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LGHL Unreasonable Expectation: I expect Ohio State to go undefeated this season
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Unreasonable Expectation: I expect Ohio State to go undefeated this season
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
The Buckeyes follow up their national title season by navigating a tough schedule without a blemish in 2025.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Unreasonable Expectations. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Unreasonable Expectations here.
Just about every year, we head into the college football season thinking Ohio State is going to go undefeated, win the Big Ten, and go on to win the national championship. Thankfully, the Buckeyes were able to win the national title last year, since they haven’t been able to accomplish the other two objectives recently. The last time Ohio State went to Indianapolis and won the Big Ten Championship Game was back in 2020.
The undefeated season drought has gone on even longer, as the most recent perfect season came in 2002 when the Buckeyes capped off their perfect season with an overtime win over Miami in the BCS National Championship Game. You can also count 2012 since Urban Meyer went 12-0 in his first year in charge at Ohio State, but that season deserves an asterisk since the Buckeyes self-imposed a postseason ban following the “Tatgate” scandal.
For teams in the Power 4 conferences, there isn’t as much importance to an undefeated season now that the College Football Playoff features 12 teams, and soon will be expanding to 16 teams. Last year, Ohio State lost two games but got hot at the right time and won four playoff games to earn another national title.
There could be an argument that going undefeated, winning your conference title, and earning a bye could be more harm than good. Just look at Oregon, which lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl after the Ducks finished the regular season undefeated before beating Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/26041379/2191707499.jpg "Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential - Ohio State V Oregon")
Photo by CFP/Getty Images
Going forward, going undefeated and earning a first-round bye will likely be a bigger deal. Last season, Oregon was just unlucky to have to take on an Ohio State team they barely beat in Eugene in the regular season. Had the Ducks played any other team, they likely would have advanced to at least the semifinals.
The other bye in the playoff went to Georgia, which had to deal with losing starting quarterback Carson Beck to an injury he suffered in the SEC Championship Game. If Beck ended up playing against Notre Dame, the Bulldogs might have found enough offense to squeak by the Fighting Irish.
After stating just how meaningless going undefeated was last year for Oregon, I must be crazy for expecting Ohio State to finish the season with no blemishes on their record this year. People will probably want me to be drug-tested for picking a team with a new starting quarterback, two new running backs, new offensive and defensive coordinators, and numerous other new starters on both sides of the football not to suffer a loss this season. As if that wasn’t enough, the Buckeyes open the season against Texas, which gave Ohio State their toughest game during their title run last season.
In my opinion, the Texas game won’t even be the toughest home game for the Buckeyes this year. That’ll come in early November when Ohio State welcomes Penn State to Columbus. Despite the Nittany Lions bringing back quarterback Drew Allar, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, as well as poaching former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, the Nittany Lions still have James Franklin as their head coach.
Not only do we all know how cheeks Franklin is in big games, the Penn State head coach only has one win over Ohio State, and that only happened because the Nittany Lions blocked a field goal in the fourth quarter and returned it for a touchdown in 2016.
The sneakiest game on Ohio State’s regular season schedule this year will be on October 11th when the Buckeyes head to Champaign to take on Illinois. Bret Bielema certainly has been doing a lot of talking this offseason after his Fighting Illini squad won 10 games last season. I’m just not convinced that Illinois isn’t one of those overhyped offseason teams that fail to live up to expectations. One thing that is for certain is that Ohio State will be the toughest team Illinois will play during the regular season since the Fighting Illini don’t have to play Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, or even Iowa.
Then there is Michigan to close out the regular season. Ever since Ohio State lost to Michigan in 2021, marking their first loss to the Wolverines since 2011, each year, Buckeye Nation has been pounding their chest and claiming this year things were going to be different. Last year was the perfect opportunity to snap the losing streak to Michigan with Jim Harbaugh gone and truly awful play at quarterback from a number of players.
Unfortunately for Ohio State, Ryan Day coached down to Sherrone Moore’s level, allowing Michigan to play the game they wanted to play in the 13-10 victory for the Wolverines.
