Snap Counts: Tegra Tshabola Plays Every First-Team Snap at Right Guard, Bryson Rodgers and Arvell Reese Play Increased Roles Against Iowa

The Buckeyes kept their starters in longer against Iowa than they did in any of their first four games of the season, but they eventually put backups in the game at every position on offense and defense after pulling away from the Hawkeyes with a dominant third quarter in an eventual 35-7 win.

Sixty-two total Buckeyes saw action against Iowa, one fewer than against Michigan State. Defensive tackle Tyleik Williams returned to action after missing two games with an undisclosed injury, but wide receiver Carnell Tate was held out – even though Ryan Day said he “absolutely could have played” if needed – after he was listed as questionable on the Buckeyes’ pregame status report. Julian Sayin didn’t play against Iowa as Devin Brown was the only backup quarterback to get into the game while Joshua Padilla saw second-team work at left guard over Luke Montgomery, but everyone else who played against the Spartans also played in some capacity against the Hawkeyes.

Players who saw their roles increase against Iowa included Tegra Tshabola, who played all of the first-team snaps at right guard after rotating with Austin Siereveld for the Buckeyes’ previous two games; Bryson Rodgers, who played the third-most snaps at wide receiver with Tate sidelined; and Arvell Reese, who was on the field for nearly two-thirds of Ohio State’s defensive plays as the Buckeyes had three linebackers on the field for 27 of their 48 defensive snaps.

Our breakdown of how much every Buckeye played on offense or defense against Iowa, using data from Pro Football Focus’ premium statistics, can be found below.

Quarterbacks

Will Howard: 61
Devin Brown: 5

Howard played every snap at quarterback for Ohio State until the game’s final possession. He led the Buckeyes to touchdowns on five of his 10 drives in the game, completing 21 of 25 passing attempts for 209 yards and four touchdowns while adding 10 carries for 28 yards and another touchdown. Brown did not attempt a pass on his one drive in the game, though he did run for a 10-yard gain to ice the Buckeyes’ victory.

Running Backs

Quinshon Judkins: 32
TreVeyon Henderson: 26
James Peoples: 5

Henderson made his fifth consecutive start at running back to begin the season but Judkins saw slightly more action, carrying the ball 13 times for 78 yards and catching one pass which went for a 2-yard loss. Henderson had 11 carries for 61 yards and had two catches for two yards. The Buckeyes’ top two running backs split time throughout the game until the final drive, when Peoples took over for his only action of the day; he carried the ball three times for 12 yards.

Wide Receivers

Emeka Egbuka: 57
Jeremiah Smith: 56
Bryson Rodgers: 41
Brandon Inniss: 21
Jayden Ballard: 4
David Adolph: Special teams only
Kojo Antwi: Special teams only

With Carnell Tate sidelined by an undisclosed injury, Rodgers played a career-high 41 snaps as Ohio State’s No. 3 receiver. While he didn’t technically start the game, as Ohio State opened the contest in a two-tight end set, he entered the game on the second play and was on the field for a majority of OSU’s offensive plays.

Inniss – who had been the first receiver off the bench in Ohio State’s first four games – also mixed in for playing time with the first-team offense. While Rodgers played nearly twice as many snaps as Inniss, Inniss caught three passes for 29 yards while Rodgers had one catch for eight yards.

Egbuka was on the field for all but four plays with Howard while Smith was in the game for all five first-team plays. Ballard, the only other receiver to play snaps on offense against Iowa, played all of his snaps on Ohio State’s final two possessions after the Buckeyes already had a victory comfortably in hand.

RELATED Ohio State vs. Iowa Notebook: Emeka Egbuka Has A Career Game, Jeremiah Smith Makes Another One-Handed Touchdown Catch and Carnell Tate “Absolutely Could Have Played”

Tight Ends

Gee Scott Jr.: 41
Will Kacmarek: 24
Bennett Christian: 13
Jelani Thurman: 7
Patrick Gurd: 3

Scott played a season-high 41 snaps as he was on the field for more than two-thirds of Ohio State’s offensive plays while Howard was in at quarterback. He and Kacmarek played the majority of first-team tight end snaps while Christian played the third-most snaps among tight ends for the second game in a row with most of his action coming in multi-tight end sets.

Thurman played only a couple of snaps with the first-team offense in multi-tight end formations before playing the entirety of the Buckeyes’ final possession with the second-team offense. Gurd played all of his offensive snaps on the final three plays of the game.

