Multiple starting jobs on both sides of the ball will be up for grabs as Ohio State begins preseason camp.
Offensively, Ohio State has eight returning starters plus a presumed starter at tight end in Nate Roberts, yet the Buckeyes will still have major position battles this preseason along the offensive line and at wide receiver.
Defensively, Ohio State has plenty of ongoing competition for playing time with only three returning starters in Kenyatta Jackson Jr., Jaylen McClain and Jermaine Mathews Jr. Payton Pierce, Devin Sanchez and Earl Little Jr. all look like locks to start, too, while offseason transfer additions Christian Alliegro and Terry Moore are also likely starters, but there are plenty of others also pushing for playing time in the back seven while multiple starting jobs are up for grabs along the defensive line.
With that in mind, we’re taking a look at the top five position battles that will be hanging in the balance as the Buckeyes take the field for their 25 preseason practices, which start Thursday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Offensive Tackle/Right Guard
There’s no question what Ohio State’s most consequential position battle is entering preseason camp. Even though the Buckeyes have four returning starters on the offensive line from last season, as many as three starting spots along the line remain unsettled, and finding the right five-man combination over the next few weeks is crucial for a unit looking to bounce back after allowing 10 sacks in Ohio State’s final two games of last season.
The only fully settled positions along the offensive line are left guard and center, where Luke Montgomery and Carson Hinzman have started since the end of Ohio State’s 2024 national championship season. Austin Siereveld is also a lock to start, but Ohio State is still weighing whether to keep him at left tackle – where he earned second-team All-Big Ten honors last season – or move him to right guard. Based on what Ryan Day said last week at Big Ten Media Days, it sounds as though that will depend on who emerges as Ohio State’s fourth- and fifth-best offensive linemen between Phillip Daniels, Ian Moore and Joshua Padilla.
“A big part of that is going to be how Phil plays, how Josh plays, how Ian plays, because if that allows us the opportunity to move Austin, then we will,” Day said. “It's all those guys, because if all of a sudden, Phil or Ian give us some high level of play that we're seeing in practice, that gives us the opportunity to have some flexibility. If Josh is playing at a high, high level at guard, let's say, well then we can keep Austin over here at left tackle. So we're going to play the best five.”
If Moore can build off of his strong spring at left tackle – where he took the first-team reps this spring after Siereveld underwent a lower-body surgery – it’s anticipated that Siereveld will ultimately move back to guard, the position he started his career at before kicking out to tackle last season. But Daniels isn’t a lock to start despite starting last year, and he still has plenty to prove in preseason camp after he also underwent surgery this spring, so it’s also possible Moore replaces Daniels at RT with Siereveld staying at LT and Padilla taking over at RG.
Gabe VanSickle and Jake Cook could also factor into the competition at right guard if Siereveld stays at tackle, but Day didn’t mention either of them last week, suggesting that Padilla has surged ahead of them as the top non-Siereveld candidate to start at RG.
Day said Ohio State hopes to have its starting offensive line sorted out by its ninth or 10th practice, so every day of the first two weeks of camp will be crucial for Daniels, Moore and Padilla as they look to lock down starting jobs.
Wide Receiver
As with the offensive line, wide receiver will be one of the most intriguing position battles of preseason camp even though Ohio State returns all but one of its starters from last year at the position.
Jeremiah Smith is a lock to start, of course. Brandon Inniss is likely to remain Ohio State’s starter in the slot, but the Buckeyes have at least four other receivers who are strong candidates to be in the rotation this season.
Transfer receivers Devin McCuin (65 catches for 726 yards and eight touchdowns at UTSA) and Kyle Parker (31 catches for 330 yards and four touchdowns at LSU) were both more productive at their previous schools last season than Inniss was for Ohio State last year (36 catches for 271 yards and three touchdowns). Brock Boyd inserted himself firmly in the receiver competition with a phenomenal spring in which he lost his black stripe in just six practices, the third-fastest-ever stripe removal for an Ohio State freshman.
That said, the frontrunner to start alongside Smith and Inniss might be five-star freshman Chris Henry Jr., who had a standout performance in the spring game and was singled out by Day last week as a player who’s impressed him this offseason.
“I do think that Chris has had a very good offseason,” Day said. “I think when you see Chris, you're going to see he's put he's put some some muscle on. He's moving really well. So that's exciting.”
With all those receivers pushing for playing time, it seems likely that Ohio State will rotate more regularly at receiver this season than in past years. How deep that rotation will go is still to be determined, however, and it could depend on how many of those receivers – with freshman Jerquaden Guilford being another candidate to join that competition in preseason camp – prove over the next four weeks that they need to be in the offensive game plan in some capacity.