If last year’s loss didn’t show Day that he needs to do something different against Michigan, then there isn’t any hope for the Buckeye head coach when it comes to the rivalry. What made the loss even more puzzling is how Ohio State responded in the playoff.
While it’s hard to be too up in arms about the loss now that we know the Buckeyes would go on to win the national title, there was about three weeks where it was incredible stressful at trying to figure out how Ohio State would come out against Tennessee, as well as how Buckeye Nation would respond to Day and the team in the home playoff game against the Volunteers.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/26041381/2171053734.jpg "Western Michigan v Ohio State")
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
No matter what Ohio State’s record is, they are going to have a big bullseye on them in every game. That’s just what you have to deal with when you are one of the most popular teams in college football. In every game, you are going to get the best shot from your opponent. There will be games that are easy, like last year’s non-conference games against Akron and Western Michigan.
Then there will be contests that don’t go as planned,d and the result is still in doubt in the fourth quarter. The season opener against Texas is going to go a long way in telling just how tough the Buckeyes will be this year, since the game in Columbus in late August should go down to the wire like the Cotton Bowl did in January.
Despite having to replace so much on both sides of the football, the Buckeyes will be very dangerous this year. Julian Sayin was a highly-touted recruit coming out of high school at quarterback.
Running back could be interesting with James Peoples and West Virginia transfer C.J. Donaldson. Purdue transfer Max Klare is going to bring a different element at tight end this year. All this and we still haven’t even mentioned that Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate are back at wide receiver.
When it comes to the Ohio State defense, there is one name you need to know. Caleb Downs. The safety should be a top-10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Downs will have some help in returning starting cornerback Davison Igbinosun and linebackers Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese.
There are some questions the defensive line will have to answer, but there has been work done to address the depth, especially with the addition of North Carolina’s Beau Atkinson in the transfer portal. Expect some underclassmen at linebacker and in the secondary to start to make a name for themselves.
Is it unrealistic to expect a team to go perfect in a season where they are playing 15 or 16 games? It probably is these days, especially since we have seen there is more margin for error than before with the expansion of the College Football Playoff. Just look at how many Buckeye teams in the past should have gone undefeated, and they just couldn’t; the 2015 season comes to mind immediately, as well as a number of John Cooper’s teams.
A perfect way for Ohio State to reassert their dominance in college football, along with Ryan Day establishing himself as one of the best coaches in the sport, would be to follow up a national title with an undefeated season and to defend their crown.
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
The Buckeyes follow up their national title season by navigating a tough schedule without a blemish in 2025.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Unreasonable Expectations. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Unreasonable Expectations here.
Just about every year, we head into the college football season thinking Ohio State is going to go undefeated, win the Big Ten, and go on to win the national championship. Thankfully, the Buckeyes were able to win the national title last year, since they haven’t been able to accomplish the other two objectives recently. The last time Ohio State went to Indianapolis and won the Big Ten Championship Game was back in 2020.
The undefeated season drought has gone on even longer, as the most recent perfect season came in 2002 when the Buckeyes capped off their perfect season with an overtime win over Miami in the BCS National Championship Game. You can also count 2012 since Urban Meyer went 12-0 in his first year in charge at Ohio State, but that season deserves an asterisk since the Buckeyes self-imposed a postseason ban following the “Tatgate” scandal.
For teams in the Power 4 conferences, there isn’t as much importance to an undefeated season now that the College Football Playoff features 12 teams, and soon will be expanding to 16 teams. Last year, Ohio State lost two games but got hot at the right time and won four playoff games to earn another national title.
There could be an argument that going undefeated, winning your conference title, and earning a bye could be more harm than good. Just look at Oregon, which lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl after the Ducks finished the regular season undefeated before beating Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Going forward, going undefeated and earning a first-round bye will likely be a bigger deal. Last season, Oregon was just unlucky to have to take on an Ohio State team they barely beat in Eugene in the regular season. Had the Ducks played any other team, they likely would have advanced to at least the semifinals.
