COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day spoke at Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday as the Buckeyes are just a little over a month away from kicking off the 2024-25 season.
Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, cornerback Denzel Burke and defensive end Jack Sawyer are all expected to be in attendance, joining Day for the media days. Egbuka was one of four Buckeyes to earn Big Ten Preseason Honors on Tuesday as well.
The Buckeyes are coming off back-to-back seasons of losing to Michigan and their bowl game.
Ohio State has plenty of quarterbacks to pick from this season but former Kansas State QB Will Howard is expected to get the nod as the starter.
Among the other contenders are: Devin Brown who was hurt in last year's 14-3 loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl, top high school recruits Air Noland and Julian Sayin, the latter of whom was lured away from Alabama after coach Nick Saban retired and Lincoln Kienholz, another QB who had a rough outing in last year's Cotton Bowl.
Despite losing some talent to the NFL draft, mainly star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State has a lot of players returning.
No. 1 running back TreVeyon Henderson put off the draft to play at Ohio Stadium another season after injuries affected his production in the last two. The addition of 1,000-yard rusher Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss should give the Buckeyes one of the best backfield tandems in college football.
The offensive line, which returns four starters, took much of the blame for Ohio State finishing 87th in the nation in rushing yards (138.8 per game). The Buckeyes will get some help in new center Seth McLaughlin, who transferred from Alabama.
Top defensive linemen Jack Sawyer, J.T. Tuimoloau and Tyleik Williams all stayed.
The Buckeyes have to replace excellent starting linebackers Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers but will return three top cornerbacks and two safeties.
Ohio State will hopefully have some more firepower with new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly calling the plays as Day moves to more of a CEO role with the team.
Ohio State's full schedule can be seen below:
- Aug. 31 – Akron (3:30 p.m., CBS)
- Sept. 7 – Western Michigan (7:30 p.m., BTN)
- Sept. 14 – Off
- Sept. 21 – Marshall
- Sept. 28 – at Michigan State
- Oct. 5 – Iowa
- Oct. 12 – at Oregon
- Oct. 19 – Off
- Oct. 26 – Nebraska
- Nov. 2 – at Penn State
- Nov. 9 – Purdue
- Nov. 16 – at Northwestern
- Nov. 23 – Indiana
- Nov. 30 – Michigan (Noon, FOX)