Welcome to the Skull Session.
Kenyatta Jackson Jr. is running it back.
#AGTG pic.twitter.com/fcP0yCB0jR
— Kenyatta Jackson Jr (@kjacksonjr_) January 15, 2026
Does he plan on wearing No. 2 in 2026?
If so, I hope the number gives him Chase Young powers like Calvin Cambridge’s MJ sneakers in Like Mike.
Oh, and Jermaine Mathews Jr. is running it back, too! And Ohio State landed three commitments! This is awesome!
Have a good Friday.
THE BEST OF THE BEST. Better late than never for the Worldwide Leader, which unveiled its All-American team on Thursday. ESPN’s college football staff selected four Buckeyes among the sport’s top 50 players: Jeremiah Smith, Kayden McDonald, Arvell Reese and Caleb Downs. Smith and Downs were the only repeat first-team selections from 2024.
Jeremiah Smith
Smith, a Biletnikoff Award finalist, is the fastest wide receiver in Ohio State history to reach 100 receptions, 2,000 receiving yards and 25 touchdowns. He got there as a sophomore in 2025 with 87 catches for 1,234 yards and 12 touchdowns, closing in the top five nationally in both receiving yards and touchdowns for a second straight season while trailing only Miami's Malachi Toney in first downs among FBS pass catchers, per ESPN Research. Smith's uncommon combination of size, speed and pass-catching ability leave him not only among the top returners across college football in 2026, but also as one of the sport's most coveted NFL draft prospects as he enters his junior season next fall.
Kayden McDonald
Tasked with filling the holes left by national champion defensive tackles Ty Hamilton and Tyleik Williams, McDonald established himself as one of the nation's premier run stoppers in 2025. The 6-3, 326-pound defender totaled 65 tackles with nine tackles for loss and three sacks in his junior season, finishing as a unanimous All-American and the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year. Among FBS defensive tackles, McDonald trailed only Houston's Carlos Allen Jr. nationally with 46.5 tackles on designed runs and finished with more run stops at or behind the line of scrimmage than all but one other Big Ten defender.
Arvell Reese
Reese emerged as a star in 2025 in his first year as a full-time starter, making an impact on virtually every snap on the stingiest defense in the country under first-year defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. The 6-4, 243-pound Reese finished second on the team with 69 tackles, adding 10 tackles for loss, 6.5 tackles and five quarterback hurries. A sure tackler and a great edge rusher, Reese showed off his versatility over the course of the season and has already declared for the NFL draft.
Caleb Downs
Downs was fittingly awarded the 2025 Lott Impact Trophy, given annually to the nation's most impactful defensive player. An instinctive field general in the secondary, he totaled 68 tackles in his junior season while allowing 8.0 yards per reception, seventh best among FBS safeties who played at least 350 snaps this past fall. There's good reason why Downs, one of college football's most complete defenders in recent seasons, is the No. 6 overall prospect in Mel Kiper Jr.'s rankings for the 2026 NFL draft class.
This season, Smith, McDonald and Downs were unanimous All-Americans (AP, AFCA, FWAA, Walter Camp and Sporting News), while Reese was a consensus All-American (AP, AFCA and Walter Camp). Carson Hinzman (AFCA) and Sonny Styles (Sporting News) also earned first-team All-American honors.
Smith and Hinzman will both return for the Buckeyes in 2026, as will FWAA freshman All-Americans Julian Sayin and Bo Jackson. I expect all of them to appear on the preseason All-American lists released between Tuesday, Jan. 20, and Saturday, Aug. 29, when the 2026 season begins.
** sighs **
We really have 225 days until next season.
My disappointment is immeasurable.
KEEP ON EYE ‘EM. ESPN’s Matt Miller named 45 players that NFL scouts will have their eyes on next season. Two of them were Buckeyes: Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sa — I mean, Payton Pierce?
Jeremiah Smith
Smith will be in the mix to be the top player in the 2027 class. He is a Julio Jones-like prospect at 6-foot-3 and 223 pounds and has the production to match, with 27 touchdown receptions in two seasons and back-to-back years with more than 1,200 receiving yards. His size, ability to play the ball in the air and speed in the open field are elite. Smith stands apart from a talented receiver class as an immediate difference-maker. He will be tempting at the top of the draft for teams that already have a quarterback.
Payton Pierce
Could Pierce be the next Buckeyes linebacker who goes from a rotational player to high-end, Round 1 pick? Scouts have raved about Pierce's potential and natural feel at box linebacker, with quick eyes and the size (6-foot-2, 223 pounds) to stack up against interior blockers. Pierce is on this list based on potential and how well Ohio State develops players, and scouts I've talked to think the sky is the limit for him.
