Skip to main content
Ohio State

Anonymous Big Ten coaches dish out takes on Buckeyes 2025 roster, season

Spencer-Holbrookby:Spencer Holbrook•05/23/25•

SpencerHolbrook

Ryan Day
(Mark J. Rebilas)

COLUMBUS — Ohio State is fresh off a national championship victory last season, but that’s now in the rearview mirror. The summer portion of the offseason is quickly approaching, and that means its officially Talking Season.

The folks over at Athlon Sports asked coaches from around the Big Ten to dish out takes on teams from across the conference, including the defending national champion Buckeyes. Of course, in order to get coaches to open up, Athlon ensures anonymity for the coaches speaking.

Overall, the anonymous coaches had positive things to say about Ohio State after it just won the national title despite losing two regular season games and missing the Big Ten title game.

“Year in and year out, this is the most talented program in the league and one of the most talented in the nation,” one coach told Athlon Sports. “The question every season is just if they can arrange that talent the right way.”

Ohio State did arrange last year’s team the right way — leading to a championship.

The big topic of conversation was about the quarterback battle between redshirt sophomore Lincoln Kienholz and redshirt freshman Julian Sayin. But one coach believes no matter who wins this quarterback job, the weapons surrounding that signal-caller will be elite. That group, of course, is led by sophomore sensation Jeremiah Smith, Purdue transfer tight end Max Klare and junior Carnell Tate.

“Whoever wins the quarterback battle has one of the best receiver rooms in the country,” a coach told Athlon.

Ohio State is replacing eight starters from its defense — all of which were drafted in the NFL Draft last month. But that’s not stopping one anonymous coach from predicting big, big things from this defense in 2025. The coach did note, however, that defensive tackle could be an issue. All four defensive line starters from last year are now in NFL rookie minicamp and the Buckeyes didn’t do much to restock the defensive tackle group beyond developing and expecting young players to emerge as options for this season.

“The defense is stocked;” a source told Athlon Sports. “Defensive tackle might be their question mark, but they’re going to dominate in league play.”

The anonymous coaches were thoroughly impressed with Ryan Day and how the Buckeyes rebounded from the embarrassing, stunning loss to rival Michigan to close out the regular season to win four straight College Football Playoff games on the way to a national championship.

That coach was stunned to see folks calling for Day to be fired after the Michigan loss, and he complimented the program as one of the best in the country because of Ryan Day leading the charge.

“The resilience of [Ryan] Day and his staff is really, really remarkable. I don’t think they get enough credit from the public for how they managed the playoff run after losing to Michigan. The calls for his job were absolutely ludicrous. Do they need to beat Michigan? Yeah, sure. But this program is at the very top of the sport because of the head coach.”

You may also like