Skull Session: Todd McShay Calls Ohio State’s Defense “The Golden Standard” and Arvell Reese the Nation’s Top LB, the Buckeyes Will Have a Dozen Four-Stars on Campus for the Minnesota Game

Welcome to the Skull Session.

Well, it was a fun season!

Final.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/6KUNFP4HtB
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) October 2, 2025

Have a good Friday.

“THAT'S IMPORTANT TO SEE.” I am encouraged whenever I hear Ryan Day discuss Matt Patricia’s impact during his brief tenure with the Buckeyes. That was true on Thursday as Day discussed Patricia amid his appearance on The Ryan Day Radio Show with Paul Keels and Jim Lachey.

When asked about Patricia’s scheme, Day said the Buckeyes are “believing in it.” That starts at the top with Block O winner Sonny Styles and captain Caleb Downs, and it trickles down to standouts such as Caden Curry, Kayden McDonald, Arvell Reese, Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Mathews Jr.

While Day said Ohio State is “bought in” to Patricia and “playing with really good confidence,” the head coach made it clear that the Buckeyes still have “a long way to go” this season.

“But you’re seeing confidence and you’re seeing these guys play for each other,” Day said. “That’s important to see at this point in the season, the team coming together and being stronger as a group.”

Where Day went from there made me smile.

“Now more than ever, it’s easy to worry about yourself, whether it’s your playing time, your NIL, your situation — all of these different things come into play,” Day said. “The best team is gonna win, so we all have to sacrifice. It’s important to see guys jelling together as a unit.”

That's winning culture!

“THIS DEFENSE IS THE STANDARD.” In the latest episode of The McShay Show, NFL draft expert Todd McShay called Ohio State’s defense “the golden standard,” explaining that the Buckeyes are the best team in college football on that side of the ball and “it’s not even close.”

“It’s shocking because they lost the eight guys to the NFL draft, but I’m over that now. Let’s turn the page," McShay said. "Doesn’t matter what last year’s group was, doesn’t matter what the names are on the back of the jerseys, doesn’t matter that the coordinator is different, doesn’t matter. Jim Knowles is at Penn State now. OK, Matt Patricia, come in. And Matt Patricia has done a brilliant job, but coaching only goes so far.

“Patricia comes in, in a short period of time, a bunch of new starters, and I’m blown away with — great defenses, and I think everyone goes back to the (Bill) Belichick glory days and every week it was a new game plan, right? We take away the best thing, we can play man-to-man, we can play match, we can play zone, we can play this, we can play that, three-man front, four-man front, all that stuff. Great defenses adjust and can be one thing one week and another thing another week.”

McShay said Ohio State’s defense was “different” from what he had seen from the Buckeyes in their matchups with Texas, Grambling State and Ohio.

“They’re doing this with a lot of guys that have not been full-time starters, so I put on the tape, and I want people to understand when I say this, I am not saying this lightly… Washington, they’re gonna score a ton of points. You got to understand, Washington had won 22 home games in a row. This is a buzzsaw (the Buckeyes) were walking into,” McShay said. “Washington has a quarterback in Demond Williams who is an absolute star — dual-threat, big-time arm, awesome runner, speed and explosiveness. Jonah Coleman is a dude at running back. Denzel Boston is a dude at wide receiver.

“(The Huskies) have personnel, they have scheme, they have it all, and they’re playing at home in the comforts where they have won 22 straight as a program. Washington was averaging over 50 points a game coming into this one. They finished with six...173 (yards) through the air, 61 on the ground, 234 (total) yards for one of, if not the most explosive offenses in college football through the first four weeks of the season.”

McShay said Ohio State’s stellar performance came as a result of standout performances from Caden Curry, Kayden McDonald, Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Arvell Reese, whom McShay considers the best linebacker in the sport.

“If you go back and watch that game, the level of gap discipline and the level of effort — like the relentless, attacking, violent effort on every play was off the charts,” McShay said.