No. 2 Defensive End
While Kenyatta Jackson Jr. is the clear leader of Ohio State’s defensive end unit (and defensive line as a whole), there isn’t yet an obvious frontrunner among the several candidates to start opposite him.
Alabama transfer Qua Russaw put himself in contention to start with a strong spring. So did Beau Atkinson, who had a quiet first season at Ohio State last year after transferring in from North Carolina but looks ready to make a bigger impact in his second year as a Buckeye.
Zion Grady had a quieter spring as he missed some time with an injury, but was Ohio State’s No. 3 defensive end last season as a freshman and could quickly re-emerge as a frontrunner for the starting job with a strong start to camp. Fellow sophomore Epi Sitanilei has generated buzz this offseason as he’s bulked up significantly entering his second year as a Buckeye, while freshman Khary Wilder has the size and talent to contribute right away.
Like at wide receiver, there’s reason to think Ohio State will rotate more at defensive end this year than it has in past years. That said, Ohio State’s No. 2 defensive end has played more than twice as many snaps as the Buckeyes’ No. 3 defensive end in each of the last three seasons. Either way, Ohio State needs at least one impactful edge rusher to emerge this preseason opposite Jackson, the only defensive end on the roster who had more than one sack last season.
Defensive Tackle
Neither of Ohio State’s starting defensive tackles is set in stone entering preseason camp as returning veterans Eddrick Houston and Will Smith Jr. contend with offseason transfer additions James Smith and John Walker for the top spots on the depth chart.
Houston and James Smith, both former five-star recruits, have the highest upside of the group, but both of them primarily play the same 3-technique position (though if the latest photo of Smith from Ohio State’s social media is any indication, he certainly has the size to play nose tackle). Walker may have the highest floor of the group, as he already proved himself as a strong Power 4 run-stopping nose tackle last season at UCF, but Will Smith Jr. is also a candidate to play a big role at NT after backing up Kayden McDonald in 2025.
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Most likely, all four of them will see regular playing time in Ohio State’s defensive tackle rotation this season, with fourth-year Jason Moore and freshman Jamir Perez also pushing to earn snaps behind them. But Larry Johnson and the Buckeyes still need to determine which defensive tackles they’ll be able to rely on most when big games are on the line. No one in the group clearly separated themselves from the pack this spring, but that could change over the next few weeks.
Secondary
Ohio State’s starting lineup in the secondary already appears to be mostly set. Devin Sanchez and Jermaine Mathews Jr. will start at cornerback. Earl Little Jr. did what he needed to do this spring – even in an injury-shortened spring – to lock down a starting job at either safety or nickel alongside Jaylen McClain, and it would be a surprise if fellow offseason transfer addition Terry Moore doesn’t start after he surged in the second half of spring.
The competition to earn playing time in the secondary behind them, however, will be a fascinating development to watch this preseason.
Georgia transfer Dominick Kelly had an excellent first spring as a Buckeye to position himself to be Ohio State’s No. 3 cornerback, and Ohio State could move Mathews inside to the slot in three-cornerback lineups and dime packages to get Kelly on the field. That said, five-star freshman corner/nickelback Jay Timmons could also prove that he needs to be on the field in some capacity this season, having drawn plenty of praise this offseason from the likes of McClain and Jeremiah Smith.
“Jay Timmons, gonna be a very special player for us, for sure,” Smith said this spring when asked who was standing out on the defensive side of the ball.
Leroy Roker III shouldn’t be slept on either. He split first-team reps at safety with Moore this spring and still has a chance to compete for that job in preseason camp; if he doesn’t win it, he’ll still be a candidate to be Ohio State’s sixth defensive back in dime packages, a role he played when Lorenzo Styles Jr. missed time with injuries last season. Other defensive backs to watch include Alabama cornerback transfer Cam Calhoun and highly touted freshman safety Blaine Bradford.
As with the receivers and defensive line, Ohio State could rotate more in the secondary than they have in past years if several of those players show they can bring something unique to the defense.
“The depth that's being created in that room by (secondary coach Tim Walton) is going to allow us to play some depth in there, and we'll find out more about that during the preseason,” Day said last week at Big Ten Media Days. “But the more guys we can play there, the more flexibility we're going to have throughout the season, especially when you can move guys inside and play some nickel.”
That said, Walton typically hasn’t rotated his starters out of the lineup much in past years, so there may only realistically be openings for a couple of backup DBs to play regularly – which will make the secondary a position to watch this preseason even if the starting lineup can already be penciled in.
