We take a look at Ohio State’s highest all-time ratings at every defensive position across EA Sports College Football video games dating back to 1993.
Last week, we took a look at Ohio State's all-time offensive ratings in EA College Football. This week, we turn our attention to the defensive side of the ball.
Since the mid-90s, the Silver Bullets were fun to watch on the field and just as much fun to control in video game form. Today, we highlight the 48 Buckeyes who received a 90+ overall rating as a defensive player or punter. EA Sports has made college football video games since 1993, but did not begin assigning overall ratings to players until EA Sports College Football 2000.
During the 2000s, EA also included classic Ohio State teams for players to select from. This provided us with the Buckeyes’ ratings for the 1954 and 1968 seasons. EA also updated the 1996, 1998, and 2002 roster ratings, allowing us to obtain overall ratings for players on the ’96 and ’98 teams that were previously missing.
Player ratings were gathered from a combination of checking the ratings on the actual games and from the historical ratings database onOhio State has long been known as a program that produces exemplary linebackers. This was especially true during the mid-2000s. The trio of A.J. Hawk , Anthony Schlegel and Bobby Carpenter in EA 06 marked the first and only time a trio of Buckeye linebackers received an overall rating of 90 or higher in the same game.
The first Ohio State linebacker to receive a rating of 90 or higher was Andy Katzenmoyer, with a 97 in EA 08 . The most recent was Sonny Styles in EA 26, and current linebacker coach James Laurinaitis has the all-time high overall rating for Ohio State linebackers with a 98 in EA 09.
The other linebackers to reach this magic number were Ryan Shazier , Ross Homan , Brian Rolle , and Marcus Freeman . During the EA dark years, Tommy Eichenberg, Jerome Baker, Raekwon McMillan, Darron Lee and Joshua Perry are the linebackers most likely to have earned 90+ ratings.
Na'il Diggs, Matt Lavrar, Craig Powell, and Lorenzo Styles are Buckeyes from the 1990s who do not have an overall rating but could have earned a 90 or higher if they had been available at the time. Looking over the superlatives, three categories jump off the screen: Agility, Awareness, and Tackle. The 100 rating is a rare accomplishment, and three Ohio State linebackers have achieved it four times.
On the offensive side of the ball, only Orlando Pace and Korey Stringer made it to 100, Pace in strength and Stringer with pass blocking. We take a look at Ohio State’s highest all-time ratings at every offensive position across EA Sports College Football video games dating back to 1993. A Buckeye cornerback has earned a 90+ overall rating ten times, with eight different players achieving this rating.
Chimdi Chekwa and Malcolm Jenkins are the only Ohio State cornerbacks to reach this number in two different games. Chekwa was a 94 in EA 11 and a 90 in EA 10. Jenkins was an impressive 97 in EA 09 and a 94 in EA 08. EA's rating system considers Chris Gamble as the program's best cornerback, as the two-way player earned a 99 in EA 04 on the defensive side of the ball.
An interesting side note: 74 is the highest EA rating for Ohio State's first Thorpe Award winner, Antoine Winfield, which is on the classic 1998 roster in EA 08. Which is amazing considering Winfield tops three of the CB superlatives listed below. The other five Buckeye cornerbacks to get at least a 90 are Davison Igbinosun , Denzel Burke , Bradley Roby , Ashton Youboty and Dustin Fox .
Jeff Okudah, Denzel Ward, Marshon Lattimore and Eli Apple are among the cornerbacks from the missing years that likely would have earned a rating of 90 or better. Shawn Springs earned a 100 in speed and is the last Ohio State player to earn triple digits in a superlative category. This rating likely allowed you to play with Springs and make a mistake, or a slip, in the secondary and still have the speed to stop the opposing wide receiver.
Some Ohio State players whom you might have forgotten about get major kudos from EA, as 1968 Buckeye Ted Provost earned a 99 in change-of-direction/acceleration, and Doran Grant and Adam Griffin could jump sky-high with jump ratings of 99. Ten safeties make 12 appearances on the 90-or-above rating list. Mike Doss and Caleb Downs are the players making the list twice, with the exceptional players being the highest and second-highest-rated Buckeye safeties in the game's history.
Doss earned a 98 in EA 03, but for some reason was bumped down to a 94 on the 2002 classic roster in EA 08. Downs had a 96 in EA 26 and a 95 in EA 25.
The other eight safeties with 90+ ratings are: Terry Moore , Christian Bryant , Kurt Coleman , Anderson Russell , Brandon Mitchell , Nate Salley , Donnie Nickey and Mike Sensibaugh . A reminder that Sensibaugh holds the program record with 22 career interceptions, and his nine picks in 1969 are tied with Craig Cassady for the most interceptions in a season.
Over the years, 18 different Ohio State cornerbacks or safeties have earned a 90+ rating in the game 22 times. Malik Hooker and Ronnie Hickman are among the standout safeties who played for Ohio State in years when there were no college football video games. Christian Bryant and Damon Moore are the only Buckeye safeties to have the highest ratings in multiple superlatives.
