A place like Ohio State is always going to have its fair share of bona fide stars.
Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka, Tommy Eichenberg and J.T. Tuimoloau are all nationally recognized names that are projected to have big years in 2023. So long as they stay healthy, each will almost certainly make a big impact at various points in the season.
The difference between Ohio State capturing the goals it’s strived for but fallen short of the past two seasons and not doing so are the players supporting those stars. Players who aren’t yet proven entities that can take the team to the next level if they turn out as game-changers, or solid at the very least.
With an obvious choice to kick things off, here’s a look at six such players — three on offense and three on defense.
Kyle McCord or Devin Brown
Quarterback is the most important position in football, and with an open battle at the spot still ongoing in Ohio State’s training camp, whoever ends up being the starter will be a clear choice as the biggest “hinge” player on the team.
There’s no questioning the weapons Kyle McCord or Devin Brown will have surrounding them. Not only is Marvin Harrison Jr. widely regarded as the best receiver – if not the best player – in all of college football, but Emeka Egbuka will be back off a 1,100-yard receiving season and Cade Stover is back off one of the best seasons from a Buckeye tight end in recent memory.
Kyle McCord and Devin Brown's quarterback battle remains ongoing in the third week of fall camp.
That and the team’s arsenal of running backs should help alleviate some of the pressures that come with being a first-year starting signal-caller at a program such as Ohio State. With new starters breaking in at offensive tackle and center, however, the amount of time either Brown or McCord gets in the pocket will be an important trend to watch.
Beyond that, it’s a test of the abilities of whoever wins the job and Day’s ability to produce quarterbacks. He developed three consecutive Heisman Trophy finalists and first-round NFL draft picks at the position prior to this year in C.J. Stroud, Justin Fields and the late Dwayne Haskins.
Coming out of Ohio State’s Saturday scrimmage, Day still feels as though neither Brown nor McCord have grabbed the mantle at the position as of yet.
“I do wish that somebody had really emerged,” Day said. “I don’t think, right now, it’s two guys that are just blowing it out of the water to where you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know who’s going to play.’ But it’s also not like they’re not doing well either. There’s really good play out there, there’s ability. Now we’re just looking for consistency.”
Regardless of who ultimately takes the field at Indiana on Sept. 2, the Buckeyes need one of these quarterbacks to be able to run the offense efficiently in order to achieve their goals.
Jimmy Simmons
Staying on the offensive side of the football, Ohio State’s offensive tackle situation has been a concern all offseason. After missing on several targets during the first transfer window to bolster the competition there, the Buckeyes finally landed former San Diego State edge protector Jimmy Simmons in the post-spring transfer window.
Simmons didn’t make the Mountain West’s All-Conference team a year ago, so it’s clear there was still a way for him to go to reach the ceiling expected of a Buckeye offensive tackle. He also committed 17 penalties over the course of the 2022 season, so his on-field discipline will have to improve.
But Simmons has also been described as “freaky athletic,” and Day had positive things to say about the lineman Monday.
“I think he's had some really good practices and he's shown that he can be the starting left tackle,” Day said. “He has not won that job yet. But he has shown traits that make us believe he can be that guy.”
Replacing a first-team All-American in Paris Johnson Jr. is no easy task. But getting Simmons to a place where he’s at least a quality tackle will be of paramount importance for Ohio State’s offense, perhaps the most important development of any position outside quarterback.
Because if those quarterbacks are getting pressured from their blind side constantly, it’s going to be difficult to look good regardless of who the starter under center is.
Josh Fryar
Staying in the vein of offensive tackles, Josh Fryar is currently projected as the starting right tackle for 2023 and enters his fourth season at Ohio State attempting to secure said spot.
Fryar started one game a year ago at right tackle in place of a then-injured Dawand Jones, filling in admirably against Indiana. He’s always had a bit of a punch to his run blocking – part of the reason he started his career as an interior offensive lineman – but it’s his pass blocking that will need to take another step forward.
Josh Fryar hopes to shore up the right side of Ohio State's offensive line in 2023.
That pass blocking will be a trait that is, once again, emphasized by the fact that the team is bringing along a new starting quarterback.
While Frye lauded Fryar in the spring and summer, saying his “confidence has grown,” Day was noncommittal Monday when asked whether Fryar would be the starting right tackle come Week 1. Freshman Luke Montgomery is already making a push for playing time and redshirt freshman Tegra Tshabola is also competing for a starting job, per Day. Fryar was the first-team left tackle during spring practice prior to Simmons’ arrival.
“He's somebody that, he's kind of gone back and forth a little bit, he's got flexibility that way,” Day said of Fryar. “For Josh, he feels comfortable playing on the right side, and so is Luke. And so, like we talked about last week, we've looked at who's going to be the best moving forward for the long term.”
