There aren’t many schools where a Heisman finalist wouldn’t rank as the team’s clear-cut No. 1 player, but there isn’t any college football team with as many stars as Ohio State has this season.
Julian Sayin continued to move up our Ohio State player rankings after finishing fourth in this year’s Heisman race, but it’s Ohio State’s other two top-10 Heisman finishers – Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs – who lead the way in our December Buckeye 20 rankings ahead of the College Football Playoff.
Carnell Tate and Kayden McDonald join Smith, Downs and Sayin in the top five, with Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese, Caden Curry, Bo Jackson and Davison Igbinosun rounding out the top 10. Kenyatta Jackson Jr. is the biggest riser in this edition of the Buckeye 20, climbing seven spots to 11th from his previous ranking of 18th at the end of October.
The full ranking for this season’s penultimate edition of The Buckeye 20, Eleven Warriors’ year-round ranking of Ohio State’s top 20 players, can be found in the table below. The rankings were compiled based on the votes of eight Eleven Warriors staffers, with each player receiving 20 points for a first-place vote, 19 points for a second-place vote and so on down to one point for a 20th-place vote, with 160 points being the most any individual player could receive. (Note: Sayin and Tate tied for the third-most points, but Sayin won the tiebreaker for the highest ranking on an individual ballot by receiving one first-place vote.)
The change column in the table is based on where each player was ranked in our last edition of The Buckeye 20, which was compiled during the Buckeyes’ second bye week after their first seven games of the regular season.
| Rank | Pos | Player | Pts (1st) | Change | Prev. Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WR | JEREMIAH SMITH | 157 (5) | – | 1 |
| 2 | S | CALEB DOWNS | 153 (2) | – | 2 |
| 3 | QB | JULIAN SAYIN | 131 (1) | ▲2 | 5 |
| 4 | WR | CARNELL TATE | 131 | ▼1 | 3 |
| 5 | DT | KAYDEN MCDONALD | 126 | ▲1 | 6 |
| 6 | LB | SONNY STYLES | 122 | ▲2 | 8 |
| 7 | LB | ARVELL REESE | 117 | ▼3 | 4 |
| 8 | DE | CADEN CURRY | 112 | ▼1 | 7 |
| 9 | RB | BO JACKSON | 89 | ▲5 | 14 |
| 10 | CB | DAVISON IGBINOSUN | 81 | – | 10 |
| 11 | DE | KENYATTA JACKSON JR. | 78 | ▲7 | 18 |
| 12 | LT | AUSTIN SIEREVELD | 70 | ▼1 | 11 |
| 13 | CB | JERMAINE MATHEWS JR. | 59 | ▼4 | 9 |
| 14 | TE | MAX KLARE | 56 | ▲1 | 15 |
| 15 | S | JAYLEN MCCLAIN | 51 | ▲1 | 16 |
| 16 | LG | LUKE MONTGOMERY | 38 | ▼4 | 12 |
| 17 | C | CARSON HINZMAN | 32 | ▼4 | 13 |
| 18 | TE | WILL KACMAREK | 18 | ▼1 | 17 |
| 19 | DB | LORENZO STYLES JR. | 16 | ▲1 | 20 |
| 20 | DT | TYWONE MALONE JR. | 13 | ▲1 | NR |
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Also receiving votes: WR Brandon Inniss (11), RB Isaiah West (7), RT Phillip Daniels (6), DT Will Smith Jr. (3), LB Payton Pierce (2), LS John Ferlmann (1) |
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Jackson and Jackson on the rise
The two biggest risers in this edition of The Buckeye 20 share the same surname, though they aren’t actually related.
Kenyatta Jackson Jr., who was ranked sixth in our preseason rankings but slipped down to 18th after a quiet first half of the season, surged back up to 11th after a big second half of the regular season. After a midseason conversation with Matt Patricia in which the Ohio State defensive end told the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator he was eager for more opportunities to “use my pass-rush moves,” Jackson has made good on those opportunities, recording nine tackles for loss with 5.5 sacks in the Buckeyes’ last eight games.
Bo Jackson wasn’t ranked entering the season because he started the year as Ohio State’s No. 3 running back, but he’s steadily climbed up the rankings throughout his freshman year and is now ranked in the top 10 for the first time. Having averaged more than 100 rushing yards per game across Ohio State’s last six games, Jackson is now ranked as Ohio State’s ninth-best player, up five spots from his ranking entering November.
Other players up multiple spots in this edition of the ranking include Sayin, who’s climbed at least two spots in every ranking this season as he’s completed a record-setting 78.4% of his passes, and Sonny Styles, who surpassed Arvell Reese as Ohio State’s highest-ranked linebacker as he leads the Buckeyes with 80 tackles while he hasn’t missed a single tackle all year.
Malone debuts as offensive linemen slide
The lone debutant in this edition of The Buckeye 20 is defensive tackle Tywone Malone Jr., who earned the final spot in our pre-CFP top 20 amid a breakout season as a starter in the defensive trenches. He displaces starting right tackle Phillip Daniels, who fell from 19th to out of the rankings after some struggles in the second half of the season.
Following a rough performance for the offensive line in Ohio State’s first loss of the season in the Big Ten Championship Game, all four offensive linemen who were ranked in the end-of-October edition of the Buckeye 20 slid in our post-Big Ten title game rankings. Left tackle Austin Siereveld dropped only one spot from 11th to 12th, but left guard Luke Montgomery (12th to 16th) and center Carson Hinzman (13th to 17th) each fell four spots.
Other Buckeyes down multiple spots in this edition of the Buckeye 20 are Jermaine Mathews Jr., who dropped from ninth to 13th after having his own struggles in the Big Ten Championship Game, and Reese, who fell from fourth to seventh after recording just eight tackles in Ohio State’s last five games.
Read more
For more analysis on all of Ohio State’s top 20 players entering the College Football Playoff, visit our Buckeye 20 rankings page. Our final rankings for the 2025 season will be released in January, following the conclusion of Ohio State’s CFP run.
