Ohio State's defense receives high grades across the board on our end-of-season report card, though a few plays were left on the table for the defensive line and cornerbacks.
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Grading Ohio State's 2025 Defense Position-By-Position
The Matt Patricia experiment proved to be a smashing success for Ohio State in 2025. However, as important as schematics are, the most important element to high-quality football is high-quality players. The Buckeyes had high-quality players on their 2025 defense.
Kayden McDonald, Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs have a great chance to give the Silver Bullets a first-round 2026 NFL draft pick at every level of the defense. More All-Big Ten performers like Caden Curry and Davison Igbinosun supported them.
Ohio State finished the season with the No. 1 scoring and total defense in college football. The Buckeyes’ defense fueled a key victory over Texas to open the season and stifled almost every attack Michigan offered in The Game. Even as the offense sputtered in the Big Ten Championship Game against Indiana, the Silver Bullets battled time and again to keep a win within sight.
Miami wore down Ohio State’s front in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals and salted away a win with its running game, but that’s one of the very few blemishes on the résumé of an elite 2025 Buckeye defense. Spoiler: There are lots of As on this report card.
Defensive Line - Grade: A-
Linebackers - Grade: A
Safeties - Grade: A+
Cornerbacks - Grade: B+
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