Josh Dooley
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You’re Nuts: Bold Predictions - Freshmen edition
Josh Dooley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Five-star 2024 DE Eddrick Houston
Making some bold predictions about Ohio State’s freshman class.
As preseason camp begins this week, Land-Grant Holy Land is diving into its final theme every week of the off-season. This week is all about making predictions that may or may not be reasonable, in fact, some might say they are bold. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Bold Predictions” articles here.
Everybody knows that one of the best parts of being a sports fan is debating and dissecting the most (and least) important questions in the sporting world with your friends. So, we’re bringing that to the pages of LGHL with our favorite head-to-head column: You’re Nuts.
In You’re Nuts, two LGHL staff members will take differing sides of one question and argue their opinions passionately. Then, in the end, it’s up to you to determine who’s right and who’s nuts.
This week is all about Bold Predictions here at LGHL, which means that you are likely going to hear conjecture, prognostications, and hot takes (yes, I did use a thesaurus) that range from good to bad to downright embarrassing. Personally, I subscribe to the methodology of “go big or go home,” so many of my predictions tend to be of the absolute boldest variety. As a result, well... Let’s just say that I have ended up on the wrong side of history a time or two in my day.
Including last year, when Gene and I made predictions – also in late July – about or pertaining to Ohio State football’s incoming freshman class. I won’t include a link here because it’s just not necessary, but last July, I predicted that tight end Jelani Thurman would carve out a significant role in the Buckeyes’ offense. He, of course, would go on to post a 2/18/0 stat line. Gene, on the other hand, predicted that Jermaine Matthews Jr. would become an instant contributor in or to OSU’s secondary, something that 100% came to fruition.
While I would still argue that Thurman hasa higher as high of a ceiling (as Matthews Jr.), it is quite clear that I took the L when attempting to predict an impact freshman in 2023. But I am nothing if not persistent, so when Gene asked if I wanted to run it back in 2024, I said “Hell yes!”
**We are ignoring Jeremiah Smith only for the purposes of this piece. Because... Well, you know why. He is in a category of his own.**
However, with so many experienced (and accomplished) Buckeyes returning this season, identifying a freshman who will or even might contribute right away seemed like a daunting task. Which is why I didn’t even bother. Instead, I played – or am attempting to play – the long game.
The 2024 season, if all goes well for Ohio State, will be a long one. Longer than any season in college football history, in fact. Meaning that if a freshman doesn’t contribute during Week 1 against Akron, there will still be anywhere from 11 to 16 more opportunities to do so! For that reason, I did not feel compelled to choose an Eddrick Houston, Aaron Scott, or James Peoples for the sake of this argument — a trio that I believe could see the field early and often for OSU.
Instead, my bold prediction is that a player who just joined the Buckeyes in June will eventually make a positive and tangible impact for this year’s squad, at the same position as Smith. His name is Mylan Graham.
Graham was a summer enrollee at Ohio State, after choosing to play basketball and finish his senior year of high school as scheduled. Which is completely normal and not deserving of any sort of criticism. However, in doing so, Graham “delayed” (but not really) the start of his OSU career while several other freshmen enrolled in January and participated in spring practice.
But I would argue that Graham isn’t your typical incoming freshman. Because he was a five-star recruit in the 2024 class, finishing No. 33 overall in the consensus rankings. As such, his acclimation period to the college game might be shorter than that of (most of) his peers.
On top of being supremely talented, Graham is joining a Buckeye wide receiver group that is not as deep as in years past. Or at least not as proven. Sure, Emeka Egbuka is a star, but no other WR on Ohio State’s roster has more than 18 career catches. While I wouldn’t say that depth is a concern because in Brian Hartline we trust, the lack of proven commodities is worth mentioning. And said lack of proven commodities opens the door for a player with Graham’s route running and YAC skills.
As I mentioned earlier, I don’t expect Graham to contribute right away. It just doesn’t seem feasible given the fact that he basically arrived in Columbus yesterday. But I do believe that come October, he will be no lower than WR5 on the Buckeyes’ depth chart. And by season’s end, I expect him to move up to WR4.
