Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about hype. What are you most hyped about heading into the 2025-26 season? You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Hype Week” articles here.
Ohio State had its Spring Game last month, and we got our first glimpse of a new crop of Buckeyes after so many players from last year’s squad are now getting ready for their NFL rookie seasons. While the biggest question during the offseason will be who gets the start when the Buckeyes host Texas in late August to open up the season, there are a number of other areas on the field that will be breaking in not only new starters, but also looking to shore up depth at the position.
Today, we are going to focus on the first-year Buckeyes. Before that would have only really applied to Ohio State true freshmen, but with the transfer portal, that can also now apply to transfers that Ryan Day has gained commitments from. Last year’s transfer class was legendary because it consisted of Will Howard, Seth McLaughlin, Caleb Downs, and Julian Sayin. The true freshmen weren’t too shabby either, since Jeremiah Smith grabbed plenty of headlines with his performance throughout the season.
What we want to know today is which first-year Ohio State player is most intriguing. The Buckeyes brought in a couple of massive offensive linemen to try and fill some holes and a running back from West Virginia in the transfer portal to go along with a talented class of high school recruits. It’ll be fun to look back on these following the season to see who lived up to the expectations that we had for them.
Today’s question: Which first-year Buckeye are we most hyped for?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Max Klare
Almost nothing went right for the Purdue Boilermakers last year. About the only reason to watch Purdue was to see tight end Max Klare and safety Dillon Thieneman play. Following the firing of head coach Ryan Walters, both Klare and Thieneman entered the transfer portal. While Thieneman ended up transferring to Oregon, Ohio State was able to bring the top tight end in the transfer portal into the fold. Last year for Purdue, Klare caught 51 passes for 685 yards and four touchdowns.
What makes Klare an exciting option for Ohio State this season is that he could become a trusted option for Julian Sayin, or whoever ends up starting at quarterback for the Buckeyes this season. Obviously, the primary options in the passing attack are going to be Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. There could be games where teams load up on trying to slow down Smith, much like Texas did in the Cotton Bowl. That’s where Klare could have a huge impact. The tight end has shown he can be an exciting option on a very bad team. Now, just imagine what Klare can do with a quarterback like Sayin and offensive minds like Day, Brian Hartline, and Keenan Bailey designing plays for him.
Remember how much fun it was to watch Cade Stover catch passes a couple of years ago? I feel like Klare could be even better than Stover. Where Klare is going to provide value is as a security blanket for Sayin if he ends up being the starter at quarterback. There are going to be some growing pains for Sayin, but Klare could be an easy outlet for Sayin to find to gain some confidence if things get tough. It might be a stretch to see Klare replicate the reception and yardage numbers he posted at Purdue last year, and that’s fine since he’ll have a lot more talent surrounding him than he did in West Lafayette. Klare will bring experience and steadiness to a Buckeye offense that will be breaking in a lot of new pieces.
Matt’s answer: Phillip Daniels and Ethan Onianwa
We all know that the national champion Buckeyes lost a ton of talent to the NFL this offseason, and filling those holes created by that matriculation will be one of the biggest challenges for Ryan Day and his staff as the 2025 season approaches.
Along the offensive line, Ohio State lost three starters in Donovan Jackson, Seth McLaughlin, and Josh Simmons, although the last two suffered season-ending injuries before the College Football Playoffs run. The silver lining to those injuries is that there are now three linemen with some extra experience that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
The Buckeyes will return Carson Hinzman, who seems solidified at the center position, and Tegra Tshabola and Luke Montgomery at the guard spots; you’ve also got Austin Siereveld in the interior mix as well. That means that Day and new offensive line coach Tyler Bowen had to quickly figure out a game plan at tackle.
Rather than looking to force a square peg from the current roster into a round hole, OSU landed two experienced players via the transfer portal to presumably take over those spots. Enter former Minnesota Golden Gopher Phillip Daniels and former Rice Owl Ethan Onianwa. Both players were top-20 offensive linemen in the portal (Daniels was No. 10, Onianwa was No. 19) and both come in with far more experience than Ohio State’s in-house options.
Whether it is Julian Sayin or Lincoln Keinholz (it’s going to be Julian Sayin) who starts at quarterback for the Buckeyes this season, the new QB1 is going to have a learning curve with very few college reps under their belt. The best ways to ease that transition are to surround him with tons of skill-position talent (√) and keep him clean in the pocket.
The offensive line was a surprisingly steady force during the playoff run, and those three returners should anchor the inside this fall. When you throw in players with the skill and experience of Daniels and Onianwa, you can’t help but get hyped for the possibility of what Bowen’s unit can do.