Ohio State Is No. 1 With Eight New Starters on Defense

Ohio State can spend August teaching defense without wondering who will score the points.

Julian Sayin is back after completing 77 percent of his passes. Jeremiah Smith has already produced 2,558 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns in two seasons. Bo Jackson ran for more than 1,000 yards as a freshman, and four starting offensive linemen return. There may not be another offense in the country with this much established high-end production at quarterback, running back and receiver.

The other side of the roster looks nothing like that.

Only three defensive starters return from 2025. Eight new starters must learn how to fit the run, pass off routes, disguise coverage and communicate when the call changes late. Ohio State has recruited enough talent to fill every vacancy. The issue is whether those players can operate like a defense before the schedule starts treating them like one.

The three players who cannot play like only three players

Kenyatta Jackson Jr., Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Jaylen McClain are the returning starters around whom the new unit can organize itself. Their production matters, but their communication matters more now.

A rebuilt defense needs someone who recognizes a formation before the ball is snapped and tells the player beside him what is coming. It needs a veteran who notices the offense has shifted into a look discussed three days earlier. It needs someone who can stop one mistake from becoming two because a young teammate is still thinking about the previous play.

That work rarely makes a preseason highlight reel. It is often the difference between a talented collection of defenders and a unit a coordinator can trust on third down.

Ohio State went through a similar replacement job last season and still finished with an elite defense. That history is reassuring. It does not guarantee a repeat. The new group has its own combinations, its own pressure calls and its own players learning how quickly a Saturday punishes hesitation.

Talent settles only the first question

The Buckeyes attacked the roster turnover with transfers capable of playing immediately and younger players recruited to become NFL prospects. Depth should allow the staff to rotate the defensive front, match personnel in the secondary and keep one bad performance from trapping an inexperienced player on the field.

Rotation can also become a problem if it prevents the defense from establishing a dependable order. September is not the time to use 20 players because the staff still does not know which 11 communicate best. The strongest lineup may not contain the most individually gifted player at every position. It will contain the group that makes the fewest shared mistakes.

That distinction becomes especially important in the secondary. A corner can play excellent coverage and still be beaten if the safety expects him to release the route. A linebacker can attack the correct gap and open a cutback lane if the front has made a different call. The breakdown belongs to the defense, not just the player closest to the ball.

The offense gives the defense a luxury—and a test

Ohio State should be able to win games while the new defense develops. Sayin’s accuracy, Smith’s ability to dictate coverage and Jackson’s presence in the run game give the Buckeyes several ways to control a Saturday. A young defense will benefit from playing with a lead and facing opponents forced into obvious passing situations.

That advantage can disguise flaws, too. A 42-24 win can contain a coverage bust, a poor run fit and a third-down call that arrived late. Those errors may not change the opener. They can change a road game against a team talented enough to keep scoring.

The Buckeyes visit Texas on September 12 and Indiana later in the fall. Five of their nine conference games are against teams ranked in the preseason poll. The defense does not have to reach its finished form before the first kickoff. It cannot spend half the season discovering who should be on the field.

What Ohio State needs before the rankings matter

The preseason No. 1 ranking says Ohio State has the best total case in the country. It does not say every unit begins in the same place.

The offense already knows who it is. The defense needs a dependable front rotation, a coverage order that survives motion and a small group of veterans willing to make every snap less complicated for the eight new starters around them.

If that happens quickly, Ohio State’s roster has no obvious limit. If it does not, the country’s best offensive foundation will spend its most important games covering for the part of the team still learning how to play together.