The other bye in the playoff went to Georgia, which had to deal with losing starting quarterback Carson Beck to an injury he suffered in the SEC Championship Game. If Beck ended up playing against Notre Dame, the Bulldogs might have found enough offense to squeak by the Fighting Irish.
After stating just how meaningless going undefeated was last year for Oregon, I must be crazy for expecting Ohio State to finish the season with no blemishes on their record this year. People will probably want me to be drug-tested for picking a team with a new starting quarterback, two new running backs, new offensive and defensive coordinators, and numerous other new starters on both sides of the football not to suffer a loss this season. As if that wasn’t enough, the Buckeyes open the season against Texas, which gave Ohio State their toughest game during their title run last season.
In my opinion, the Texas game won’t even be the toughest home game for the Buckeyes this year. That’ll come in early November when Ohio State welcomes Penn State to Columbus. Despite the Nittany Lions bringing back quarterback Drew Allar, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, as well as poaching former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, the Nittany Lions still have James Franklin as their head coach.
Not only do we all know how cheeks Franklin is in big games, the Penn State head coach only has one win over Ohio State, and that only happened because the Nittany Lions blocked a field goal in the fourth quarter and returned it for a touchdown in 2016.
The sneakiest game on Ohio State’s regular season schedule this year will be on October 11th when the Buckeyes head to Champaign to take on Illinois. Bret Bielema certainly has been doing a lot of talking this offseason after his Fighting Illini squad won 10 games last season. I’m just not convinced that Illinois isn’t one of those overhyped offseason teams that fail to live up to expectations. One thing that is for certain is that Ohio State will be the toughest team Illinois will play during the regular season since the Fighting Illini don’t have to play Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, or even Iowa.
Then there is Michigan to close out the regular season. Ever since Ohio State lost to Michigan in 2021, marking their first loss to the Wolverines since 2011, each year, Buckeye Nation has been pounding their chest and claiming this year things were going to be different. Last year was the perfect opportunity to snap the losing streak to Michigan with Jim Harbaugh gone and truly awful play at quarterback from a number of players.
Unfortunately for Ohio State, Ryan Day coached down to Sherrone Moore’s level, allowing Michigan to play the game they wanted to play in the 13-10 victory for the Wolverines.
If last year’s loss didn’t show Day that he needs to do something different against Michigan, then there isn’t any hope for the Buckeye head coach when it comes to the rivalry. What made the loss even more puzzling is how Ohio State responded in the playoff.
While it’s hard to be too up in arms about the loss now that we know the Buckeyes would go on to win the national title, there was about three weeks where it was incredible stressful at trying to figure out how Ohio State would come out against Tennessee, as well as how Buckeye Nation would respond to Day and the team in the home playoff game against the Volunteers.
No matter what Ohio State’s record is, they are going to have a big bullseye on them in every game. That’s just what you have to deal with when you are one of the most popular teams in college football. In every game, you are going to get the best shot from your opponent. There will be games that are easy, like last year’s non-conference games against Akron and Western Michigan.
Then there will be contests that don’t go as planned,d and the result is still in doubt in the fourth quarter. The season opener against Texas is going to go a long way in telling just how tough the Buckeyes will be this year, since the game in Columbus in late August should go down to the wire like the Cotton Bowl did in January.
Despite having to replace so much on both sides of the football, the Buckeyes will be very dangerous this year. Julian Sayin was a highly-touted recruit coming out of high school at quarterback.
Running back could be interesting with James Peoples and West Virginia transfer C.J. Donaldson. Purdue transfer Max Klare is going to bring a different element at tight end this year. All this and we still haven’t even mentioned that Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate are back at wide receiver.
When it comes to the Ohio State defense, there is one name you need to know. Caleb Downs. The safety should be a top-10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Downs will have some help in returning starting cornerback Davison Igbinosun and linebackers Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese.
There are some questions the defensive line will have to answer, but there has been work done to address the depth, especially with the addition of North Carolina’s Beau Atkinson in the transfer portal. Expect some underclassmen at linebacker and in the secondary to start to make a name for themselves.
