The Ohio State football recruiting class of 2023, which was ranked No. 4 nationally by 247Sports Composite, featured 21 high school signees. Seven signees in the national top 100 were in that class.
Several of these freshmen participated in the 12-game 2023 regular season for the Buckeyes.
This season, safety Malik Hartford and wide receiver Jermaine Mathews Jr. both started games
Seven of them participated in five or more games during the 2023 regular season and will advance to sophomore eligibility in 2024, based on the data that is currently available, thus this is not quite official. Mathews, Hartford, WR Brandon Inniss, WR Carnell Tate, OL Luke Montgomery, LB Arvell Reese, and DL Kayden McDonald were among others in the group.
Fourteen of them will be redshirting this season after participating in four or fewer games. WR Noah Rogers, TE Jelani Thurman, DE Joshua Mickens, CB Calvin Simpson-Hunt, DL Jason Moore, QB Lincoln Kienholz, DL Will Smith Jr., OL Joshua Padilla, S Jayden Bonsu, OL Austin Siereveld, OL Miles Walker, WR Bryson Rodgers, LB Nigel Glover, and S Cedrick Hawkis are among others in that group.
Recent NCAA regulation, it is said, permits all of these “redshirting freshmen” to participate in the Cotton Bowl without risking their redshirt status.
It looks like sophomore running back Dallan Hayden will return in 2023 as a third-year sophomore in addition to these freshmen. In just three games did Hayden play in the 2023 campaign. Playing behind starters TreVeyon Henderson and Chip Trayanum this season, he finished with 110 yards rushing on 19 carries with one touchdown.
The data used below comes from Eleven Warriors, our pals, who compiled the OSU team’s Snap Counts for the 2023 campaign. We examine the players who saw action, their effect in 2023, and their outlook in 2024. The order of the players’ ranks for recruitment is indicated.
The information below was provided by our friends Eleven Warriors, who also compiled the Sna for the OSU squad.* The Trim: The Hollywood, Florida-native Inniss, who stands 6 feet and 207 pounds, was practically OSU’s sixth wide receiver this year. During the season, he only made one reception, but it was a memorable one as he caught Devin Brown’s 58-yard touchdown pass during the crushing of Purdue. If Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka continue their careers in the NFL, Inniss ought to be a contender for a starting position with the Buckeyes in 2024. He might start the Cotton Bowl game, depending on the health of those players.
p Matters for the campaign of 2023. We look at the participants who witnessed action and their impact in 2023.
