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- Thread starter brodybuck21
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DT Kayden McDonald, 80 OVR
An 80 overall isn’t a bad rating, but the largest man on Ohio State’s defense is primed to feast in 2025.McDonald, a 6-foot-3, 326-pound nose guard with an unnaturally quick first step at that size, managed to turn heads despite playing behind the stalwart defensive tackle tandem of Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton in 2024. McDonald may well have been the Buckeyes’ most valuable subpackage defender last year, a central cog in what probably goes down as the best goal-line defense in team history. He’d play head-up on opposing centers in such looks, and made his presence felt on plays like this 3rd-and-goal against Penn State:
“That was probably my favorite moment (of the season),” McDonald said after the season. “I just wanted to win that game and be ready when my number was called. No matter how many plays you get, it’s up to you when they call your name, so that’s how I go about it.”
McDonald played plenty of spot duty, too, logging 214 snaps, the most of Ohio State’s defensive tackles outside Hamilton and Williams, who are both off to the NFL. He collected 19 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in that time. Set to start at nose guard for the Buckeyes in 2025, McDonald has already shown that 80 overall could be far too low.
Kayden McDonald, Payton Pierce Among Most Underrated Buckeyes in EA Sports College Football 26
Kayden McDonald and Payton Pierce are among Ohio State's most underrated players in the new EA Sports college football video game.
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I'll be damned if he doesn't actually start looking like Sapp more and more.
Gonna be a big year
Gonna be a big year
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Skull Session: Ryan Day is a Ranked Warrior, Arvell Reese is a Freak of Nature and Jermaine Mathews Jr. Says Ohio State Runs Through the SEC
Ryan Day is a ranked warrior, Arvell Reese is a freak of nature, Jermaine Mathews Jr. says Ohio State runs through the SEC and Paul Finebaum eats crow.
WE SEE YOU, SLIM MAC. We all know how well Reese and Mathews played against Texas, but do we all know how well Kayden McDonald played? I’m not so sure. Allow me to make the case that McDonald had Ohio State’s most underrated performance in the season opener.
Last season, McDonald was Ohio State’s No. 3 defensive tackle behind future first-round pick Tyleik Williams and future fifth-round pick Ty Hamilton, and he collected 19 tackles across 16 appearances.
On Saturday, McDonald had nine tackles.
As a nose tackle!
Against the No. 1 team in the nation!
McDonald’s performance was special. It becomes even more special when you remember Ohio State’s depth concerns at defensive tackle, especially with Jason Moore out for the game with a lower-leg injury.
Like with Reese, however, Ohio State’s coaches and players tried to tell us about McDonald — heck, McDonald tried to tell us about McDonald!
“It started in the offseason, fixing my diet, getting my weight down, having Coach Mick (Marotti) on me every day,” McDonald said in August of his offseason transformation as he prepared for a starting role. “I just kept working.”
His work paid off in the season opener. He hopes it will next week, too.
“We worked really hard in the offseason. It showed today,” McDonald said after the game. “We just got to keep building off of it and just keep going.”
Just sayin': Here is another guy on defense (that nobody has mentioned much about yet) that really stepped up his game Saturday.
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