DT Kayden McDonald (National Champion)

[billmac91]

I wasn't sure if Kayden would be a 3-down DT bc I was concerned about what he'd bring to the pass rush on 3rd downs primarily. I knew he'd be a monster on 1st and 2nd down based on his play last year.

I was 100% wrong. He can absolutely pass rush and collapse the pocket. My bad.

 

[pnuts34]

 

[ScriptOhio]

 

[brodybuck21]

Kayden McDonald​

McDonald performed a simple calculus when ripping the ball from the hands of Illinois running back Ca’Lil Valentine. (Wishing the best for Valentine, who suffered a severe knee injury on the play.)

“The running back’s there, little guy, I’m a big guy. I can easily take it away,” McDonald said. “Once I got the opportunity, I just took it.”


It’d take a lot to convince me there’s a better nose guard in college football. McDonald’s production through six games is unbelievable: 26 tackles, six tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. You just aren’t supposed to post those numbers in the dead center of the line of scrimmage.

Stock Up/Down: Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Kayden McDonald Generate Big Defensive Plays for Buckeyes, Michigan and Penn State Crash Out in Week 7

Stocks are soaring for several Buckeye defenders again after a great win at Illinois, outings that can't be taken for granted given what happened to Penn State and Michigan this weekend.

www.elevenwarriors.com

 

[brodybuck21]

Ohio State’s Arvell Reese, Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs Named AP Midseason First-Team All-Americans​

By Andy Anders on October 16, 2025 at 11:24 am @andyanders55

Five Buckeyes have earned high honors from the Associated Press at the midway point of the college football season.
Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese, safety Caleb Downs and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith were all named first-team AP midseason All-Americans on Thursday. Defensive linemen Caden Curry and Kayden McDonald took home second-team honors.
Reese has emerged as perhaps the best linebacker in college football through six games, and his recognition as a midseason first-teamer is further proof of that. He leads the Buckeyes in tackles with 38 and is second in sacks with 4.5, playing in a variety of spots on the field, including traditional off-ball linebacker, on the edge as a rusher and in the B-gap on the line of scrimmage.
Downs was a unanimous All-American in 2024, and his momentum hasn't slowed in 2025. The engine of Ohio State's defense, Downs has 28 tackles and an interception.
Smith continues to be the best receiver in college football, even if his stats have just been great and not nation-leading in 2025. He's been a major decoy for the Ohio State offense even when he's not getting the ball, freeing up other weapons for big plays. He has 40 receptions for 505 yards and seven touchdowns.

Caden Curry and Kayden McDonald have emerged as the anchors of the Ohio State defensive line at defensive end and defensive tackle, respectively. Curry has a team-high six sacks with 31 total tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss, while McDonald has racked up incredible production for a nose guard with 26 tackles, six TFLs and three sacks.
Ohio State’s five total selections are the most of any school. The Buckeyes tied Texas A&M for the most first-team selections.

Ohio State’s Arvell Reese, Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs Named AP Midseason First-Team All-Americans

The Associated Press named Arvell Reese, Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith first-team All-Americans, while Kayden McDonald and Caden Curry made the second-team.

www.elevenwarriors.com

 

[brodybuck21]

 

[billmac91]

Projected Top 20 pick in almost all mock drafts. Him and Arvell Reese are changing plans for the OSU 2026 defense…..

 

[pnuts34]

 

[Bestbuck36]

Baby Sapp getting tackled and shit on the interior and still wrecking shop like he owns the field. Love it

 

[brodybuck21]

Ohio State Defensive Tackle Kayden McDonald Producing Like No Buckeye Nose Guard Has in Recent Memory​

By Andy Anders on November 6, 2025 at 10:10 am @andyanders55

Samantha Madar / Columbus Dispatch

• OSU Football

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The Ohio State football program hasn’t seen a nose guard as disruptive and productive as Kayden McDonald since first-team All-American Johnathan Hankins terrorized opposing offensive lines in 2012.
That statement isn’t made without data to back it up. McDonald is the first Buckeye nose guard to record eight tackles in a game since Hankins did that season, and just like Hankins that year, he’s done it twice. But while the recently-retired 12-year NFL veteran did so against weaker competition in Cal and UAB, McDonald’s eight-tackle outbursts were against Texas and Penn State.
“I'm a game-wrecker,” McDonald said on Wednesday. “I find the ball very easily because of my teammates. And Coach Patricia does a great job of letting us play and not, like, have us playing one gap and just letting us let it free.”

Great defense starts in the middle. Ohio State has a great defense in 2025 – by historic standards, thus far – and a central piece of that greatness is McDonald, its monstrous nose guard.
“He's a huge part of our defense,” Ryan Day said. “We say inside out, and he's the middle of it all. He's, every day, getting better, more consistent, more experienced, more mature just in his approach, and he's a very important guy on our defense, and his production has increased as the season's gone on.”
McDonald added a seven-tackle outing at Washington to his eight-tackle ones, that game perhaps being his most dominant as he added three tackles for loss and two sacks. Each of his season totals is beyond eye-popping for a man often forced to eat double-teams in the middle of the line of scrimmage: He has 37 tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks just eight games into the season.

Ohio State Defensive Tackle Kayden McDonald Producing Like No Buckeye Nose Guard Has in Recent Memory

Kayden McDonald is putting up stats no Buckeye nose guard has in more than a decade, setting the foundation for the Silver Bullets to be the best defense in the country.

www.elevenwarriors.com

 

[brodybuck21]