If the veteran can step forward and solidify the team’s offensive line, it will go a long way in ensuring Ohio State remains among college football’s best offenses.
“I think I'm very prepared,” Fryar said March 23. “Honestly, just hearing everybody talk about it and worried about it just gets me more motivated to step up into that position and succeed.”
Denzel Burke
The goal has been stated every offseason for Ohio State’s cornerbacks, but it's been under special emphasis off a 2022 campaign in which they struggled: Bring about the return of BIA, meaning “Best in America,” at the position.
“We remind ourselves of that every day,” Denzel Burke said Thursday. “(What we did last year), that’s not our brand. We’re going to bring that back. It’s just about getting better every single day.”
No player will have a bigger role in living up to or falling short of those expectations than Burke, who is primed to be the team’s No. 1 cornerback for the third year in a row after drawing rampant praise from Day, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and cornerbacks coach Tim Walton this offseason.
“He had a great spring,” Ohio State cornerbacks coach Tim Walton said in May. “He did a great job. He’s locked in, he’s our leader over there.”
Burke enjoyed a breakout freshman campaign in 2021, recording 12 pass breakups and an interception. Injuries plagued him last season, however, and he went from allowing 5.375 yards per target in 2021 to 8.513 in 2022, per PFF. Back to full health, he's hoping to return to or even surpass his level of play from his first season.
“My confidence is probably at an all-time high, the highest it’s ever been,” Burke said. “And confidence is a big thing, man. If you don’t have that, it’s going to be a long day for you. And you gain confidence by going out here and guarding Marvin Harrison, Emeka Egbuka every day. They’re going to get you better and I’m going to get them better, too.”
Burke’s trash-talking, physical style lends itself both to man coverage and to being a leader in the position room for the Buckeyes. Where he goes in terms of his quality of play, the room may very well follow.
Ja’Had Carter
Speaking of the secondary, it was Ohio State’s safeties that gave up a glut of big plays in the team’s two most important games to close the season last year against Michigan and Georgia. Players were caught out of position on long passes or – on one more notorious play – slipped to allow a receiver to run by for a touchdown.
In Knowles’ three-safety system, the “adjuster” is a field-safety position that both covers the most ground and sets the rest of the back seven into place. Right now that adjuster is projected to be Syracuse transfer Ja’Had Carter.
Carter started three seasons with the Orange, collecting 136 tackles with five interceptions and seven pass breakups. Three of those picks came in 2022.
Thus far in fall camp, Carter has been accompanied by Sonny Styles at nickel safety and Lathan Ransom at “bandit,” or boundary safety. Carter was originally brought in to play nickel but has quickly been sent to a deep safety spot by Knowles.
“Ja’Had is more of a high safety,” Knowles said. “We experimented with him on the slot, and that’s part of learning the system, it’s good for safeties to play different positions early. But he’s more of a high safety.”
Knowles has been impressed with his ability to take film room work and apply it to the field.
“Ja’Had, being a transfer, has just been a very coachable player,” Knowles said. “He’s one of those guys, you can say something to him, (tell him to) correct it, and he corrects it immediately on the field. That’s rare. His learning and processing of our system has been great.”
Carter was known as a ballhawk at Syracuse, making plays tracking the pigskin in-flight and disrupting opposing passing games. If he’s being referred to in similar ways in 2023, it will be a promising sign for Ohio State’s back end.
“That comes from playing receiver in high school, ball in the air and go get it,” Carter said. “That’s my mindset, ‘Ball in the air, go get it,’ and make sure I’m aggressive at the point of attack.”
Ty Hamilton
Mike Hall Jr. has shown he can be a monster when healthy as evidenced by the 3.5 sacks he recorded against Michigan State (one of which was erased by a hands-to-the-face penalty by a teammate) in eight snaps last season. Quality of play and reaching another echelon aren’t concerns as much as health is for Hall.
Ty Hamilton will hope to bring a strong presence to the interior of Ohio State's defensive line this season.
One player from Ohio State’s interior defensive line group that seems primed to take another step forward in his play is Ty Hamilton. It wasn’t just through the air that Ohio State gave up big plays last campaign, it was on the ground too, with Michigan running back Donovan Edwards rattling off a 75-yard touchdown run and an 85-yard touchdown run on back-to-back drives to ice away the team’s 45-23 victory over the Buckeyes Nov. 26.
Hamilton started five games in 2022 and picked up 15 tackles. He played in all 13 games, serving as a rotational asset when not used as a starter.
He’s been starting alongside Hall during fall camp. In the springtime, Hamilton said he was improving in all facets of his game.
“Being able to play off the ball, being faster, quicker, everything like that, especially off the field, like school,” Hamilton said. “It’s just automatic progress.”
If Ohio State can rely on the six players above to play up to their potential in 2023, all of the Buckeyes’ goals will be achievable.