Khamari Bing is the only player on this year's team to make the list, with an impressive 93 in jumping ability. Surprisingly, Downs did not top the awareness category as his highest awareness rating was 85 in EA 26. In the original EA 97, Mike Vrabel did not have an overall rating.
That was corrected in EA 08, when gamers could select the classic 1996 team and play with Vrabel and his 99 rating, tops among all Ohio State defensive ends. Will Smith had a 96 in EA 04 and a 91 in EA 03, and Nathan Williams was rated a 92 in EA 12 and EA 11, making them the only defensive ends to get a 90 or higher rating in two different versions of the game.
Kenyatta Jackson is the only Ohio State edge rusher in EA 27 to break 90. The other seven Buckeye defensive ends with ratings of at least 90 are Jack Sawyer , John Simon , Cameron Heyward , Thaddeus Gibson , Lawrence Wilson , Vernon Gholston and Simon Fraser .
Chase Young and the Bosa brothers almost certainly would have joined them in the 90+ club had there been college football video games during their Ohio State careers. Sam Hubbard and Tyquan Lewis would have also been strong candidates for 90+ ratings, as would have JT Tuimoloau, who opted out of appearing in EA Sports College Football 25. Qua Russaw is the only Buckeye in this year's version of the game to top one of the superlatives above.
Joining him with an 87 in speed is C.J. Hicks. Hicks was the highest-rated Buckeye DE in speed, agility, and jumping ability after switching from linebacker to defensive end before his final season at Ohio State, after which he transferred to South Florida for the upcoming season. Dexter Larimore and Tim Anderson share the highest overall rating by a Buckeye defensive tackle with a 94.
Larimore joins John Simon as the only defensive tackles to surpass 90 multiple times. Larimore also had a 90 in EA 03. Simon had a 90 in EA 12 and 91 in EA at the DT position. He also earned a 92 rating at defensive end in EA 13, making him the only Ohio State player to earn an overall rating of 90 or more at two different positions.
The other defensive tackles to break 90 are Tyleik Williams , Johnathan Hankins , David Patterson , Quinn Pitcock and Darrion Scott . Had there been a game between 2014 and 2023, Haskell Garrett, Davon Hamilton, Dre'Mont Jones, Adolphus Washington, and Michael Bennett are among the defensive tackles who could have earned ratings in the 90s.
In this year's game, John Walker leads the Ohio State defensive tackles with an 88, followed by James Smith , Eddrick Houston , Will Smith Jr. and Jason Moore . From this year's team, Houston and Smith make the superlative list. They are tied for the top spot in speed, with Houston also being the best in agility. Garrett Goebel's 96 in strength is the highest score for any Ohio State defensive tackle in the superlatives.
Headlined by 99 overall Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State’s roster features 17 players rated 85 or higher, as the Buckeyes debut as the second-best team in EA Sports College Football 27. Jim Tressel is famously quoted as saying the punt is the most important play in football, so it's not a surprise that one of his punters has a 99 rating in the EA College Football universe. Andy Groom had a 99 on the 2002 classic roster in EA 08.
Also in EA 08, Brent Bartholomew had a 91 overall rating on the 1998 and 1996 classic rosters. The punters on the 1968 and 1954 classic rosters also have a 91 rating. The only issue is that the 1968 team didn't have a player wearing No. 2, and the 1954 team didn't have a player wearing No. 13.
Neither team had a player listed as a punter on the official roster, but Mike Sensibaugh had at least 52 punts for a 37.4 average for the Buckeyes in 1968 and fullback Hubert Bobo was known to punt for the 1954 team. Joe McGuire has an OVR of 75 along with an 89 in kick power and an 81 in kicking accuracy in this year's game.
McGuire had an OVR of 76 and a kicking accuracy of 84 in EA 26. The last time an Ohio State punter had an overall rating in the 80s was when Ben Buchanan had an 86 in EA 13. If EA had a game during the blackout years, there was a strong possibility Cameron Johnston would have had a rating in the 90s, most definitely one in the 80s.
EA considers McGuire to be the strongest punter with Andy Groom having the highest ratings in awareness, kicking power, and kicking accuracy. Since EA 03, every highest-rated defensive player has had an overall rating of at least 91. In fact, Kenyatta Jackson Jr.'s 91 rating this year is the lowest high for an Ohio State defensive player since Richard McNutt's 85 in EA 02.
Chris Gamble is the only Buckeye defensive player to receive an overall rating of 99 in the 21st century, but Mike Vrabel and Andy Groom were able to get the coveted 99 rating on the classic rosters for the 2002 and 1996 seasons. Cornerback DerJuan Gambrell had the lowest rating in the 21st century, but somehow, Jim Stillwagon and Antoine Winfield received lower ratings on classic rosters.
The All-Americans and award winners were both given overall ratings of 62 on the 1968 and 1996 classic rosters. Freshman safety Kaden Gebhardt is the lowest-rated Ohio State defensive player in EA 27. This marks the sixth time for the lowest-rated Buckeye on the defense to have an overall score in the 70s.
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