As Ohio State prepares to play a challenging schedule that includes six road games in 2023 and looks to bounce back from back-to-back losses to Michigan, strong team leadership will be important for the Buckeyes if they are to return to the top of the Big Ten and the College Football Playoff this season.
Fortunately for the Buckeyes, there appear to be plenty of candidates across the roster to provide that much-needed leadership.
That leadership certainly won’t be exclusive to Ohio State’s captains. But one item on the team’s agenda over the next seven weeks leading up to the start of the 2023 season will be deciding which Buckeyes will serve the team as its officially designated leaders.
While Ryan Day has said the number of team captains can vary from year to year based upon how many players actually warrant the honor, recent history would suggest the Buckeyes will have at least six captains. They’ve had exactly that many for the last two years and have had at least that many in all of the last 10 seasons.
None of Day’s Ohio State teams have had more than seven captains, so we don’t expect a repeat of 2017 when Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes had nine captains. But there are at least that many players who are likely to draw consideration in the team voting when it takes place during preseason camp in August.
With that in mind, we’ve taken our best shot at identifying the top 10 candidates to be captains for Ohio State in 2023, listed in order of the projected likelihood that they will actually be named captains for the upcoming season. All players included on the list are in at least their third season with the Buckeyes, as players chosen to be captains for Ohio State have customarily been upperclassmen.
Cade Stover, TE
As one of three returning captains from last season, Stover is a safe bet to be among the Buckeyes’ captains once again this year. He was regarded as one of Ohio State’s top leaders and hardest-working players in 2022, and his selection as one of the Buckeyes’ three representatives at Big Ten Media Days suggests that hasn’t changed going into 2023.
The Ohio native is as hungry as anyone on the team to turn the tables in The Game this season, and the Buckeyes’ top tight end opted to return to Ohio State for a fifth year because he didn’t want to end his career with back-to-back losses. That attitude is one Ohio State is counting on him to help instill through the entire roster.
“He's our rock of our unit, rock of our team, rock of our program,” Ohio State tight ends coach Keenan Bailey said in May.
Tommy Eichenberg, LB
Like Stover, Eichenberg is a returning captain who is in line to play a major role both on the field and as a leader once again this year after earning first-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-American honors as Ohio State’s leading tackler in 2022.
Eichenberg is known for not being much of a talker, which is why he won’t be going to Big Ten Media Days, but he was nevertheless regarded as Ohio State’s top defensive leader a year ago. He’s consistently named by other players on Ohio State’s defense as someone they look up to and who they know they can trust.
“That's the guy that I always go to to talk, no matter what it is,” fellow linebacker C.J. Hicks said this spring. “Football, life, whatever.”
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR
The best player on the team usually ends up being selected as a team captain, and there’s no debate that Harrison is Ohio State’s best player entering 2023. More importantly in terms of captaincy, Harrison has been known throughout his Ohio State career for his elite work ethic, illustrated by his daily sessions catching passes on the Monarc machine – an exercise in which he often brings his fellow receivers along to catch balls with him.
While Harrison is known more for leading by example than vocal leadership, there’s no question that how hard he works as the team’s biggest star rubs off on everyone else inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and that’s why it would be a shock if he isn’t a team captain this fall.
JT Tuimoloau, DE
Tuimoloau has a chance to be Ohio State’s second-best player this season, and he also appears to be on a trajectory toward captaincy as he enters his third and likely final season as a Buckeye. Like Stover and Harrison, Tuimoloau was selected to represent Ohio State at Big Ten Media Days later this month, and those media days representatives end up becoming captains for the Buckeyes more often than not.
The standout defensive end has expressed that being a leader is one of his objectives for the 2023 season, and he already emerged as a leader as a sophomore last year, particularly last December, when several of his Ohio State teammates pointed to a speech made by Tuimoloau as a turning point in their preparation for the Peach Bowl following the loss to Michigan.
“JT, he stood in the middle of us before one of our first practices (after the Michigan loss) and basically told us, ‘Hey, there is still the possibility. Let's not feel sorry for ourselves. Let's try to get better today,’” former Ohio State safety Tanner McCalister said at the time. “Those practices ended up being pretty good practices, to be honest, after JT stood up, the young guy stood up and expressed how he was feeling about our possibility to play in the College Football Playoff still.”
That moment could prove to be a precursor to captaincy for Tuimoloau this season.
Xavier Johnson, WR/RB
After starting his Ohio State career as a walk-on and establishing himself as one of Ohio State’s most versatile players, Johnson seemingly checks all the boxes to be a captain as one of three sixth-year seniors (along with Matt Jones and Josh Proctor) on the Buckeyes’ roster this year.
He’s demonstrated selflessness throughout his Ohio State career by playing every role he’s been asked to play, spending time at wide receiver, running back and even cornerback while becoming a staple on special teams. He’s made plays everywhere he’s gotten opportunities to play, and in the process, he’s earned a teamwide respect from both coaches and teammates much like two-time captain Kamryn Babb did during his Ohio State career.
