ohio State’s top 20 players will include an equal number of players on both sides of the ball.
Ohio State’s 10 offensive representatives in the preseason Buckeye 20 include three wide receivers, tight end Max Klare, three offensive linemen, starting quarterback Julian Sayin and two running backs. The only projected offensive starters who didn’t make the preseason top 20 are right guard Tegra Tshabola and Phillip Daniels, who’s projected to beat out Ethan Onianwa for the starting right tackle job.
The Buckeyes’ 10 defensive representatives in the preseason rankings include two players from each of the five main position group: Safety, linebacker, defensive end, cornerback and defensive tackle. The only projected starter on defense who didn’t make the preseason top 20 is nickelback Lorenzo Styles Jr.
Read more
To learn more about all of Ohio State’s top 20 players entering the 2025 season and why they were selected as members of our preseason Buckeye 20, visit our player rankings page, which will be updated throughout the season each time we re-rank Ohio State’s top 20 players. The first set of updated rankings will come in late September during the Buckeyes’ first bye week following the conclusion of non-conference play.
