Three days before kickoff against Akron, Ohio State has a pecking order for its return men.
On Wednesday, Ryan Day said wide receivers Brandon Inniss and Emeka Egbuka will handle punt return duties while wideout Jayden Ballard takes the lead on kick return, followed by another receiver in Carnell Tate.
"JB is going to take the first kickoff return, and Carnell is also gonna be right there, so those will be our two guys there," Day said. "We're a little bit by-committee in the back end on punt returning. Brandon Inniss is there, Emeka is there. We have a few guys we can use. I think you'll see a couple of them there."
Ballard and Egbuka are the two most experienced returners of that group, with Ballard recording nine punt returns for 49 yards in 2023 and Egbuka having 18 punt returns for 98 yards (5.4 yards per return) across the last two seasons. The Buckeyes' star receiver also returned 20 kickoffs for 580 yards (29 yards per return) as a freshman.
"Hitting (the hole) fast, that's really that's really the main key," Egbuka said when asked what it takes to be a returner. "You can't stutter your feet. You can't chop at all because those holes close quicker than you than you might think. And the other thing is that there's always one more defender than you think. So you kind of just got to run strong, run hard, run through arm tackles. Don't let anything slow you down."
Inniss is a dynamic athlete with a five-star recruiting pedigree, and earlier in preseason camp he expressed an eagerness to score Ohio State's first punt or kick return touchdown since Jalin Marshall took a punt back in 2014.
"I'm definitely gonna score a touchdown," Inniss said. "I've got to. ... Ten years, yeah, I'll get one this year."
Inniss, Ballard, Tate and Egbuka will get their first opportunity when Ohio State kicks off its season against Akron on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