Now, I won’t say who I expect Graham to supplant. Nor will I put an injury into the atmosphere. But I want to wrap this up by predicting that Graham will finish the 2024 season with at least 19 receptions, which would be the most by an OSU freshman since Garrett Wilson’s 30 in 2019... If not for Graham’s teammate.
Because I also predict that Graham will finish well behind Smith (in receptions). But that’s neither here nor there. My main point is that I believe Graham will exceed expectations this season. And that would be a nice start.
Not only did I not remember that I chose Jermaine Mathews Jr. as my breakout freshman for this exercise last season (for which I will happily pat myself on the back for since Mathews is a dog, even if he wasn’t atop the depth chart) but I didn’t even remember that we had done a similar topic almost a year ago to the date. We are nothing if not consistent here at Land-Grant Holy Land.
It is a fun topic to discuss and attempt to predict annually, as Ohio State routinely brings in a top-five class nationally with a large handful of players who could make instant impacts. In fact, the vast majority of prospects that sign with the Buckeyes would likely start immediately at most programs across the country. However, when you are as loaded with talent as the team in Columbus, it is harder to see the field right away, regardless of your star rating out of high school.
That being said, Josh and I decided to leave Jeremiah Smith off the board for this exercise — for obvious reasons. I don't know if you could make a prediction about the nation’s top wide receiver that would even be considered bold. Would it be considered all that crazy to say that Smith could eclipse 1,000 yards in his freshman season? The biggest campaign for a first-year player at the position in recent memory was Garrett Wilson’s 432 yards and five touchdowns, so it would be quite the tall task. Still, I don't think anything is out of reach for the 6-foot-3 freshman phenom.
However, in the spirit of this exercise, I will be taking my bold prediction elsewhere. With so many of Ohio State’s best player’s from last season returning, there are really only a select few members of the 2024 class that will have a real chance to make an impact right away. While he won’t be even in the top two at his position on the depth chart to begin the season, I think that Eddrick Houston will be one of those guys. In fact, I am going to body predict that Houston will rank among the Buckeyes’ leaders in sacks by year’s end.
Ohio State returns both starting defensive ends in Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau, both of whom could have elected to test the NFL Draft waters but elected to run it back in search of a national title. While the pair are both former five-star prospects and have shown flashes of dominance, neither has really showed out in the sacks department. Tuimoloau had a career-high five sacks in 2023, while Sawyer had a career-high 6.5 — three of which came in the bowl game against Missouri.
Those two guys each played over 600 snaps for the Buckeyes last season. Only two other players saw more than 100 snaps at the position in Kenyatta Jackson Jr. (176) and Caden Curry (166), with the rising juniors having recorded 1.5 sacks and 2.0 sacks total in their first two years on campus, respectively. There hasn’t been a ton of production at defensive end overall for Ohio State, and while the lack of a rotation is largely (and likely almost exclusively) to blame, guys not named Sawyer and Tuimoloau have yet to make much of an impact.
In this new era of the 12-team College Football Playoff, keeping your players fresh will be more important than ever. With the potential to play up to 17 games in a season — 12 regular season games, conference title game, and four CFP games — Ohio State cannot afford for its two starting defensive ends to play something like 800 snaps. Larry Johnson will need to rotate at least four guys at the two spots, and likely more behind that. Outside of the four already mentioned, Houston will be the next man up, and could play his way into a true No. 2 spot by midseason.
Houston will get the bulk of the reps late in blowouts, and as a five-star freshman as the No. 7 DL and No. 26 player nationally in the 2024 class, the 6-foot-3 edge rusher appears ready to go right out of the gate. His combination of size, speed and athleticism will make him an immediate presence, and early on he will be getting to match up late in games against offensive tackles that have been worn down through the first two or three quarters against Sawyer, Tuimoloau and Co. As such, Houston will get a chance to pad those sack totals.
I don't think he is going to steal anyone’s starting job, but I could easily see Houston racking up somewhere in the neighborhood of five to seven sacks this season, taking advantage of favorable late-game matchups and earning himself a spot on the two-deep by the end of the season. It is going to be critical that Ohio State gets more out of its defensive line in 2024, and as another five-star player added to the mix, Houston will have a chance to cement himself at the position moving forward with the starting duo set to go pro next year.
