Ohio State linebacker Chris Worley has run out of the tunnel at Ohio Stadium before. This is his fourth year in the Buckeyes’ program, and the redshirt junior linebacker has appeared in 26 games throughout his career thus far.
But when Worley takes the field Saturday in front of the home crowd as Ohio State hosts Bowling Green, it will be the first time he’s ever done so as a starter for the Buckeyes. It’s not the first start of Worley’s Ohio State career — he actually started the season-opener against Navy in 2014 — but it’s the first time he’s ever started a game at Ohio Stadium.
“It’s going to be unreal,” Worley said Wednesday of his first start. “It’s not my first time going out in the stadium and playing, but it’s going to be my first time in that stadium running out as a true starter.”
Worley won’t be the only player running out of the tunnel as a first-time starter in front of the home crowd, though. Not even close. Ohio State must replace 16 starters from last year’s team so there are plenty of others who will join him.
Let’s dive a little deeper into who exactly those players are.
Offense
Quarterback J.T. Barrett, center Pat Elflein and guard Billy Price are the only three returning starters on offense for Ohio State. Wide receiver/running backs Curtis Samuel and Dontre Wilson also have significant playing experience — and will be counted on heavily this season — but weren’t technically starters last year.
At running back, redshirt freshman Mike Weber was officially announced Wednesday as the heir apparent to Ezekiel Elliott. Weber was a highly-touted recruit in the 2015 class coming out of Cass Technical High School in Detroit and has big shoes to fill as Elliott’s replacement.
He seems up for the challenge, however.
“Zeke was really smart when it comes to reading defenses, knowing his assignments,” Weber said back at Ohio State’s team media day. “Just go out there and play as hard as you can while knowing all of those things."
“That was really my main point. I just wanted to grasp that from him because I know my talent is really good but I wanted to get to that next level, that elite level.”
Last season’s top three wide receivers — Michael Thomas, Jalin Marshall and Braxton Miller — are all gone so Ohio State will have an entirely new crop of first-time starters out wide. Samuel and Wilson will see the majority of the playing time in the slot where Miller was last season, but the replacements for Thomas and Marshall aren’t as clear-cut right now.
Redshirt sophomore Noah Brown is the Buckeyes’ No. 1 option and will start despite missing all of last season with a broken leg. After that, though, it’s a bit more confusing. Parris Campbell, Corey Smith, Terry McLaurin, James Clark, Austin Mack, Johnnie Dixon and K.J. Hill are all options to see some snaps at a position that will heavily rotate.
Joining Elflein and Price on the offensive line are junior Jamarco Jones, true freshman Michael Jordan and sophomore Isaiah Prince. All three are at different points in their careers, but all three will be making their first career starts Saturday. Redshirt junior Marcus Baugh is now in his fourth year in the Ohio State program, but he too will be starting for the first time in his career against Bowling Green.
“The offensive line is in a good place,” offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said. “I’m really happy about where that group of guys are.”
DEFENSE
Another player who has been in the program for multiple years will be starting at linebacker for the first time with Worley. Dante Booker, a junior, will start on the outside and replace three-year starter Joshua Perry.
But Booker and Worley are just two of the eight new starters the Buckeyes have on defense. They also must replace 75 percent of last year’s secondary in addition to 75 percent of last season’s defensive line.
Gareon Conley is the lone returner in Ohio State’s back four. The redshirt junior has a chance to be an All-Big Ten selection and is a potential early-round NFL Draft pick. Conley will be joined by three first-year starters, however. The opposite corner spot is the only position on defense not yet solidified and that will either be redshirt sophomore Marshon Lattimore or true sophomore Denzel Ward. At safety, Malik Hooker and Damon Webb will each earn their first-career starts Saturday.
The secondary’s task of replacing three guys currently in NFL training camps is quite large, but it’s certainly one the current crop of players is embracing.
“Our DBs, from top to bottom, is the best since I’ve been here,” Lattimore said.
Tyquan Lewis is the lone returning starter up front as Joey Bosa, Adolphus Washington and Tommy Schutt each moved on following last season. They’ll be replaced by Sam Hubbard, Tracy Sprinkle and Mike Hill. Like Worley, Hubbard has started a game in his career — he filled in last season when Bosa was suspended against Virginia Tech — but he’s yet to do so in front of the home crowd.
We’ve talked at length about all of these new faces Ohio State has for the 2016 season. Now, it’s finally time to see what they’re actually capable of doing on the football field.
Most of these players have been waiting their turn for at least a year or two — sometimes even more — as they sat behind what Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer has described in the past as a “monster.”
Ohio State is now trying to build a new monster, one that propels it back to contending for a Big Ten championship and beyond. Whether that comes this year, next year when most players are expected to return, or at all, remains to be seen. But the Buckeyes feel confident they've got the talent to get to that level despite all of these new faces.
On his weekly radio show, Meyer said Ohio State had “a bunch of very good, young talent that we get to unleash.”
The gates open noon Saturday.
