Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs and Jack Sawyer lead our final Buckeye 20 of 2024 ranking Ohio State’s top 20 players from its national championship season.
Following Ohio State’s spectacular four-game run through the College Football Playoff to a national championship, we asked our staff to rank Ohio State’s top 20 players of 2024 one final time. Each of our voters was asked to submit a ranking of Ohio State’s 20 best players based on their performance across the entirety of Ohio State’s 16-game national championship season, after which the ballots were averaged out to determine our final rankings for the season.in the table below.
But that doesn’t include the top two players on the list, Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, who will both be back with the Buckeyes for the 2025 season. On a team that was full of players who are projected to be early-round picks in the NFL draft, that speaks to just how good Smith was as a freshman and Downs was as a sophomore.
Ohio State’s offense was full of big-play weapons this season, but the biggest star among them was Smith, who will enter 2025 as the biggest star in college football after catching 76 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns. All 11 starters from Ohio State’s defense played a key role in the Buckeyes having the nation’s best defense – hence all of them making the Buckeye 20 – but the entire defense was built around Downs, who will enter 2025 as college football’s top defensive player.
Will Howard made an eight-spot jump from No. 12 to No. 4 in the year-end rankings after a spectacular playoff run in which he completed 82 of 109 passes for 1,150 yards and eight touchdowns across Ohio State’s four CFP wins.Donovan Jackson made a seven-spot jump from No. 14 to No. 7 as he shut down a host of excellent pass rushers in the CFP after making a midseason position switch from left guard to left tackle, effectively saving Ohio State’s season in the process.
Defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau each climbed five spots in the season’s final rankings. Jack Sawyer jumped up to No. 3 afterwith his 83-yard scoop-and-score in a CFP run that also included seven pass breakups and 4.5 sacks, while JT Tuimoloau rose to No. 6 after a dominant CFP in which he tallied 23 tackles with 10 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, two pass breakups and a forced fumble.
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