Is it unrealistic to expect a team to go perfect in a season where they are playing 15 or 16 games? It probably is these days, especially since we have seen there is more margin for error than before with the expansion of the College Football Playoff. Just look at how many Buckeye teams in the past should have gone undefeated, and they just couldn’t; the 2015 season comes to mind immediately, as well as a number of John Cooper’s teams.
A perfect way for Ohio State to reassert their dominance in college football, along with Ryan Day establishing himself as one of the best coaches in the sport, would be to follow up a national title with an undefeated season and to defend their crown.
Continue reading...
LGHL You’re Nuts: Which first-year Buckeye do you have unreasonable expectations for?
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You’re Nuts: Which first-year Buckeye do you have unreasonable expectations for?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Unreasonable Expectations. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Unreasonable Expectations here.
Jeremiah Smith raised the bar for Ohio State freshmen with what he did on the field last year in his first season in the scarlet and gray. All Smith did was immediately step on the field for the Buckeyes and become one of the most dangerous wide receivers in the country. Now, Ohio State fans are trying to identify who could be the next Buckeye freshman to make an impact on the field like Smith was able to do.
With it being “Unreasonable Expectations” week here at LGHL, today we figured we’d look at the freshman who will be suiting up for Ohio State in the fall, and which one we have high hopes for. There are plenty of quality candidates who could make an immediate impact as Buckeyes, since head coach Ryan Day has put together a top-five recruiting class. Along with being loaded with new talent, with so many starters and contributors from last year’s title team having moved on to the NFL, there are plenty of roles up for grabs on this year’s team.
James Laurinaitis is making Ohio State linebackers great again. After the unit produced underwhelming results under former linebackers coaches Billy Davis and Al Washington, the former Buckeye linebacker has brought tremendous enthusiasm to the position. It also doesn’t hurt that Laurinaitis is in the conversation as one of the best linebackers in Ohio State history. Even though he has only been the team’s linebackers coach for one season, Laurinaitis was able to get the most out of Cody Simon, who was selected in April’s NFL Draft, along with helping Sonny Styles transition from safety to linebacker.
I feel like it’ll be a little easier to make an impact at linebacker as a freshman than elsewhere. With Styles returning as well as Arvell Reese, Riley Pettijohn will have a couple of dynamic linebackers ahead of him to learn from. Pettijohn arrived at Ohio State as an impressive prospect, ranking as one of the top linebackers in this year’s recruiting class. As a senior in high school in Texas, Pettijohn recorded 115 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. With the way that linebackers can get rotated into games, we could see Pettijohn’s snaps be limited this year, but the freshman is going full throttle when he is out on the field.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/26036119/usa_today_24428140.jpg "Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch")
Lori Schmidt / Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
I just feel like Pettijohn is going to be too good to keep off the field as a freshman. Iron sharpens iron. Pettijohn will be motivated by Styles, Reese, and fellow underclassman Peyton Pierce at linebacker, along with Laurinaitis as his position coach. Just by listening to Laurinaitis talk and hearing his passion for the game, I’m ready to run through walls for the former Buckeye linebacker. I can only imagine how much that is magnified for the players who are actually in meetings and practices with the two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
When it comes to a stat line, I have no idea what to expect from Pettijohn, especially since he says he is comfortable doing anything on the field, so it’s hard to know just how he’ll be utilized this year. What I am more confident about is that there will be a number of plays throughout the year that stun Buckeye Nation because they’ll fully realize just how special of a talent Pettijohn is. When it comes to an “unreasonable” expectation for Pettijohn, I’ll call my shot and say he makes college football’s Freshman All-American team this season.
Devin Sanchez comes into his freshman season with all of the recruiting pedigree you want for a future Buckeye star. He was the No. 8 player nationally according to 247Sports Composite rankings, and the No. 1 corner in the country. For decades, Ohio State has considered itself the Best In America when it comes to defensive back play, so anytime someone of Sanchez’s pedigree arrives in Columbus, the expectations are exceedingly high.
And while expectations are high for Sanchez’s career in the scarlet and gray, as a true freshman, no one is expecting him to start from Day 1. However, that has not lessened my excitement for the corner’s rookie season. With Davison Igbinosun and Jeremaine Mathews Jr. slotted into the starting spots, Sanchez will start the reason in a backup, depth position. However, I expect him to see significant playing time, perhaps working himself into a starting spot later in the season.
