With Ohio State’s first 15 practices of the year in the books, we now have a better idea of who’s on the rise and where things stand for the Buckeyes at every position group entering the 2026 season.
New Buckeyes were on the field at every position this spring as 51 new Ohio State players were part of the team that went through the Buckeyes’ March and April practices. There were plenty of newcomers and returning Buckeyes alike who stood out on each side of the ball as players competed for position on the depth chart and looked to prove they can make an impact for OSU this season.
With the Buckeyes currently in a break from on-field activity before summer workouts ramp up in a few weeks, we’re taking a position-by-position look at who stood out this spring, what questions still linger after spring, how the depth chart currently stacks up and the overall outlook for each position going into the summer.
Spring Recaps
The second half of our Spring Recap series begins with a position where the competition for a starting job will continue into the summer: Defensive end. Kenyatta Jackson Jr. looked ready this spring to take the next step and become a dominant player on the Buckeyes’ defensive line, but the depth chart beyond him remains unsettled, though multiple other defensive ends made their case for starting jobs with strong starts to the offseason.
Spring Standouts
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.
Jackson was Ohio State’s most consistently dominant player in the trenches throughout the spring. The only returning starter on Ohio State’s defensive line, Jackson regularly won one-on-one matchups off the edge during the spring game and other practices open to the media, especially when going up against the likes of Carter Lowe and other backup offensive tackles after Austin Siereveld and Phillip Daniels underwent surgeries that sidelined them for the second half of spring.
Going into last season, multiple Ohio State players said Jackson was looking like a future first-round NFL draft pick in offseason workouts. He didn’t quite play up to that level, especially early in the season, which Jackson said this spring was partially due to injuries. But after a strong second half of last season, Jackson looked this spring like a player who’s capable of living up to those lofty expectations and emerging as an elite defensive end as a fifth-year senior in 2026.
Beau Atkinson
Atkinson started the spring as a bit of an afterthought in the competition to be Ohio State’s other starting defensive end. He had a disappointing first year as a Buckeye last season, recording just 11 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack after transferring in from North Carolina.
This spring, however, Atkinson looked like the player Ohio State thought it was getting a year ago. Being able to go through winter workouts at Ohio State went a long way for the fifth-year senior, who was a summer enrollee in 2025 after transferring to Ohio State in the now-defunct spring portal window, and he showed plenty of pass-rush acumen, quickness and power during March and April practices, giving him a real chance to be OSU’s No. 2 defensive end – even if Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson still wants to see him prove it in game action this fall.
“I think he's done a 360 so far, but we haven't played a game yet,” Johnson said this spring. “I think I like where he's at. He's much better, he's more flexible right now, where we'd like him to be. And again, he's a transition guy coming from the University of North Carolina and trying to play this way, and how do we do it, it's different. It really is, and I think he embraced it. Never had a dull moment, never fought away from it, not even shied away from what we're doing. Now, it's his moment, his time.”
Qua Russaw
This year’s transfer addition at defensive end also had an impressive spring. Russaw, a fourth-year Alabama transplant, drew praise throughout the spring from the likes of Johnson and Jackson for the power, explosiveness and versatility he demonstrated in practice.
“I think he's very physically strong,” Johnson said. “He’s strong at the point of attack with his hands and body, which is amazing, a guy 245 can set the edge the way he does. And he brings great speed to the table. So he can do a lot of things for us. He can play end, he can play what we call the ‘Buck’ position, do some things out of there. But I think the thing that jumps off the videotape is how hard he plays, and he really has physical strength.”
At only 6-foot-2, Russaw is smaller than the typical defensive end, and he played primarily as a standup outside linebacker at Alabama. But his performance this spring showed he is capable of being impactful as both a pass rusher and run stopper as a hand-in-the-dirt defensive end. Preseason might bring more clarity on how exactly Ohio State will use him, as he could also be used as a hybrid linebacker, but he appears more likely than not to see regular playing time for the Buckeyes this fall based on how he performed in his first 15 practices as a Buckeye.
Two Lingering Questions
1. Will someone other than Jackson emerge as a consistent pass-rusher?
With Caden Curry now in the NFL, Jackson is the only defensive end on Ohio State’s roster who had more than one sack at the collegiate level last season.
Atkinson’s performance this spring and history at UNC, where he had 7.5 sacks in 2024, are reasons for optimism that he can give the Buckeyes more as a pass rusher than he did last season. Russaw also flashed the potential to be a disruptive pass rusher this spring even though he had just two sacks in three years at Alabama. Zion Grady, Khary Wilder and Epi Sitanilei are young players to watch at the position – particularly Grady, who missed time with an injury this spring but flashed as one of Ohio State’s top backup defensive ends last season – but all of them are unproven.
Curry led the Buckeyes with 11 sacks last season, so it’s crucial that at least one of those defensive ends emerges as someone who can consistently get after the quarterback. Even with promising signs this spring, it’s uncertain exactly who will be that guy when the games begin this fall.
2. How many defensive ends will play regularly?
Johnson always says he wants to have a deep rotation on the defensive line, but he’s relied primarily on his top two defensive ends for each of the last three seasons: Curry and Jackson in 2025, Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau for the previous two years. So while more frequent rotation this season seems likely with only one clear-cut starter in Jackson, that’s far from guaranteed.
Even if multiple players rotate regularly opposite Jackson, there’s the question of whether that means three defensive ends seeing consistent playing time or more than that. That could depend on how much of a move Grady makes in preseason camp and whether both Atkinson and Russaw build on their strong springs come August to prove they belong in the rotation.
Projected Depth Chart
Defensive End
1. Kenyatta Jackson Jr.
2. Zion Grady
3. Khary Wilder
4. Darryus McKinley
Defensive End
1. Beau Atkinson
2. Qua Russaw
3. Epi Sitanilei
4. Dre Quinn
Atkinson started the spring game opposite Jackson and positioned himself as a frontrunner to start with his strong spring, but that competition is far from settled entering the summer. Grady would have been my pick to start entering spring, and he could still ultimately emerge as Ohio State’s second-best defensive end this season. Russaw also made him a factor in the competition to start this spring, so those three defensive ends could still end up in any order from No. 2 to No. 4 on the depth chart.
Sitanilei and Wilder also flashed this spring and could work their way into the rotation – particularly Wilder, who finished just outside the top 50 overall prospects in the 2026 recruiting class and looked the part of a future Buckeye starter in his first spring at Ohio State. Quinn and McKinley round out the roster of scholarship defensive ends, but both of them are likely to redshirt as freshmen.
Post-Spring Outlook
Ohio State’s outlook at defensive end starts with Jackson realizing his full potential in his final season as a Buckeye and becoming a consistently disruptive force off the edge. Based on what we saw from Jackson this spring, that looks like a standard he’s ready to meet.
Beyond Jackson, Ohio State doesn’t have any sure-fire stars at the position. But Atkinson and Russaw did what they needed to do this spring to generate belief that they can lead Ohio State’s defensive end unit alongside Jackson as upperclassmen, while Grady is another potential breakout star on the edge and Sitanilei and Wilder shouldn’t be overlooked as possible young contributors at the position.
Ohio State shouldn’t be bad at defensive end this season, but there’s a lot that needs to come together for the Buckeyes to be elite on the edge. Where they ultimately fall on the spectrum between good and great and whether they can give Ohio State an effective outside pass-rush will go a long way toward determining whether the Buckeyes have one of the nation’s top defenses once again.
