Scarlet Sunrise: Joel Klatt projects Buckeyes as top seed in College Football Playoff

COLUMBUS — FOX Sports has become one of the leaders in college football, especially for the Big Ten. Well, FOX Sports’ leading college football analyst Joel Klatt is extremely high on Ohio State entering this season.

Klatt released his College Football Playoff projections this week, and he has the Buckeyes as the top seed for the CFP.

Yes, Klatt believes Ohio State will have the best team in the country this upcoming year — and he has the Buckeyes in a rematch against No. 8 seed Penn State in the quarterfinals of the CFP; the teams will meet in Beaver Stadium on Nov. 2.

Klatt then has the Buckeyes beating Penn State to move onto the CFP semifinal against No. 5 Notre Dame. He has the Buckeyes winning that game, moving onto face Texas in the national title game.

And he also has them running through the Longhorns to win the national championship on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

Simply put, Klatt expects a huge season for Ohio State — and a lot of hardware collected.

Buckeyes name Nick McLarty starting punter

Ohio State had an open competition to become the starting punter throughout training camp. That battle, for now, has been settled.

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day pulled the cord on the competition Thursday night by naming true freshman Nick McLarty as the team’s starting punter for the season opener against Akron next Saturday (3:30 p.m., CBS).

“Right now, Nick is going to be the starter,” Day said Thursday night. “And that competition will go into next week, but right now, as we head into the weekend, he is the starter. And the plan is for him to be the first punter to go in the game on Saturday against Akron.”

McLarty beat out Buffalo transfer Anthony Venneri and walk-on Ohio State punter Joe McGuire for the starting job — but the emphasis is on for now. McLarty, while being named the starter for the opener, will need to impress to keep that job. Venneri and McGuire could take game reps and unseat McLarty with impressive showings.

But McLarty has impressed during the last few weeks after struggling early in camp — and having to acclimate to life in the United States after moving from Australia.

READ: Special teams intel from Buckeyes practice

Ohio State hires new Director of Recruiting and Special Events

Ohio State has a new member of its talented recruiting department.

The Buckeyes football program has hired Morgan Phillips to take over the role that was previously held by Erin Dunston, who left the Ohio State program for Michigan in June. An Ohio State spokesperson confirmed the hire to Lettermen Row on Thursday.

Phillips began working with the football program this week. According to Phillips’ social media account, she’s the new Director of Recruiting, and she’ll work in an on-campus role.

An Alabama graduate, Phillips joined the LSU football staff in August 2023 and was the Tigers’ Recruiting Operations Coordinator. During her time at Alabama, Phillips worked as a coordinator in the Head Coach’s Office, working directly with Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Akron: 8 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 99 days

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