I imagine that he will be paired up with redshirt freshman Aaron Scott as the second team CBs, perhaps with Scott being behind Igbinosun, given his extra year of collegiate experience. Given the expectation that the Buckeyes will be able to beat most teams fairly handily this season, despite all of the roster turnover since last season’ title, both Sanchez and Scott will likely get plenty of playing time, especially early in the season, to work themselves into a position where they can make significant contributions as the weather turns colder and the games get more important.
However, it’s not impossible that Sanchez could be called upon far earlier than that. We all suffered through Iggy’s issues with penalties in 2024, and while he cleaned them up for the postseason (until the national championship game), if that problem rears its ugly head again, there could be a situation where cornerback Tim Walton and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia decide to give one of the young guys some extra time alongside Mathews (who is a junior).
If that does happen, I would personally expect Sanchez to be the guy to get the first shot. Listed at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds, the true freshman has all of the length, athleticism, and speed you want from that position. A track star in high school, he ran the 100-meter dash in 10.69 seconds.
While who knows how Patricia will modify his traditional schemes for the college game, during his time in the NFL, he relied heavily on press-man, where a guy of Sanchez’s physicality could thrive. The first-year Buckeye will likely start on the boundary side of the field, giving him the extra protection of the sideline to aid in his coverage. But with his size, he can be more physical on that side of the formation, making an instant impact.
The current Big Ten isn’t exactly known for employing pass-heavy offenses, so having elite depth at corner isn’t likely to be a game-breaker for the Buckeyes during the regular season, barring injury. However, with the expanded College Football Playoff, the speed and variety of offenses that Ohio State could play in the postseason have been greatly expanded.
So, it would behoove Patricia, Walton, and head coach Ryan Day to get young studs like Devin Sanchez ready to go early, should the need arise late. So, I expect Sanchez to not only have a solid first-year season, but for him to take those early opportunities and turn them into something substantive. I am expecting Sanchez to end the season as either an official starting cornerback, or at least someone who gets starting corner levels of snaps when the games are the most important. He is just too damn big, talented, and athletic not to end the season making major contributions to another OSU title run.
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Unreasonable Expectations. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Unreasonable Expectations here.
Jeremiah Smith raised the bar for Ohio State freshmen with what he did on the field last year in his first season in the scarlet and gray. All Smith did was immediately step on the field for the Buckeyes and become one of the most dangerous wide receivers in the country. Now, Ohio State fans are trying to identify who could be the next Buckeye freshman to make an impact on the field like Smith was able to do.
With it being “Unreasonable Expectations” week here at LGHL, today we figured we’d look at the freshman who will be suiting up for Ohio State in the fall, and which one we have high hopes for. There are plenty of quality candidates who could make an immediate impact as Buckeyes, since head coach Ryan Day has put together a top-five recruiting class. Along with being loaded with new talent, with so many starters and contributors from last year’s title team having moved on to the NFL, there are plenty of roles up for grabs on this year’s team.
Today’s question: Which first-year Buckeye do you have unreasonable expectations for this season?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Riley Pettijohn
James Laurinaitis is making Ohio State linebackers great again. After the unit produced underwhelming results under former linebackers coaches Billy Davis and Al Washington, the former Buckeye linebacker has brought tremendous enthusiasm to the position. It also doesn’t hurt that Laurinaitis is in the conversation as one of the best linebackers in Ohio State history. Even though he has only been the team’s linebackers coach for one season, Laurinaitis was able to get the most out of Cody Simon, who was selected in April’s NFL Draft, along with helping Sonny Styles transition from safety to linebacker.
I feel like it’ll be a little easier to make an impact at linebacker as a freshman than elsewhere. With Styles returning as well as Arvell Reese, Riley Pettijohn will have a couple of dynamic linebackers ahead of him to learn from. Pettijohn arrived at Ohio State as an impressive prospect, ranking as one of the top linebackers in this year’s recruiting class. As a senior in high school in Texas, Pettijohn recorded 115 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. With the way that linebackers can get rotated into games, we could see Pettijohn’s snaps be limited this year, but the freshman is going full throttle when he is out on the field.
