Snap Counts: 67 Ohio State Players See Action in Buckeyes’ First-Round Playoff Rout of Tennessee

The Buckeyes turned their CFP opener against Tennessee into such a blowout that they took their starters out of the game early in the fourth quarter and played deep into their bench on their way to closing out a 42-17 win over the Volunteers at Ohio Stadium.

A total of 67 Ohio State players saw action against the Volunteers as 30 different Buckeyes got in the game on offense, 28 Buckeyes saw action on defense and nine other Buckeyes played on special teams only.

Even while the game still hung in the balance, Ohio State rotated more than it did in its regular-season finale against Michigan, particularly on the defensive line, at offensive guard and at tight end. By the time the game was over, all four scholarship quarterbacks still on the Buckeyes’ roster saw action while their second-string players on both sides of the ball got valuable playoff experience as they played most of the fourth quarter.

Our full report on Ohio State’s snap counts from its CFP opener, using data from Pro Football Focus’ premium statistics, can be found below.

Quarterbacks

Will Howard: 58
Devin Brown: 3
Julian Sayin: 3
Lincoln Kienholz: 3

Howard played every snap of Ohio State’s first nine possessions against Tennessee and led the Buckeyes on six touchdown drives. In what was arguably his best game yet as a Buckeye, Howard completed 24 of 29 passing attempts for 311 yards and two touchdowns with one interception and also ran for 37 yards.

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After the Buckeyes took a 42-10 lead on Howard’s final drive of the game and the Buckeyes took all of their offensive starters out, Brown, Sayin and Kienholz each had the opportunity to take the field for one possession in that order. Brown was the only one of them to complete a pass during their brief stints in the game, connecting with Brandon Inniss for a 6-yard gain on his lone pass attempt.

Running Backs

Quinshon Judkins: 33
TreVeyon Henderson: 28
James Peoples: 9

Judkins made his fifth start of the season and saw slightly more action than Henderson against Tennessee, running the ball 10 times for 34 yards and two touchdowns and catching the ball twice for nine yards. Henderson made the most of his 28 snaps, though, touching the ball on exactly half of them and gaining 134 yards from scrimmage as he rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries and gained 54 yards on four catches.

Peoples was the running back for all of Ohio State’s final three possessions and gained just six yards on seven carries running the ball behind the Buckeyes’ backup offensive line.

Wide Receivers

Jeremiah Smith: 55
Carnell Tate: 48
Emeka Egbuka: 35
Brandon Inniss: 11
Bryson Rodgers: 10
Mylan Graham: 7
David Adolph: Special teams

Smith played the most snaps of any Ohio State non-quarterback skill position player in his first CFP game as he was on the field for all but four plays with the first-team offense. The freshman star caught six passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns in the process.

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The only backup receivers to see playing time with the first-team offense were Inniss for two snaps and Rodgers for one, though Mylan Graham saw playing time for just the third time as a freshman as he joined them on the field on Ohio State’s final seven offensive plays of the game.

Egbuka tied his third-lowest snap count of the year as the Buckeyes often used multi-tight end formations against the Volunteers, but had a productive game nevertheless as he caught five passes for 81 yards.

Tight Ends

Gee Scott Jr.: 34
Will Kacmarek: 32
Bennett Christian: 18
Jelani Thurman: 7
Patrick Gurd: 5
Max LeBlanc: 3

Kacmarek played a season-high 32 snaps against Tennessee as the Buckeyes used a heavy dosage of multi-tight end packages as the Volunteers. Both Kacmarek and Scott were in the starting lineup and it was the first time all season that two Ohio State tight ends played more than 30 snaps in a game; Scott made a career-high four catches for 39 yards in the process.

Christian and Thurman also mixed in for action with the first-team offense at tight end while Gurd played three snaps with the starters as a fullback in goal-line formations (plus two snaps at tight end with the backups in the fourth quarter). LeBlanc made his fourth game appearance of his freshman season as he was Ohio State’s tight end for its final three-play possession.

Offensive Linemen

Donovan Jackson: 58
Carson Hinzman: 58
Josh Fryar: 58
Austin Siereveld: 46
Tegra Tshabola: 39
Luke Montgomery: 31
Zen Michalski: 9
George Fitzpatrick: 9
Joshua Padilla: 9
Toby Wilson: 9
Ian Moore: 9

Ohio State utilized a three-guard rotation against Tennessee. Siereveld started the game at left guard and Tshabola started the game at right guard, but Montgomery also saw extensive action at LG off the bench while Siereveld played 19 snaps in place of Tshabola at RG. Jackson played every first-team snap at left tackle, Hinzman played every first-team snap at center and Fryar all played 58 snaps of Ohio State’s first nine drives at right tackle.