I think Pierce is an excellent player and could be one of Ohio State’s top defenders in 2026, but labeling him a “high-end, Round 1 pick” feels a bit lofty right now. He doesn’t have the freakish athleticism of Arvell Reese or Sonny Styles, and at 6-foot-2, 226 pounds, he’s a bit undersized by modern linebacker standards.
Then again, athleticism and size aren’t the only traits that make a great linebacker.
After all, I can think of a 6-foot-2 linebacker from Wayzata, Minnesota, who became a three-time All-American at Ohio State, a second-round NFL draft pick, a seven-year NFL starter and, as of Wednesday, a College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
Oh, yeah — James Laurinaitis.
Pierce’s position coach!
If anyone can help Pierce elevate his game, it’s Laurinaitis, who built an extraordinary career while being overlooked — even finishing as the St. Louis Rams’ all-time leading tackler with 655 stops, 288 more than No. 2 on the list, Alec Ogletree (367).
NOT SO ANONYMOUS… Speaking of James Laurinaitis, I wonder who the anonymous Big Ten linebackers coach that told The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman the following about Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza:
“It seems like he’s made of the right stuff and competitive. … What impressed me the most is that one of our D-linemen got a hell of a shot on him and knocked the wind out of him. But he came right back.”
Hmmmmmm, I wonder…
THE BROTHERHOOD IS REAL. Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel were Ohio State teammates in the 1990s. Thirty years later, Fickell detailed their relationship in a conversation with The Athletic’s Justin Williams.
Fickell kicked off the conversation with this: “Mike Vrabel is what you want as a leader because he’s never afraid to say what needs to be said.”
He then went back to the beginning. Long before Fickell became Wisconsin’s head coach and Vrabel took over the New England Patriots, Fickell hosted Vrabel on an official recruiting visit to Ohio State in 1992 — the start of a friendship forged through blood (lots of it), sweat (even more) and tears (though neither would ever admit to those).
I was his host on his official recruiting visit to Ohio State in 1992. I’m one grade older, almost two years older in age. I think his parents put him in school early because he was hell to have around the house. He left the official visit with my ID, maybe so he could get into some of the bars back home in Akron, I don’t know.
I would make fun of him because he was an only child and he must be spoiled and soft. But he had that toughness to him. Whatever you thought his ability was, he played way above it. He could run with the defensive backs. He could lift with the linemen. No matter what environment he was put in, he could compete and perform.
There were times in conditioning or during the summer (at Ohio State), when older guys or big-time players might be struggling, and I just remember him stepping over top of them: Hey, if your ass can’t keep up, we’re not waiting on you.
We were in bowl practice one year, and the offense kept trying to run some play over to his side, and he kept yelling at our offensive coordinator, “You better not run that play over here.” I remember being like, Hey Vrabes, shut up. Let it go. But he definitely wasn’t afraid to say what he wanted to say.
You love to have those guys who are willing to say the things people don’t want to hear. That’s what you need to do as a coach. Maybe that’s why he was never voted captain at Ohio State. Those can tend to be popularity votes, and being that honest doesn’t always make you popular. But he was going to tell you how he really felt in every situation.
Whether you were buddies with him or not, it didn’t matter to him. He holds everybody accountable and to a standard. He has a competitive spirit that is very obvious in everything he does.
Fickell was a dominant Ohio high school wrestler at DeSales High School in Columbus, winning three state championships. Vrabel didn’t care. The two of them would wrestle as soon as practice ended. Sometimes they would spar until 2 a.m.
He was never going to tap out and give in, either. Our roommates would have to make us stop. … You knew there was more to him. He was a very outgoing and social person by nature. He was easy to get to know. I didn’t say easy to like, but he was easy to get to know. There was a sarcasm there. He was very witty and could get the last word. That was pretty natural for him. And you knew damn well that if you ever needed something, he was always right there.
Fickell told Williams he always knew Vrabel would become a coach, following in the footsteps of his father, Chuck. When Fickell was named Ohio State’s interim head coach in 2011, he made sure Vrabel — who had just completed his 14th NFL season — joined his staff.
Fourteen years later, after stops with the Houston Texans (assistant from 2014-17), the Tennessee Titans (head coach from 2018-23) and the Cleveland Browns (consultant in 2024), Vrabel is thriving in his first season as head coach of the Patriots, who currently have the third-best odds to win the Super Bowl.
That doesn’t surprise Fickell one bit.
I wasn’t surprised he got another head coaching chance with New England, and I’m not surprised that he’s already having success. It’s the same leadership I saw 30 years ago.
NEW DUBCAST. The final Eleven Dubcast of the week enlists Dan Hope to celebrate the arrival of a new kicker at Ohio State in the form of Connor Hawkins, examine some other late-week commitments to the Buckeyes and ponder additional targets heading into the weekend.
SONG OF THE DAY. "End of Beginning" - DJo.
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