The second Buckeye who made the list might also surprise you: Walk-on defensive back Brenten “Inky” Jones, who’s ranked 29th. Feldman wrote that Smith and former Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles, who was ranked 10th on last year’s list, both stumped for Jones to be on the list – and his workout numbers this offseason backed that up. At 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds, Jones was clocked at 23.52 miles per hour with a 1.47-second 10-yard split this offseason, while he also broad jumped 11 feet, bench pressed 385 pounds and squatted 555.
While Jones has yet to see any defensive playing time in his Ohio State career, he’s played 150 snaps on special teams over the last three years and could be in line for a bigger role in that phase of the game as a fifth-year senior. He also ran with the second-team defense at cornerback in the first week of preseason camp, though he’s unlikely to be higher than fifth or sixth on the CB depth chart.