On Reese, McShay added, “Arvell Reese is the best linebacker in college football. I’m penning it. I’m penning it to paper right now. I watched him from the discipline taking on blocks, to the eye discipline when spying the quarterback, to the speed, to the length, sometimes in coverage, sometimes rushing. This guy can do it all, man.”

Sheesh, this praise is something else. I don’t have much more to add — just this from McShay: “This defense is the standard in college football. I’m shocked because you don’t lose eight guys to the NFL draft, re-rack it with a new coordinator and come out and become very clearly on tape the best defense in all of the nation.”

But the Buckeyes did!

ALWAYS BE CROOTIN’. With Garrick Hodge moving on from Eleven Warriors, I’ll be sprinkling some recruiting #content into the Skull Session when I can. The timing works out this week, as Ohio State’s Big Ten home opener against Minnesota doubles as a significant recruiting weekend, with a dozen-plus prospects set to visit (h/t to Bucknuts’ Bill Kurelic, Lettermen Row’s Mick Walker and more for the intel):

Class of 2026

Four-star defensive end Dre Quinn
Four-star defensive end Khary Wilder (Ohio State commit)
Four-star linebacker Jacob Curry (official visit)
Three-star defensive back Khmari Bing (Maryland commit, official visit)

Class of 2027

Class of 2028

Class of 2029

Linebacker Austin Phillips

While this visitor list doesn’t have the same juice as Ohio State’s season opener, in which 18 five-star prospects were on campus for the battle between the Buckeyes and Longhorns, few weekends will match what Hodge considered “the most impressive collection of recruits visiting Ohio State on a single weekend in recent history based on their composite rankings.”

Still, Ohio State’s list offers plenty of intrigue, namely with the handful of 2026 recruits who will be on campus. The Buckeyes’ 2026 class currently ranks No. 9 in the 247Sports composite behind USC, Georgia, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas A&M, Texas, Oregon and Tennessee. If the Buckeyes want to claw themselves back into the top five, landing Quinn and Curry — two talented prospects from prominent programs in Buford (Georgia) and Nease (Ponte Vedra, Florida) — and flipping Bing would certainly help.

Regarding the 2027 recruits, several operate in the trenches. That's a welcome sight for a program that consistently lands top skill players but has lost some premier offensive and defensive line commitments in recent years.

And then the 2028 and 2029 recruits — well, they make me feel like this:

THE DUBGATE IS BACK. One final reminder: This weekend, Eleven Dubgate XIII returns at 4 p.m., three-and-a-half hours before Ohio State faces Minnesota at the Horseshoe.

Eleven Dubgate will take place behind the Varsity Club on another perfect fall Saturday with the Eleven Warriors community. Every dollar raised goes to Special Olympics Olentangy, which provides year-round sports training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

SAT, OCT 4 2025 | TIME 4 P.M. - OSU/MINNESOTA KICKOFF
Tuttle Park & Norwich

Suggested donation: $20 — good for food and drink tickets from sponsors like City Barbeque (who has donated 48 pounds of pulled pork!), Garage Beer, Land-Grant and Sun Cruiser. More tickets will be available on-site. Donations can also be made via cash at the event or Venmo (@OSSOSTORM).

The Dubgate has raised thousands over the years, including support for the nation’s first centralized biobank for Down Syndrome research. Be a part of a great event that benefits an even greater cause!

Also, DYK that the Eleven Dubgate helps Ohio State win football games? The Buckeyes are 13-0 when Eleven Warriors has hosted the event. That number includes three victories since I joined the staff: Wisconsin (2022), Michigan State (2023) and Nebraska (2024).

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You should be there!

DAILY DUBCAST. The final Eleven Dubcast of the week welcomes executive producer Chris Lauderbeck to discuss the details of Eleven Dubgate XIII this weekend and offer insight on the Ohio State vs. Minnesota game this Saturday night.