Continue reading...
Josh Dooley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Five-star 2024 DE Eddrick Houston
Making some bold predictions about Ohio State’s freshman class.
As preseason camp begins this week, Land-Grant Holy Land is diving into its final theme every week of the off-season. This week is all about making predictions that may or may not be reasonable, in fact, some might say they are bold. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Bold Predictions” articles here.
Everybody knows that one of the best parts of being a sports fan is debating and dissecting the most (and least) important questions in the sporting world with your friends. So, we’re bringing that to the pages of LGHL with our favorite head-to-head column: You’re Nuts.
In You’re Nuts, two LGHL staff members will take differing sides of one question and argue their opinions passionately. Then, in the end, it’s up to you to determine who’s right and who’s nuts.
This week’s topic: Bold Predictions: Freshmen edition
Josh’s Take
This week is all about Bold Predictions here at LGHL, which means that you are likely going to hear conjecture, prognostications, and hot takes (yes, I did use a thesaurus) that range from good to bad to downright embarrassing. Personally, I subscribe to the methodology of “go big or go home,” so many of my predictions tend to be of the absolute boldest variety. As a result, well... Let’s just say that I have ended up on the wrong side of history a time or two in my day.
Including last year, when Gene and I made predictions – also in late July – about or pertaining to Ohio State football’s incoming freshman class. I won’t include a link here because it’s just not necessary, but last July, I predicted that tight end Jelani Thurman would carve out a significant role in the Buckeyes’ offense. He, of course, would go on to post a 2/18/0 stat line. Gene, on the other hand, predicted that Jermaine Matthews Jr. would become an instant contributor in or to OSU’s secondary, something that 100% came to fruition.
While I would still argue that Thurman has
**We are ignoring Jeremiah Smith only for the purposes of this piece. Because... Well, you know why. He is in a category of his own.**
However, with so many experienced (and accomplished) Buckeyes returning this season, identifying a freshman who will or even might contribute right away seemed like a daunting task. Which is why I didn’t even bother. Instead, I played – or am attempting to play – the long game.
The 2024 season, if all goes well for Ohio State, will be a long one. Longer than any season in college football history, in fact. Meaning that if a freshman doesn’t contribute during Week 1 against Akron, there will still be anywhere from 11 to 16 more opportunities to do so! For that reason, I did not feel compelled to choose an Eddrick Houston, Aaron Scott, or James Peoples for the sake of this argument — a trio that I believe could see the field early and often for OSU.
Instead, my bold prediction is that a player who just joined the Buckeyes in June will eventually make a positive and tangible impact for this year’s squad, at the same position as Smith. His name is Mylan Graham.
Graham was a summer enrollee at Ohio State, after choosing to play basketball and finish his senior year of high school as scheduled. Which is completely normal and not deserving of any sort of criticism. However, in doing so, Graham “delayed” (but not really) the start of his OSU career while several other freshmen enrolled in January and participated in spring practice.
But I would argue that Graham isn’t your typical incoming freshman. Because he was a five-star recruit in the 2024 class, finishing No. 33 overall in the consensus rankings. As such, his acclimation period to the college game might be shorter than that of (most of) his peers.
On top of being supremely talented, Graham is joining a Buckeye wide receiver group that is not as deep as in years past. Or at least not as proven. Sure, Emeka Egbuka is a star, but no other WR on Ohio State’s roster has more than 18 career catches. While I wouldn’t say that depth is a concern because in Brian Hartline we trust, the lack of proven commodities is worth mentioning. And said lack of proven commodities opens the door for a player with Graham’s route running and YAC skills.
As I mentioned earlier, I don’t expect Graham to contribute right away. It just doesn’t seem feasible given the fact that he basically arrived in Columbus yesterday. But I do believe that come October, he will be no lower than WR5 on the Buckeyes’ depth chart. And by season’s end, I expect him to move up to WR4.
Now, I won’t say who I expect Graham to supplant. Nor will I put an injury into the atmosphere. But I want to wrap this up by predicting that Graham will finish the 2024 season with at least 19 receptions, which would be the most by an OSU freshman since Garrett Wilson’s 30 in 2019... If not for Graham’s teammate.