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The second-team offensive line for Ohio State’s final three possessions of the game consisted of Michalski at left tackle, Fitzpatrick at left guard, Padilla at center, Wilson at right guard and Moore at right tackle. Michalski, who entered the transfer portal on Friday but chose to remain with the Buckeyes for the CFP, returned to action for the first time since he suffered an injury in the fourth quarter against Nebraska; Fitzpatrick, who had previously seen second-team duty at left and right tackle, played his first snaps at guard of his Buckeye career.

Defensive Ends

Jack Sawyer: 43
JT Tuimoloau: 39
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.: 23
Mitchell Melton: 20
Caden Curry: 17

After drawing scrutiny for a lack of defensive line rotation against Michigan, Larry Johnson mixed and matched different pairs of defensive ends more frequently against Tennessee, making plenty of mid-drive substitutions to combat the Volunteers’ up-tempo offensive pace. Jackson, Melton and Curry all played double-digit snaps off the bench after playing only single-digit snaps in The Game.

That said, Sawyer and Tuimoloau still played the bulk of defensive end snaps against the Volunteers and combined to have the best game they’ve ever had as a duo. Tuimoloau made a career-high eight tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, a forced fumble and a pass breakup while Sawyer had five tackles with 1.5 sacks and two pass breakups.

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Defensive Tackles

Tyleik Williams: 43
Ty Hamilton: 42
Eddrick Houston: 16
Hero Kanu: 14
Kayden McDonald: 10
Tywone Malone Jr.: 6
Jason Moore: 5
Will Smith Jr.: 5

Ohio State also rotated more at defensive tackle against Tennessee than it did against Michigan as Houston, Kanu, McDonald and Malone all mixed in for playing time with the starters, though Hamilton and Williams still both played more than 40 snaps for the sixth time in the Buckeyes’ last eight games.

Moore and Smith, the Buckeyes’ fourth-string defensive tackles, saw their only playing time on Tennessee’s final possession of the night. 

Linebackers

Sonny Styles: 59
Cody Simon: 56
Arvell Reese: 19
C.J. Hicks: 12
Payton Pierce: Special teams only
Garrett Stover: Special teams only
Joey Velazquez: Special teams only

Styles played every snap at Will linebacker until Ohio State’s final two defensive series of the game, on which he was replaced by Hicks. Simon, who recorded a game-high 12 tackles on his eight drives as Ohio State’s starting Mike linebacker, came out of the game one series earlier to be replaced by Reese.

While Reese saw extensive playing time as a third linebacker in the Michigan game, he played just four snaps in that capacity against Tennessee as the Buckeyes stuck with their 4-2-5 base defense for a majority of plays against the Volunteers.

Cornerbacks

Jordan Hancock: 58
Denzel Burke: 50
Davison Igbinosun: 50
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 27
Aaron Scott Jr.: 12
Bryce West: 12
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 1

Because the Buckeyes didn’t use their 4-3 package much against Tennessee, Hancock played his third-highest snap count of the season as he played all but four snaps with the first-team defense and remained in the game for one additional series after the rest of Ohio State’s defensive starters exited for the night.

Burke and Igbinosun each played exactly 50 snaps – the sixth time each of them has played that many snaps in a game this season – with Mathews rotating into the game in their place for nine snaps each with the first-team defense. Mathews also finished out the game at nickel cornerback on Ohio State’s final defensive series alongside the freshman duo of Scott and West, who manned the outside cornerback positions for Tennessee’s last two possessions.

Styles recorded a pass breakup on his only snap of the night, a 3rd-and-9 play in the red zone on which he entered the game at nickel with Hancock sliding back to safety and knocked down a pass that Nico Iamaleava threw in his direction for an attempted 18-yard touchdown.

Safeties

Caleb Downs: 59
Lathan Ransom: 58
Malik Hartford: 12
Jaylen McClain: 12
Brenten “Inky” Jones: Special teams only
Leroy Roker: Special teams only

Downs played every snap until Tennessee’s final two possessions while Ransom played all but one of those snaps. Hartford replaced Downs at free safety and McClain replaced Ransom at strong safety as those four remain the only Ohio State safeties – not including Hancock when he drops back to safety – to play defensive snaps this year.

