Snap Counts: Ohio State Starters Play Full Game for First Time in 2024 in Oregon Loss

While the Buckeyes earned blowout wins in each of their first five games of the season, their sixth game of the year came down to the final play. The clock hit zeroes as Will Howard slid on a 12-yard run up the middle in an attempt to set up a game-winning field goal, and Ohio State took its first loss of the season back to Columbus while Oregon fans stormed the Autzen Stadium field in celebration.

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Because the Buckeyes’ starters played through the end of the fourth quarter for the first time all season, all of Ohio State’s starters except offensive linemen Josh Simmons and Tegra Tshabla – both of whom suffered injuries in the first half – played season-high snap counts against Oregon. Conversely, Ohio State used a season-low 51 players in the game as 20 total players saw action on offense, another 20 played on defense and 11 played on special teams only. Twenty-two players who made the trip to Oregon never entered the game.

Our full breakdown of how many snaps each Buckeye played at each position against Oregon, using data from Pro Football Focus’ premium statistics, can be found below. Special teams snap counts will be added when that data becomes available.

Quarterbacks

Will Howard: 69

Howard played every snap of the game at quarterback for the first time this season. He completed a career-high 28 passes on a season-high 35 attempts for 326 yards, the second-highest total of his collegiate career. He also ran the ball for 13 yards and a touchdown – his fifth in as many games – on nine carries, one of which was a nine-yard loss for the only sack of the game.

Running Backs

TreVeyon Henderson: 42
Quinshon Judkins: 28

Henderson played his highest snap count of the season as he played 50% more snaps than Judkins in their running back timeshare. Judkins still ended up with one more touch than Henderson, carrying the ball 11 times for 23 yards and a touchdown and adding two receptions for 38 yards. Henderson was the Buckeyes’ more productive runner, gaining 87 yards on 10 carries – highlighted by a 53-yard gain on the final play of the first quarter – along with two catches for four yards.

TreVeyon Henderson breaks free for 55 yards.@TreVeyonH4 x @OhioStateFB#B1GFootball on NBC pic.twitter.com/VFrvLZHwc9

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 13, 2024

Wide Receivers

Jeremiah Smith: 63
Emeka Egbuka: 62
Carnell Tate: 61
Brandon Inniss: 6
David Adolph: 1
Bryson Rodgers: Special teams only 

Ohio State leaned primarily on its starting wide receivers against Oregon as Smith was on the field for all but six offensive plays, Egbuka for all but seven and Tate for all but eight. They were also the only three wide receivers to catch passes against the Ducks; Smith had nine catches for 100 yards and a touchdown, Egbuka had 10 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown and Tate had one reception for 13 yards.

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Inniss was the only backup wide receiver to play multiple snaps. Adolph, a former walk-on who was placed on scholarship this summer, got in the game for one play in the second quarter and helped lead the way for Judkins to run for a 2nd-and-3 conversion with a 5-yard gain.

Tight Ends

Gee Scott Jr.: 55
Bennett Christian: 20
Will Kacmarek: 3
Jelani Thurman: 2
Patrick Gurd: 2

Scott played a career-high 55 snaps against Oregon as he was on the field for all but 14 offensive plays against the Ducks. That extended usage – on which Scott caught three passes for 46 yards, also a career-high – came in part because Kacmarek suffered an apparent arm injury while making a 32-yard catch on the game’s opening drive; Kacmarek did not return to the game.

Christian served as Ohio State’s No. 2 tight end for the remainder of the game and played a career-high 20 snaps in that role. Thurman and Gurd each played two snaps in multi-tight end formations with Gurd lining up as the fullback in between Henderson and Judkins in the T-formation on a 1-yard touchdown run and a 4th-and-2 conversion by Judkins, both in the second quarter.

Offensive Linemen

Donovan Jackson: 69
Seth McLaughlin: 69
Josh Fryar: 69
Zen Michalski: 46
Tegra Tshabola: 39
Austin Siereveld: 30
Josh Simmons: 23
George Fitzpatrick: Special teams only

Michalski saw the first major playing time of his Ohio State career as he took over at left tackle for the remainder of the game after Simmons went down in the second quarter with an apparent knee injury that’s expected to be season-ending.

Tshabola made his sixth consecutive start at right guard but missed the entire second quarter after going down with an injury on the final play of the first quarter. Tshabola returned to action in the second half after Siereveld replaced him for the second quarter, with Siereveld also seeing some second-half snaps in place of Tshabola for a total of 30 plays at RG.

Jackson, McLaughlin and Fryar all played season-high snap counts as they played a full four quarters for the first time this season.

Defensive Ends

Jack Sawyer: 59
JT Tuimoloau: 55
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.: 17
Caden Curry: 12
Mitchell Melton: 9

Sawyer and Tuimoloau each played their highest snap counts of the season to date as Sawyer was on the field for all but nine of Ohio State’s defensive plays while Tuimoloau was in the game for all but 13 of them.

Jackson, Curry and Melton each mixed in for occasional playing time in the defensive end rotation to spell Sawyer and Tuimoloau over the course of the game, while Curry and Jackson also joined Tuimoloau and Sawyer on the field for numerous third-down plays on which the Buckeyes deployed their four-defensive end Rushmen package.

Defensive Tackles

Tyleik Williams: 52
Ty Hamilton: 50
Kayden McDonald: 11
Jason Moore: 5
Hero Kanu: 3

Williams played a season-high 52 snaps while Hamilton played a career-high 50 snaps as Ohio State leaned primarily on its starting defensive tackles against Oregon. McDonald, who occasionally rotated in for Hamilton, was the only backup defensive tackle to play double-digit snaps.

Moore got the nod over Tywone Malone to spell Williams for five plays at 3-technique. Kanu played three goal-line plays as a third defensive tackle in the Buckeyes’ Bear front.

Linebackers

Cody Simon: 68
Sonny Styles: 68
C.J. Hicks: 4
Arvell Reese: 4
Gabe Powers: Special teams only
Joey Velazquez: Special teams only

Ohio State did not rotate at all at linebacker in its base defense against Oregon as Simon and Styles were both on the field for every defensive snap. Both players set new career-highs for tackles in the game as Simon tallied 10 tackles while Styles recorded nine.

Hicks and Reese both played four snaps near the goal line on which the Buckeyes had four linebackers on the field. Neither of them recorded a tackle.

Cornerbacks

Denzel Burke: 64
Davison Igbinosun: 64
Jordan Hancock: 64
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 3
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: Special teams only
Calvin Simpson-Hunt: Special teams only

Burke, Igbinosun and Hancock were all on the field for every play except for the four snaps on which the Buckeyes took all of their cornerbacks off the field for Hicks, Reese and a third defensive tackle. Although Burke had the worst game of his Ohio State career, allowing eight catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns per PFF, the Buckeyes never subbed him out of the game.

Styles entered the game for three plays as a sixth defensive back in Ohio State’s 3-2-6 dime package.

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Safeties

Caleb Downs: 68
Lathan Ransom: 68
Brenten "Inky" Jones: Special teams only
Jaylen McClain: Special teams only

Downs and Ransom played every game of the snap as Ohio State’s two starting safeties. Downs recorded eight tackles with one tackle for loss and two pass breakups while Ransom had six tackles.