“How I always think of Kam Babb is an amazing young man, he’s created a standard,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline said this spring. “X is in line with all that. Big man of faith, great leader with the young guys, willing to speak up.”
Johnson said this spring that he thinks “it's time to lead in a different manner as an older guy,” citing players like Babb and C.J. Stroud as examples of players who rallied the team together when things weren’t going right. If Johnson shows this summer he’s ready to take upon that mantle, he’s likely to follow in the footsteps of C.J. Saunders and Joe Burger, who also began their Ohio State careers as walk-ons yet ended their careers as team captains.
Donovan Jackson, LG
Ohio State’s captains have included at least one offensive lineman in six of the last eight seasons, and leadership within that unit could be particularly vital for the Buckeyes this season as they break in three new starters at tackle and center. If that leads to another offensive lineman earning captaincy this year, the top candidate to fill that role appears to be Jackson, who drew rave reviews this spring for how he has stepped up as a leader this offseason.
“Donovan's doing the most amazing job I think anyone can, leading the team, helping me,” center Carson Hinzman said after a spring practice in March. “There was a play on Tuesday where I left Donovan dangling, and it was completely my fault. And he came over to me and he got on me a little bit and I needed that. The play right after that, we fixed it and got it going.”
Kourt Williams, S
Considering Williams was among Ohio State’s six captains last year, he could easily be right behind Stover and Eichenberg on this list. His role for the 2023 Buckeyes is more unclear than theirs, however, due to continued battles with injuries that kept him off the field for most of last season and all of this spring.
That certainly doesn’t preclude Williams from being a captain, as evidenced by Babb’s captaincy the past two years despite his lingering knee injuries. But being a captain last year also doesn’t guarantee that Williams will be a captain again this year, as Teradja Mitchell and Zach Harrison were both captains in 2021 yet weren’t re-elected in 2022.
Williams appeared to be in line to play a bigger role for the Buckeyes at this time last year than he is for the 2023 Buckeyes right now, and the argument could be made that Ohio State would benefit from having more captains who play major roles on the field than it did last year, when it had three captains who played sparingly (Williams, Babb and Tyler Friday). But his selection as a captain last year showed how highly regarded he is throughout the roster, which puts him on the shortlist to be a captain once again this year.
Emeka Egbuka, WR
Egbuka would probably be higher on the list if he didn’t play the same position as two other Buckeyes who are frontrunners to be captains, but Egbuka should also be well within the captaincy conversation.
Like fellow third-year receiver Harrison, Egbuka has made a big impression on his coaches and teammates with his work ethic and maturity ever since he arrived at Ohio State as a midyear enrollee in January 2021. Being the team’s most proven star outside of Harrison only helps his cause, too, as he’s certainly impressed everyone in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center with his on-field performance in his first two years as a Buckeye.
Ohio State hasn’t had three captains at the same position since 2018, but it was the wide receiver position that was so well-represented then too as Parris Campbell, Johnnie Dixon and Terry McLaurin were all among the Buckeyes’ seven captains that year. It wouldn’t be a shock if Harrison, Johnson and Egbuka repeat that history five years later.
Lathan Ransom, S
Along with Williams, another fourth-year safety who could be a candidate for captaincy this season is Ransom, who will certainly be expected to be an on-field leader in the secondary this year after choosing to stay at Ohio State for his senior season. With McCalister and Ronnie Hickman both gone from last year’s starting safety trio, Ransom will be expected to step up and provide stability on the back end.
Ransom turned heads with his coaches and teammates last offseason with how hard he worked to recover from the broken leg he suffered in the Rose Bowl at the end of the 2021 season, enabling him to become a starter last year despite missing the entire spring. He’s even hungrier to prove a point this year after giving up a game-changing 76-yard touchdown catch to Georgia’s Arian Smith in the fourth quarter of last season’s Peach Bowl, and Ohio State safeties coach Perry Eliano said he’s seen Ransom grow in his leadership in particular.
“Lathan had a really, really good spring. He's even a better leader today than he was last year,” Eliano said in May. “To see him grow from when I first got here till now, this summer being a leader, it's important to him.”
Kyle McCord, QB
Although it’s not common for a first-year starting quarterback to be a team captain, whoever wins the starting quarterback job will be expected to be a leader no less. If McCord ends up securing the job in preseason camp, it’s not out of the question that he could earn captaincy too, as he’s already started establishing his leadership credentials in his first two years in the program.
Like his classmates Harrison and Egbuka, McCord has been a regular of putting in extra work through throwing sessions at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center with his teammates ever since he began his Ohio State career as a freshman. Harrison, who played with McCord in high school, is among those who already see McCord as a team leader even though he hasn’t been the starting quarterback yet.
“Off the field, he's somebody you can talk to about anything,” Harrison said. “And then obviously, going into college, he's developed more of a leadership role on the field. Just calling people out and just being a quarterback. So that's one thing I've seen him grow a lot.”