Because I also predict that Graham will finish well behind Smith (in receptions). But that’s neither here nor there. My main point is that I believe Graham will exceed expectations this season. And that would be a nice start.
Gene’s Take
Not only did I not remember that I chose Jermaine Mathews Jr. as my breakout freshman for this exercise last season (for which I will happily pat myself on the back for since Mathews is a dog, even if he wasn’t atop the depth chart) but I didn’t even remember that we had done a similar topic almost a year ago to the date. We are nothing if not consistent here at Land-Grant Holy Land.
It is a fun topic to discuss and attempt to predict annually, as Ohio State routinely brings in a top-five class nationally with a large handful of players who could make instant impacts. In fact, the vast majority of prospects that sign with the Buckeyes would likely start immediately at most programs across the country. However, when you are as loaded with talent as the team in Columbus, it is harder to see the field right away, regardless of your star rating out of high school.
That being said, Josh and I decided to leave Jeremiah Smith off the board for this exercise — for obvious reasons. I don't know if you could make a prediction about the nation’s top wide receiver that would even be considered bold. Would it be considered all that crazy to say that Smith could eclipse 1,000 yards in his freshman season? The biggest campaign for a first-year player at the position in recent memory was Garrett Wilson’s 432 yards and five touchdowns, so it would be quite the tall task. Still, I don't think anything is out of reach for the 6-foot-3 freshman phenom.
However, in the spirit of this exercise, I will be taking my bold prediction elsewhere. With so many of Ohio State’s best player’s from last season returning, there are really only a select few members of the 2024 class that will have a real chance to make an impact right away. While he won’t be even in the top two at his position on the depth chart to begin the season, I think that Eddrick Houston will be one of those guys. In fact, I am going to body predict that Houston will rank among the Buckeyes’ leaders in sacks by year’s end.
Ohio State returns both starting defensive ends in Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau, both of whom could have elected to test the NFL Draft waters but elected to run it back in search of a national title. While the pair are both former five-star prospects and have shown flashes of dominance, neither has really showed out in the sacks department. Tuimoloau had a career-high five sacks in 2023, while Sawyer had a career-high 6.5 — three of which came in the bowl game against Missouri.
Those two guys each played over 600 snaps for the Buckeyes last season. Only two other players saw more than 100 snaps at the position in Kenyatta Jackson Jr. (176) and Caden Curry (166), with the rising juniors having recorded 1.5 sacks and 2.0 sacks total in their first two years on campus, respectively. There hasn’t been a ton of production at defensive end overall for Ohio State, and while the lack of a rotation is largely (and likely almost exclusively) to blame, guys not named Sawyer and Tuimoloau have yet to make much of an impact.
In this new era of the 12-team College Football Playoff, keeping your players fresh will be more important than ever. With the potential to play up to 17 games in a season — 12 regular season games, conference title game, and four CFP games — Ohio State cannot afford for its two starting defensive ends to play something like 800 snaps. Larry Johnson will need to rotate at least four guys at the two spots, and likely more behind that. Outside of the four already mentioned, Houston will be the next man up, and could play his way into a true No. 2 spot by midseason.
Houston will get the bulk of the reps late in blowouts, and as a five-star freshman as the No. 7 DL and No. 26 player nationally in the 2024 class, the 6-foot-3 edge rusher appears ready to go right out of the gate. His combination of size, speed and athleticism will make him an immediate presence, and early on he will be getting to match up late in games against offensive tackles that have been worn down through the first two or three quarters against Sawyer, Tuimoloau and Co. As such, Houston will get a chance to pad those sack totals.
I don't think he is going to steal anyone’s starting job, but I could easily see Houston racking up somewhere in the neighborhood of five to seven sacks this season, taking advantage of favorable late-game matchups and earning himself a spot on the two-deep by the end of the season. It is going to be critical that Ohio State gets more out of its defensive line in 2024, and as another five-star player added to the mix, Houston will have a chance to cement himself at the position moving forward with the starting duo set to go pro next year.
Continue reading...