Depth could be as important as it's ever been for college football’s national championship contenders in 2024.
With the eventual national championship game participants facing the possibility of playing as many as 16 or 17 games this season, Ohio State coach Ryan Day said this spring the Buckeyes need to have depth they can rely on at every position as they set their sights on winning it all.
“We're trying to build three-deep at each position,” Day said. “We used to say a pair and a spare, now we need three at each position. So we need to build depth at all positions.”
With that in mind, we assess Ohio State’s depth at every position on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. While Ohio State’s depth chart is loaded from top to bottom at some positions, such as cornerback and defensive end, there are lingering depth concerns at some other positions, particularly on the offensive line and at safety.
If you’re more interested in what we have to say about specific positions than others, here are the timestamps for where you can listen to our conversations about each position group:
- 1:03: Ohio State may have found its new punter by adding Buffalo transfer Anthony Venneri
- 4:32: Ohio State has the deepest quarterback unit among college football’s top 25 teams
- 11:37: Running backs behind TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins promising but unproven
- 18:01: Wide receiver two-deep should be loaded despite lower than ideal scholarship numbers
- 25:31: Ohio State lacks proven starter at tight end but has no shortage of options
- 31:25: Tackle depth among multiple offensive line concerns with no post-spring transfer addition
- 38:49: Kayden McDonald, Jason Moore, Hero Kanu among promising defensive tackle depth
- 43:17: Ohio State should have elite three-deep at defensive end
- 45:18: For a 4-2-5 defense, Ohio State has plenty of depth at linebacker
- 49:09: Cornerback is Ohio State’s strongest position group from top to bottom
- 53:20: Safety depth will be major question mark if Ohio State doesn’t land a veteran transfer
- 1:00:11: Overall, Ohio State’s defensive depth should be the best in the country
You can watch this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays in the video at the top of the page. RPW is also available on podcast streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and in the audio player below.
