A bye week in between the end of nonconference play and the start of conference play makes the perfect time to update our Ohio State player rankings for the first time this season.
With three wins over Texas, Grambling State and Ohio in the books, the Eleven Warriors staff came together to re-rank Ohio State’s top 20 players for our first in-season update to The Buckeye 20, Eleven Warriors’ year-round ranking of Ohio State’s best players.
Considering how many unproven players Ohio State entered the season with, it’s no surprise that the rankings have changed significantly from our preseason top 20.
The top of the rankings are unchanged, as superstars Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs still rank as Ohio State’s top two players. Carnell Tate and Sonny Styles both remain in the top four. After that, however, the rankings look much different than they did just three weeks ago.
Arvell Reese jumps up two spots from the preseason rankings to join Smith, Downs, Tate and Styles in the top five. Kayden McDonald and Julian Sayin both jumped up seven spots to join them in the top seven, while Caden Curry leaped all the way up to eighth after starting the season outside the top 20. The starting cornerback tandem of Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Mathews Jr. round out the top 10.
The full Buckeye 20 rankings three weeks into the season 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 160 points being the maximum total any player could receive from our eight-man voting panel.
| Rank | Pos | Player | Pts (1st) | Change | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WR | JEREMIAH SMITH | 157 (5) | – | 1 |
| 2 | S | CALEB DOWNS | 155 (3) | – | 2 |
| 3 | WR | CARNELL TATE | 132 | ▲1 | 4 |
| 4 | LB | SONNY STYLES | 132 | ▼1 | 3 |
| 5 | LB | ARVELL REESE | 130 | ▲2 | 5 |
| 6 | DT | KAYDEN MCDONALD | 126 | ▲7 | 13 |
| 7 | QB | JULIAN SAYIN | 113 | ▲7 | 14 |
| 8 | DE | CADEN CURRY | 92 | ▲13 | NR |
| 9 | CB | DAVISON IGBINOSUN | 82 | – | 9 |
| 10 | CB | JERMAINE MATHEWS JR. | 81 | ▲2 | 12 |
| 11 | LT | AUSTIN SIEREVELD | 69 | ▼3 | 8 |
| 12 | S | JAYLEN MCCLAIN | 59 | ▲7 | 19 |
| 13 | TE | WILL KACMAREK | 51 | ▲12 | NR |
| 14 | DE | KENYATTA JACKSON JR. | 47 | ▼8 | 6 |
| 15 | RT | PHILLIP DANIELS | 46 | ▲8 | NR |
| 16 | TE | MAX KLARE | 43 | ▼11 | 5 |
| 17 | LG | LUKE MONTGOMERY | 42 | ▲1 | 18 |
| 18 | RB | BO JACKSON | 37 | ▲13 | NR |
| 19 | C | CARSON HINZMAN | 32 | ▼4 | 15 |
| 20 | DE | BEAU ATKINSON | 16 | ▼4 | 16 |
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Also receiving votes: DT Eddrick Houston (16), DB Lorenzo Styles Jr. (9), RB CJ Donaldson (7), WR Brandon Inniss (4), CB Devin Sanchez (2) |
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(Notes: The tie between Tate and Styles was broken by virtue of Tate receiving more third-place votes than Styles, while the tie between Beau Atkinson and Eddrick Houston for the 20th spot was broken by Atkinson appearing on more total ballots than Houston.)
McDonald, Sayin, Curry lead biggest risers
McDonald went from outside the top 12 to inside the top six thanks to a dominant start to his first season as Ohio State’s nose tackle in which he’s recorded 14 total tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. While he might not yet be the household name nationally that some of his Buckeye teammates are, his excellent play has been well-recognized by the Eleven Warriors staff; executive editor Ramzy Nasrallah, who ranked McDonald third on his ballot, described him as “a bowling ball covered with spikes and hot magma.”
Sayin also made a seven-spot jump from the preseason rankings thanks to his highly efficient start as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, in which he’s completed 79% of his passing attempts for an average of 11 yards per attempt. Sayin began the year ranked 14th based mostly on expectations after he appeared in just three games as a true freshman, but he’s needed only three games as a redshirt freshman to show he’s one of the nation’s best passers.
The most striking jump from the preseason rankings to the post-nonconference rankings comes from Curry, who wasn’t even a sure-fire starter entering the season but has been Ohio State’s best defensive end through three games, leading the Buckeyes with three tackles for loss and two sacks.
Strong safety Jaylen McClain also made a seven-spot jump in the first in-season rankings update, climbing from 19th to 12th, while tight end Will Kacmarek (13th), right tackle Phillip Daniels (15th) and freshman running back Bo Jackson (18th) each make their Buckeye 20 debuts.
Klare, Jackson, Houston among early-season fallers
While McDonald and Sayin jumped up from the teens into the top seven of the rankings, Max Klare and Kenyatta Jackson Jr.’s rankings went the other way after nonconference play. Klare was ranked fifth and Jackson was ranked sixth in the preseason rankings, but Jackson is now 14th and Klare is now 16th after quieter-than-expected starts to the season. Klare caught just four passes for 48 yards and a score and Jackson made just five tackles with one for loss in Ohio State’s first three games.
Four other players who were ranked in the preseason Buckeye 20 fell out of the rankings entirely: Defensive tackle Eddrick Houston (who was ranked 10th before the season), wide receiver Brandon Inniss (11th) and running backs James Peoples (17th) and CJ Donaldson (20th).
Houston was viewed as one of Ohio State’s clear-cut top two defensive tackles entering the season, but his status as a starter is now in question after Tywone Malone Jr. supplanted him in the starting lineup vs. Ohio. Inniss has had less production than anticipated in his first three games as Ohio State’s top slot receiver, catching just five passes for 37 yards. Peoples and Donaldson slid out of the rankings with the emergence of Jackson as Ohio State’s top runner.
Read More
For more analysis on each of Ohio State’s top 20 players after nonconference play, visit our player rankings page, which has been updated with a look at why each player is ranked where he is among the Buckeyes’ 20 best.
Stay tuned with Eleven Warriors for Buckeye 20 updates throughout the season. Our next player rankings update will come during Ohio State’s second bye week of the season, following the Buckeyes’ first four games of conference play.
