A defensive nightmare on the field, but a gentle Buckeye ambassador to young fans off, Kenyatta Jackson Jr., now wearing the #2 jersey vacated by Caleb Downs, looks to further elevate his ferocity by continuing to terrorize offenses from the edge. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
The new-look defense prevailed in the Ohio State’s spring game, but it remains to be seen what that means for the fall.
By Marcus Hartman for Press Pros
Columbus, OH — The Ohio State spring game, 2026 edition, was your classic damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.
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The defense looked pretty good.
The offensive line did not.
The quarterbacks had their ups — and their downs.
The starters weren’t being tackled, but some might be pushed by the next wave of players.
Veteran columnist Marcus Hartman writes the Buckeyes and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
So who will be the stalwarts for Ryan Day’s team this fall?
“I think we’re still a work in progress in all three phases,” the head coach of the Buckeyes said after the defense (in white jerseys) won 35-26 via a customized scoring system. “And this summer we all need to really focus on getting better individually, and that’s what comes after the spring.”
After 15 spring practices, Day still seems preoccupied with assimilating 51 new players into his roster.
Depth charts? Xs and Os?
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Those will come later, but the two hours the Buckeyes toiled under the clouds at Ohio Stadium on Saturday at least provided some things for the rest of us to evaluate between now and the start of preseason in July.
Missing their top four backs on the depth chart, the Buckeye ground game was smothered often by a reloaded Matt Patricia defense.
What did we learn?
In many ways that is in the eye of the beholder because every personal victory for one Buckeye meant a loss for another.
“Each guy is in a race to get better — I just told the team that,” Day said. “And then also we need to build chemistry in all three phases, and then the last thing is we need to come together as a team for a common purpose, so this is a big summer for us.
“I think we’re off to a solid start, but with 51 players, we’ve got a lot of work to do. I don’t think we’re behind where I thought we would be right now, but we all know with some of these new players and some of the players we have to replace, that’s gonna be a process, and so we’re in a race against time.”
Those who were absent had as much impact as those who played in some areas.
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The most notable absentees were Austin Siereveld and Phillip Daniels. The starting offensive tackles were not in uniform, and their backups had more bad moments than good collectively on a day that was not set up for them to succeed.
Jerquaden Guilford gets a rude welcome to the Spring Game with a big hit from Blaine Bradford along the sidelines resulting in an incompletion.
Ian Moore held his own with some exceptions.
Carter Lowe, not so much.
That wasn’t too surprising because Moore is in his third season and had a couple of cameos that went well last year. At 6-6, 312 pounds, the New Palestine, Ind., native looks like he could play power forward for the basketball team (maybe Jake Diebler would consider it depending how the rest of portal season goes?), but that’s a good sign the way the game has evolved.
Lowe was a highly rated recruit coming out of Toledo Whitmer, but that was only a year ago. His needing more time to develop is no surprise nor much reason for concern in April.
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And the guy who was beating Lowe much of the time? That was Kenyatta Jackson Jr.
Matt Patricia’s expectation of greatness and proven ability to create defensive schemes that maximize his personnel will continue to cause trouble for opposing offenses.
If you needed to keep checking your program to see who was wearing No. 2, don’t feel bad. He wore 97 a year ago but said he claimed the new number for his senior season thanks to Caleb Downs vacating it.
Jackson had a good season last year (6.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss), but he looks primed to have a great 2026 — and be a team spokesman based on the way he handled questions after the game.
“I mean, we’re going against good on good,” Jackson said in reply to a question about the young offensive tackles struggling. “When you come to Ohio State, you’re playing against the best. So it’s good on good football each and every day, and I think those guys took a step forward after spring.”
Jackson could make a lot of offensive tackles look like Ohio State’s did Saturday. Then again, what if he doesn’t?
Such is the conundrum of spring games.
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On the other side of the defensive line, a similar story played out. Is Beau Atkinson as good as he has looked this spring? He was also in a new number — now 12 instead of 14 — and looks like a new man after just sort of being on the team as a transfer from North Carolina last fall.
Alabama D line transfer Qua Russaw wasted no time mixing it up, grabbing a little extra jersey during this pass rush.
The digits on his jersey were not the only change. He revealed recently he played through a painful shoulder injury last fall, so he could really be a new man this season reprising the role of Caden Curry, who was able to rush the passer, set the edge or kick inside to 3-technique as needed.
And if he’s not? Well Zion Grady and Khary Wilder had their moments at end, too.
And who was 55 in the white jersey? That was John Walker, a transfer from UCF who found his way into the backfield with some consistency (sometimes against the No. 2 offensive line, to be fair) on Saturday.
He could be the answer to who replaces Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year Kayden McDonald at nose tackle. Walker would have to leapfrog Will Smith Jr. to do that — or perhaps they end up sharing the position. Either way, that’s a good problem to have.
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At linebacker, Payton Pierce picked up where he left off as the top reserve a year ago, while Wisconsin transfer Christian Alliegro looked the part of Big Ten linebacker replacing Arvell Reese (probably because he’s already been a Big Ten linebacker).
The Buckeyes need to shore up the trenches if the offense is to succeed. Quarterback protection and creating running lanes could make or break a potential scoring powerhouse.
A rugged 6-4, 241-pound senior, Alliegro also passed the brains test as he knew not to run over Sayin when the quarterback left the pocket and raced toward the corner of the end zone.
Sayin wasn’t live to be hit, of course, so Alliegro pulled up and let him score, though Sayin said with surprising confidence afterward he would have just run him over if necessary. (Not sure about that, but you have to admire his moxie, I guess.)
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Who else was absent?
Day revealed safety Earl Little Jr. had “a procedure” on a knee now rather than wait until the fall when real games could be missed.
Amare Miller shadows true freshman receiver Brock Boyd during the Spring Game. Boyd is the third fastest receiver to shed his black stripe since the tradition was started by Urban Meyer in 2012, following only Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate.
That meant we did not get a chance to see how close — if at all — the Florida State transfer might get to replicating some of the fantastical things Caleb Downs was able to do at safety the last two seasons.
Here’s some good news, though: The starting secondary looks to be in good hands anyway with Jaylen McClain and Jermaine Mathews Jr. back at safety and cornerback, respectively. Devin Sanchez looks like the next great one at the other corner, while transfers Terry Moore (Duke safety) and Dominick Kelly (Georgia cornerback) joined them on the No. 1 unit Saturday.
Both sides got their licks in when it came to the passing game: Big passes completed, pass breakups and a couple of interceptions.
DE Eddrick Houston, who logged 21 tackles (6 solo, 15 assists) and 3 sacks last year, looks to continue to disrupt opponents’ offensive lines again this year.
Jeremiah Smith flashed what he could do with the ball in the open field a couple of times. Then he gave way to Chris Henry Jr., who showed why he was the No. 1 receiver recruit in the country for the class of 2026. Big, fast and remarkably similar in build and play style to his late father, Henry looks like a guy who will be part of the picture this fall.
What about the running game?
We haven’t addressed that because it was always going to be a second thought this Saturday. Usually that is the case in spring games, but it was more so this time because of injuries to the top four backs.
That will be a concern until it’s not — this is Ohio, after all — but many other questions were answered.
Maybe.
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