A To Z Thoughts On The 2025 Ohio State Spring Game

Another Ohio State spring game is in the books. This year, the Buckeye offense defeated the Buckeye defense 50-31.

The offense appeared to be ahead of the defense for much of the day, but the defense wasn’t exactly playing hard to get.

There were standout players and standout moments from the afternoon, and rather than write up some boring game story, I thought I’d offer up a less-boring series of thoughts, from A to Z.

Let us begin.

All you need to know about how confident the coaching staff is in sophomore running back James Peoples is the fact that he had just two carries in the spring game. He played about as much as the returning starters. The coaches have seen enough. They’re ready to ride with him.

Bo Jackson certainly looks like he’s going to play this season. Every time we saw the freshman running back this spring, he impressed. You got to see some of that on Saturday.

CJ Donaldson showed more burst than I was expecting, but he has dropped weight and added explosiveness, so the senior transfer out of West Virginia is a different back than he’s been in the past.

Did you know that 2025 is the Year of the Tight End? The Buckeye tight ends were busy on Saturday, and that was even without veteran Will Kacmarek who is nursing a leg injury that won’t hold him back this summer. Purdue transfer Max Klare looks like he’s going to fit in just fine, as he showed on Saturday when he caught a touchdown pass down the seam.

Every practice has seemingly been an opportunity to see the Ohio State quarterbacks both excel and struggle. Redshirt sophomore Lincoln Kienholz was evidence of that on Saturday. He started slowly, but closed well in the second half, finishing 12-18 for 158 yards with two touchdowns.

Feels good to have a solid kicker, doesn’t it?

Go ahead and buy some stock in the Ohio State cornerbacks. They are deep and talented. They may not be overly proven just yet, but they all showed on Saturday why it’s going to be a fight for playing time this season.

How is Brian Hartline going to keep redshirt freshman receiver Mylan Graham off the field? He has made plays all spring long. He’s got some Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson to him.

I have been more impressed by fifth-year senior nickel back Lorenzo Styles, Jr. this spring than I expected to be. It was also interesting to see him at cornerback in the spring game at times while junior cornerback Jermaine Mathews moved to nickel and lined up in the box.

Julian Sayin had just about the best possible performance he could today if his goal was to convince everybody on the outside that he can handle being Ohio State’s starting quarterback.

Keep an eye on freshman safety Faheem Delane. I shouldn’t actually need to tell you that since you saw him come away with a near pick-six on Saturday. Safety Jaylen McClain did something similar in last year’s spring game as a true freshman and ended up in the two-deep. Delane certainly has the potential to be a freshman backup this year.

Logan George has people talking. He has gotten better and better over the course of the spring, and he capped things well on Saturday. Fans got to see why Ohio State went to Idaho State for the fourth-year defensive end.

Malik Hartford finished well in what was overall a strong spring for the junior safety. Being paired with All-American safety Caleb Downs can be a tall order, but Hartford has shown the ability to move back and forth from strong safety to free safety. He has the range to handle playing the post and the size to handle the box.

Nobody should expect senior defensive end CJ Hicks to make a seamless move from linebacker, but he definitely had some moments today. He’s got the kind of speed that can lead to some holding calls … if he weren’t playing for Ohio State, that is.

One thing that keeps going through my mind about this game is that Ohio State needs help up front defensively. We can assume they are “okay enough” at defensive end, but the inability to stop the run today — 229 total yards rushing on 39 attempts (5.9 ypc) — seems to confirm the validity of having concerns about the defensive tackle depth. Everybody loves the starters, but will they love them when they’re playing at 75% in the fourth quarter of a close game because defensive line coach Larry Johnson can’t afford to take them off the field?

Payton Pierce once again showed why he’s going to be on the field a bunch this year as a sophomore linebacker. Senior Sonny Styles and junior Arvell Reese will be the starters, but you got a look at why Pierce is already trusted by linebackers coach James Laurinaitis and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.

Quincy Porter lost his black stripe last weekend, which compared very favorably to past Buckeye receivers as true freshmen. On Saturday, you got to see a little bit of the reason why with his four catches for 50 yards.

Riley Pettijohn showed off his speed on Saturday chasing redshirt freshman running back Sam Williams-Dixon to the sideline for a four-yard loss. The true freshman linebacker has done well this spring picking up the defense and his role(s) in it.

Sam Williams-Dixon had another good spring game. He led the team in rushing last year as a true freshman and again ran hard and made plays this year as well. The next step is fighting for carries in fall camp and beyond.

Tavien St. Clair threw a couple of interceptions, but he finished 11-15 on the day for 116 yards with a touchdown, which means only two of his passes hit the ground. It’s easy to see what he can become, because what he is already is pretty exciting.

Usually the spring game is an opportunity for everybody to see why the offensive line is such a concern. On Saturday, the Buckeyes showed the exact opposite. Despite losing four starters from last year’s team, this group is already asserting force and confidence. Rice transfer Ethan Onianwa looks like he’s got left tackle locked down, while Austin Siereveld seems to be moving ahead of everyone else at right tackle. The first-team offensive line — minus those aforementioned four former starters — features five guys with starting experience. That’s a pretty impressive turnaround.

Verily I say unto you, don’t make too much of the spring game. But do make just enough of it.

Westerville North may have sent the Buckeyes a good one in freshman offensive lineman Jake Cook.

Xerox Ryan Day’s transfer portal wish list and I bet you’ll find defensive tackles at the top of the list. (Cut me some slack, going A through Z got a lot harder once Xavier Johnson finally graduated.)

You and I and everybody else should keep in mind that today’s defense was, as head coach Ryan Day said, vanilla. In fact, to call it “vanilla” would probably be a bit overboard. Vanilla is still sweet and tasty. Today’s defense was more Necco Wafer — chalky and devoid of any flavor, but at least there was a lot of it! Also, I probably should have used Vanilla for V earlier to make my life easier.

Zion Grady is a freshman defensive end. Another freshman is receiver Phillip Bell, who caught the last touchdown of the day. Bell has had a solid spring in the slot for the Buckeyes. (Thank you, Zion.)

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