Ty Hamilton, Jack Sawyer and Tyleik Williams Lead Pro Football Focus’ Highest-Graded Ohio State Players Against Iowa

According to Pro Football Focus, the three highest-graded players from the Buckeyes’ 35-7 win over the Hawkeyes were all defensive linemen: Ty Hamilton, Jack Sawyer and Tyleik Williams.

Which Buckeyes had the best game in the team's victory over Iowa? While we have our opinion of who performed the best and you likely have your favorites, another such set of opinions comes from Pro Football Focus, which grades every player after every game based on how they perform on a snap-to-snap basis.

If you have ever questioned PFF's ratings, you're not alone. Below is the answer Ryan Day gave when asked, “How do you feel about that being the front-facing grade for how college football players play in a game?”

I think it all comes down to who's actually doing the grading and if it's accurate, great. But I think it's hard sometimes for them (PFF) to know exactly what their (the player's) job responsibilty was. That being said, I think generally it's in the ballpark, but I don't know if somebody who doesn't really know what's expected on a certain play is going to give the same grade as a position coach who knows exactly what's going on. So that's kind of my take on it.

With that being said, we compiled the PFF grades for every Buckeye who played on either offense or defense in the Big Ten opener and highlight the five highest-graded players who played at least 10 snaps against Iowa.

1. DT Ty Hamilton (91.3)

PFF graded Hamilton with the nation's best performance among defensive tackles for Week 6. His pass-rushing grade of 89.4 was the highest among Buckeye defenders. Boosting Hamilton's team-best grade was his strip sack of Cade McNamara on the first play of the fourth quarter. The ball was recovered by Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and set up Ohio State's final score of the 35-7 victory. 

For the third straight drive, the Ohio State defense creates a takeaway.

This time, it's two plays into an Iowa series, and DT Ty Hamilton records a strip sack.

DE Kenyatta Jackson Jr. recovers the fumble. Great field position for the #Buckeyes. pic.twitter.com/L5UjIyJjmz

— Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom) October 5, 2024

2. DE Jack Sawyer (89.3)

PFF graded Sawyer eighth among the nation's defensive ends in Week 6 for his play against the Hawkeyes. Like Hamilton, Sawyer also had a strip sack of McNamara. Sawyer's forced fumble to end Iowa's first possession of the second half was recovered by Cody Simon and led to Will Howard's 4-yard touchdown run to give Ohio State a 21-0 lead. His grade of 89.3 is a season-high for the defensive end, surpassing his Western Michigan grade of 85.2. 

RELATED Breaking Down Will Howard’s Performance vs. Iowa 

3. DT Tyleik Williams (86.6)

After two weeks off for recovery, Williams earns a spot in PFF's Top 5 Buckeyes for the first time since the season-opening win over Akron. He played 29 snaps and earned the highest run defense grade (84.6) of any Buckeye against the Hawkeyes. 

4. WR Emeka Egbuka (76.3)

Egbuka led the team with nine catches on 11 targets. His three-touchdown performance marked the first time a Buckeye had three receiving touchdowns in the same game since Marvin Harrison Jr. did it against Michigan State in 2022. Egbuka is only the 12th Ohio State player to record three receiving touchdowns in a single game.

4. C Seth McClaughlin (76.3)

For the first time this season, we have a tie among the top five Buckeyes as McClaughlin and Egbuka tied for fourth. The center received an 83.6 grade in pass blocking against the Hawkeyes.

Offensive Ratings By Position

Quarterbacks

Will Howard: 72.7 (61 snaps)
Devin Brown: 69.7 (5 snaps)

Running Backs

Quinshon Judkins: 72.8 (32 snaps)
James Peoples: 71.1 (5 snaps)
TreVeyon Henderson: 69.1 (26 snaps)

Wide Receivers

Emeka Egbuka: 76.3 (56 snaps)
Jeremiah Smith: 72.2 (57 snaps)
Brandon Inniss: 65.1 (22 snaps)
Jayden Ballard: 59.9 (4 snaps)
Bryson Rodgers: 55.9 (40 snaps)

Tight Ends

Jelani Thurman: 62.5 (7 snaps)
Will Kacmarek: 61.7 (24 snaps)
Patrick Gurd: 59.7 (3 snaps)
Bennett Christian: 58.6 (13 snaps)
Gee Scott Jr.: 52.5 (41 snaps)

Offensive Line

Seth McLaughlin: 76.3 (63 snaps)
Donovan Jackson: 71.3 (63 snaps)
Josh Simmons: 70.4 (63 snaps)
Tegra Tshabola: 69.3 (63 snaps)
Josh Fryar: 67.9 (63 snaps)
George Fitzpatrick: 60.0 (3 snaps)
Carson Hinzman: 60.0 (3 snaps)
Joshua Padilla: 59.8 (3 snaps)
Austin Siereveld: 59.3 (3 snaps)
Zen Michalski: 59.1 (3 snaps)

Defensive Ratings by Position

Defensive Ends

Jack Sawyer: 89.3 (35 snaps)
JT Tuimoloau: 70.6 (35 snaps)
Caden Curry: 63.1 (15 snaps)
Eddrick Houston: 59.8 (3 snaps)
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.: 56.5 (19 snaps)
Mitchell Melton: 46.6 (5 snaps)

Defensive Tackles

Ty Hamilton: 91.3 (30 snaps)
Tyleik Williams: 86.6 (29 snaps)
Kayden McDonald: 78.2 (5 snaps)
Hero Kanu: 51.4 (5 snaps)
Jason Moore: 41.6 (7 snaps)
Tywone Malone Jr.: 37.8 (3 snaps)

Linebackers

C.J. Hicks: 80.6 (8 snaps)
Sonny Styles: 75.2 (40 snaps)
Cody Simon: 70.2 (38 snaps)
Payton Pierce: 65.0 (4 snaps)
Arvell Reese: 55.1 (31 snaps)

Cornerbacks

Davison Igbinosun: 71.1 (38 snaps)
Denzel Burke: 65.5 (40 snaps)
Aaron Scott Jr.: 65.5 (8 snaps)
Jordan Hancock: 64.2 (17 snaps)
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 62.5 (12 snaps)
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 57.7 (5 snaps)

Safeties

Caleb Downs: 72.7 (40 snaps)
Lathan Ransom: 65.2 (40 snaps)
Jaylen McClain: 64.4 (8 snaps)
Malik Hartford: 63.8 (8 snaps)