Field Goals/Extra Points

Jayden Fielding (kicker): 7
Joe McGuire (punter): 7
John Ferlmann (long snapper): 7
Bennett Christian: 7
George Fitzpatrick: 7
Josh Fryar: 7
Luke Montgomery: 7 
Joshua Padilla: 7
Austin Siereveld: 7
Jelani Thurman: 7
Tegra Tshabola: 7 

Although Ryan Day left the door open for a kicker change in the week leading up to the game, Ohio State ultimately rolled with Fielding for all of its kicks against Tennessee. He came up short on his only field goal attempt, a 56-yard kick at the end of the first half, but made extra points after all six of Ohio State’s touchdowns.

Kickoffs

Jayden Fielding (kicker): 7
Denzel Burke: 7
Malik Hartford: 7
Jaylen McClain: 7
Payton Pierce: 7
Jordan Hancock: 6
C.J. Hicks: 6
Arvell Reese: 6
Patrick Gurd: 4
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 4
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 4
Caden Curry: 3
Brenten “Inky” Jones: 3
Bryce West: 3
Keenan Nelson Jr.: 1
Garrett Stover: 1
Joey Velazquez: 1

Tennessee kickoff returner Peyton Lewis returned only one of Fielding’s seven kickoffs, getting to the 26-yard line before he was taken down by Reese and Hancock.

Kickoff Returns

Emeka Egbuka (returner): 4
Brandon Inniss: 4
Gee Scott Jr.: 4
David Adolph: 3 
Bennett Christian: 3
Patrick Gurd: 3
C.J. Hicks: 3
Jaylen McClain: 3
Payton Pierce: 3
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 3
Joey Velazquez: 3
Caden Curry: 1
Caleb Downs: 1
TreVeyon Henderson (returner): 1
Lathan Ransom: 1
Cody Simon: 1
Jeremiah Smith: 1
Sonny Styles: 1
Carnell Tate: 1

After Henderson made some questionable kickoff-fielding decisions in his four games as Ohio State’s primary kickoff returner, Egbuka retook that duty against Tennessee for each of the Volunteers’ first three kickoffs, none of which he returned. Henderson lined up deep for Tennessee’s final kickoff, on which the Buckeyes put their hands team on the field in anticipation of an onside kick attempt; the Volunteers ended up going with a squib kick, which Henderson downed at the 13-yard line.

Punts

Joe McGuire (punter): 3
John Ferlmann (long snapper): 3
Bennett Christian: 2
Patrick Gurd: 2
Malik Hartford: 2
Brenten “Inky” Jones: 2
Jaylen McClain: 2
Payton Pierce: 2
Arvell Reese: 2
Joey Velazquez: 2
Bryce West: 2
Caden Curry: 1
Caleb Downs: 1
C.J. Hicks: 1
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 1
Lathan Ransom: 1
Gee Scott Jr.: 1
Cody Simon: 1
Sonny Styles: 1
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 1

McGuire averaged 39.3 yards per punt on three punts against the Volunteers with only one of those punts traveling more than 40 yards. None of his three punts were returned.

Punt Blocks/Returns

David Adolph: 7
Malik Hartford: 7
Brenten Jones: 7
Jaylen McClain: 7
Arvell Reese: 7
Bryce West: 7
Lathan Ransom: 6
Denzel Burke: 5
Brandon Inniss (returner): 5
C.J. Hicks: 4
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 4
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 4
Payton Pierce: 3
Caleb Downs (returner): 2
Aaron Scott Jr.: 1
Garrett Stover: 1

Downs was the returner for Tennessee’s first two punts but was replaced by Inniss for the remainder of the game after he muffed the Volunteers’ second punt, though he did recover the drop himself. Inniss gained just one yard on the only punt he attempted to return.

Field Goal/Extra Point Block

Arvell Reese: 3
Denzel Burke: 2
Caleb Downs: 2
Ty Hamilton: 2
Lathan Ransom: 2
Jack Sawyer: 2
Cody Simon: 2
Sonny Styles: 2
JT Tuimoloau: 2
Tyleik Williams: 2
Caden Curry: 1
Malik Hartford: 1
C.J. Hicks: 1
Davison Igbinosun: 1
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.: 1
Hero Kanu: 1
Tywone Malone Jr.: 1
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 1
Jaylen McClain: 1
Payton Pierce: 1
Aaron Scott Jr.: 1
Bryce West: 1

The Buckeyes on the field for Tennessee’s lone field goal and two extra points were the players who were in the game for the previous defensive play before each of those kicks.