I just feel like Pettijohn is going to be too good to keep off the field as a freshman. Iron sharpens iron. Pettijohn will be motivated by Styles, Reese, and fellow underclassman Peyton Pierce at linebacker, along with Laurinaitis as his position coach. Just by listening to Laurinaitis talk and hearing his passion for the game, I’m ready to run through walls for the former Buckeye linebacker. I can only imagine how much that is magnified for the players who are actually in meetings and practices with the two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
When it comes to a stat line, I have no idea what to expect from Pettijohn, especially since he says he is comfortable doing anything on the field, so it’s hard to know just how he’ll be utilized this year. What I am more confident about is that there will be a number of plays throughout the year that stun Buckeye Nation because they’ll fully realize just how special of a talent Pettijohn is. When it comes to an “unreasonable” expectation for Pettijohn, I’ll call my shot and say he makes college football’s Freshman All-American team this season.
Matt’s answer: Devin Sanchez
Devin Sanchez comes into his freshman season with all of the recruiting pedigree you want for a future Buckeye star. He was the No. 8 player nationally according to 247Sports Composite rankings, and the No. 1 corner in the country. For decades, Ohio State has considered itself the Best In America when it comes to defensive back play, so anytime someone of Sanchez’s pedigree arrives in Columbus, the expectations are exceedingly high.
And while expectations are high for Sanchez’s career in the scarlet and gray, as a true freshman, no one is expecting him to start from Day 1. However, that has not lessened my excitement for the corner’s rookie season. With Davison Igbinosun and Jeremaine Mathews Jr. slotted into the starting spots, Sanchez will start the reason in a backup, depth position. However, I expect him to see significant playing time, perhaps working himself into a starting spot later in the season.
I imagine that he will be paired up with redshirt freshman Aaron Scott as the second team CBs, perhaps with Scott being behind Igbinosun, given his extra year of collegiate experience. Given the expectation that the Buckeyes will be able to beat most teams fairly handily this season, despite all of the roster turnover since last season’ title, both Sanchez and Scott will likely get plenty of playing time, especially early in the season, to work themselves into a position where they can make significant contributions as the weather turns colder and the games get more important.
However, it’s not impossible that Sanchez could be called upon far earlier than that. We all suffered through Iggy’s issues with penalties in 2024, and while he cleaned them up for the postseason (until the national championship game), if that problem rears its ugly head again, there could be a situation where cornerback Tim Walton and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia decide to give one of the young guys some extra time alongside Mathews (who is a junior).
If that does happen, I would personally expect Sanchez to be the guy to get the first shot. Listed at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds, the true freshman has all of the length, athleticism, and speed you want from that position. A track star in high school, he ran the 100-meter dash in 10.69 seconds.
While who knows how Patricia will modify his traditional schemes for the college game, during his time in the NFL, he relied heavily on press-man, where a guy of Sanchez’s physicality could thrive. The first-year Buckeye will likely start on the boundary side of the field, giving him the extra protection of the sideline to aid in his coverage. But with his size, he can be more physical on that side of the formation, making an instant impact.
The current Big Ten isn’t exactly known for employing pass-heavy offenses, so having elite depth at corner isn’t likely to be a game-breaker for the Buckeyes during the regular season, barring injury. However, with the expanded College Football Playoff, the speed and variety of offenses that Ohio State could play in the postseason have been greatly expanded.
So, it would behoove Patricia, Walton, and head coach Ryan Day to get young studs like Devin Sanchez ready to go early, should the need arise late. So, I expect Sanchez to not only have a solid first-year season, but for him to take those early opportunities and turn them into something substantive. I am expecting Sanchez to end the season as either an official starting cornerback, or at least someone who gets starting corner levels of snaps when the games are the most important. He is just too damn big, talented, and athletic not to end the season making major contributions to another OSU title run.
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