Offensive Linemen

Josh Simmons: 63
Donovan Jackson: 63
Seth McLaughlin: 63
Tegra Tshabola: 63
Josh Fryar: 63
Zen Michalski: 3
Joshua Padilla: 3
Carson Hinzman: 3
Austin Siereveld: 3
George Fitzpatrick: 3

After rotating Tshabola and Siereveld at right guard against Marshall and Michigan State, Ohio State gave all the first-team snaps to Tshabola against Iowa. The Buckeyes’ starting offensive line of Simmons, Jackson, McLaughlin, Tshabola and Fryar played every snap until the two-minute warning timeout, when they were replaced by Michalski, Padilla, Hinzman, Siereveld and Fitzpatrick.

Luke Montgomery, who had been Ohio State’s second-team right guard for the first two games and the second-team left guard for the next two games, did not play against Iowa as Padilla took his place at LG with the second-string offensive line.

Defensive Ends

Jack Sawyer: 35
JT Tuimoloau: 35
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.: 19
Caden Curry: 15
Mitchell Melton: 5
Eddrick Houston: 3

Sawyer and Tuimoloau were both on the field for every play of seven of Iowa’s first eight possessions as Ohio State relied primarily on its starting defensive ends in the base defense for a second straight game to begin Big Ten play.

Jackson and Curry joined Sawyer and Tuimoloau on the field for several third-down plays to play defensive tackle in the Buckeyes’ Rushmen package. They also played one first-half series at defensive end before returning to play more snaps at DE on Iowa’s final three drives. Melton also rotated in for occasional action at DT in the Rushmen package and in the late-game DE rotation while Houston saw his only playing time of the game on Iowa’s final possession.

Defensive Tackles

Ty Hamilton: 30
Tyleik Williams: 29
Jason Moore: 7
Hero Kanu: 5
Kayden McDonald: 5
Tywone Malone Jr.: 3

With Williams’ return to the lineup after missing two games with an undisclosed injury, Ohio State relied primarily on its starting defensive tackles against Iowa except for its Rushmen package. Kanu and McDonald were the only backup DTs to see playing time before the Hawkeyes’ final three possessions, and each of them played only five total snaps in the game. Moore took over at 3-technique for Iowa’s second- and third-to-last possessions of the game while Malone, who started in place of Williams against Michigan State, saw his only action against Iowa on the Hawkeyes’ final possession.

Linebackers

Sonny Styles: 40
Cody Simon: 38
Arvell Reese: 31
C.J. Hicks: 8
Payton Pierce: 4
Gabe Powers: Special teams only
Joey Velazquez: Special teams only

Ohio State had three linebackers on the field for a majority of its defensive plays against Iowa. Reese made his second consecutive start at Mike linebacker and played that spot for every play on which the Buckeyes had three linebackers in the game against Iowa, while he also played Mike linebacker in the base defense on Iowa’s final two possessions.

Styles was on the field for every play of Iowa’s first nine possessions while Simon was in the game for all but two of those plays; Simon played Mike in two-linebacker fronts and Will in the 4-3 defense while Styles played Will in the base defense and Sam in the 4-3.

Hicks played all of his snaps on Iowa’s final two possessions, lining up at Will alongside Reese in the base defense. He moved to Sam for four of those eight plays with Pierce joining Reese and Hicks on the field in the second-string 4-3 defense. Because Reese finished out the game at Mike, Powers did not play any defensive snaps for the first time this season.

Cornerbacks

Denzel Burke: 40
Davison Igbinosun: 38
Jordan Hancock: 17
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 12
Aaron Scott Jr.: 8
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 5
Calvin Simpson-Hunt: Special teams only

Because Ohio State used the 4-3 as its primary defense against Iowa, Hancock saw limited playing time for the second game in a row as he was on the field for only 17 defensive plays – his lowest snap count in any game since 2022.

Burke was on the field for every play of Iowa’s first nine possessions while Igbinosun was on the field for every play of Iowa’s first eight drives. Igbinosun was replaced by Mathews after hauling in his first interception of his college career, and then Scott replaced Burke one drive later. Mathews also played two snaps earlier in the game as a sixth defensive back in third-down dime packages; Styles also played one snap in the first quarter as a sixth defensive back, on which he hit Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara on a corner blitz. He also played four snaps at nickel on Iowa’s final two drives of the game.

Safeties

Caleb Downs: 40
Lathan Ransom: 40
Malik Hartford: 8
Jaylen McClain: 8
Brenten “Inky” Jones: Special teams only
Keenan Nelson Jr.: Special teams only

Ohio State played the same four safeties on defense as it has in every game so far this season against Iowa. Downs and Ransom played every snap of Ohio State’s first nine defensive series as the Buckeyes’ starting safeties while Hartford and McClain finished out the game as Ohio State’s safeties for Iowa’s final two possessions.

Extra Points

Jayden Fielding (kicker): 5
Joe McGuire (holder): 5
John Ferlmann (long snapper): 5
Will Kacmarek (wing): 5
Zen Michalski (end): 5
Josh Simmons (tackle): 5 
Austin Siereveld (guard): 5
Tegra Tshabola (guard): 5
Josh Fryar (tackle): 5
George Fitzpatrick (end): 5 
Jelani Thurman (wing): 5

Fielding made all five of his extra point attempts as the placekicking lineup was unchanged from the previous game against Michigan State. 

Kickoffs

Jayden Fielding (kicker): 6
Brenten “Inky” Jones: 6 
Jaylen McClain: 6
Gabe Powers: 6
Calvin Simpson-Hunt: 6
Patrick Gurd: 5
C.J. Hicks: 5
Keenan Nelson Jr.: 5
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 5
Joey Velazquez: 5
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 4
Kojo Antwi: 2 
Caden Curry: 2
Denzel Burke: 1
Malik Hartford: 1
Payton Pierce: 1

Fielding handled the six kickoffs against Iowa, with five of them resulting in touchbacks.

Kickoff Returns

Brandon Inniss (returner): 2 
David Adolph: 2
Kojo Antwi: 2
Denzel Burke: 2
Bennett Christian: 2
Patrick Gurd: 2 
Jaylen McClain: 2
Gabe Powers: 2
Jelani Thurman: 2 
Joey Velazquez: 2 
Arvell Reese: 1 
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 1

Ohio State made a kickoff returner change for the third straight game as Inniss resumed return duties. He replaces Egbuka, who had replaced Inniss for the Michigan State game. Jayden Ballard was Ohio State's returner for the season's first two games. 

Inniss returned one kick for 14 yards against the Hawkeyes.

Punts

Joe McGuire (punter): 2
John Ferlmann (long snapper): 2
C.J. Hicks: 2
Jayden Ballard: 1
Bennett Christian: 1
Caden Curry: 1
Caleb Downs: 1
Patrick Gurd: 1
Malik Hartford: 1 
Brenten "Inky" Jones: 1 
Jaylen McClain: 1
Mitchell Melton: 1
Gabe Powers: 1
Lathan Ransom: 1
Gee Scott Jr.: 1
Cody Simon: 1
Calvin Simpson-Hunt: 1
Sonny Styles: 1
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 1

McGuire handled punting duties for Ohio State. He was only called on twice against Iowa. He put one punt inside the 20 and had a long of 43 yards.

Punt Returns

Brandon Inniss (returner): 5
David Adolph: 3
Caden Curry: 3
Brenten "Inky" Jones: 3
Jaylen McClain: 3
Mitchell Melton: 3
Gabe Powers: 3
Arvell Reese: 3
Calvin Simpson-Hunt: 3
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 3
Denzel Burke: 2
Caleb Downs: 2
Ty Hamilton: 2
C.J. Hicks: 2
Davison Igbinosun: 2
Lathan Ransom: 2
Jack Sawyer: 2
Cody Simon: 2
Sonny Styles: 2
JT Tuimoloau: 2
Hero Kanu: 1
Joey Velazquez: 1
Tyleik Williams: 1

Inniss returned one of Iowa's five punts for three yards. For the season he has returned 12 punts for 109 yards. 

Field Goal/Extra Point Block

Denzel Burke: 1
Caden Curry: 1
Caleb Downs: 1
Ty Hamilton: 1
Jordan Hancock: 1
Malik Hartford: 1
C.J. Hicks: 1 
Davison Igbinosun: 1
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.: 1
Hero Kanu: 1
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 1
Jaylen McClain: 1
Jason Moore: 1 
Lathan Ransom: 1 
Arvell Reese: 1
Jack Sawyer: 1
Aaron Scott Jr.: 1
Cody Simon: 1
Sonny Styles: 1
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 1
JT Tuimoloau: 1
Tyleik Williams: 1

Iowa converted one extra point and missed one field goal. Ohio State used two different units – correlating with the starting defense and the second-string defense – as 22 different players were on the field to block Drew Stevens' attempts.