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2025 Opponent Offseason Storylines: Can Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith carry a team?

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•05/01/25•

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Jeremiah Smith
Jeremiah Smith (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

As Texas fans are well aware, the 2024 Ohio State Buckeyes won the national championship, charging through the postseason by dispatching Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame. Fourteen players from that team were selected in the most recent draft and a handful of others signed as undrafted free agents. While the Buckeyes lose key pieces of that championship team like Emeka Egbuka, Donovan Jackson, Quinshon Judkins, TreVeyon Henderson, Jack Sawyer, and Will Howard, the two best players from Ohio State’s title team are still in Columbus. Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs didn’t go anywhere, and the Longhorns will need to figure out how to deal with their presence on August 30.

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Smith, On3’s No. 1 player in college football, was a walking mismatch throughout most of the 2024 season. He caught 76 passes for 1315 yards and 15 touchdowns, including the title-sealing reception from Howard in the title game against the Fighting Irish. Against Texas, Smith was slowed down by a coordinated defensive effort that rarely, if ever, left him in single coverage.

And while Texas may deploy a similar tactic in Columbus to start the season, Smith’s ability is enough to make defensive coordinators worry even with two players on him.

Smith returns, but the Buckeyes are replacing a number of critical players in the trenches and at the skill positions. Taking center stage is the quarterback battle, where Lincoln Kienholz and Julian Sayin are competing for the starting job.

No matter who wins the role under center and at other spots, Smith will be asked to be Ohio State’s primary playmaker as Ryan Day looks to repeat as national champions.

Downs will be asked to do the same for the Buckeye defense.

Even though Jim Knowles crossed state lines to Penn State and was replaced by Matt Patricia, Downs is a weapon in the OSU secondary. Listed as On3’s No. 3 player in college football in 2025, Downs looks to replicate his unanimous All-America caliber season before heading to the 2026 NFL draft. Downs earned an 87.9 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus in 2024. For reference Michael Taaffe had a PFF defensive grade of 85.1.

In a similar vein to Smith, teams will do what they can to avoid Downs as best they can in the running and passing game. Texas fans may remember Xavier Worthy flying past Downs in Tuscaloosa in 2023. That was against a good player in just his second college game. Even then, Downs logged 10 tackles and forced a fumble. He’s improved since, even picking off Quinn Ewers in the Cotton Bowl.

Those two provide strong foundations for the 2025 Buckeyes. Can they carry a team?

It’s hard to think Day won’t make the right call between Sayin and Kienholz. Plus, there are numerous options that could become key parts of the supporting cast like portal additions CJ Donaldson, Max Klare, Beau Atkinson, and Ethan Onianwa, or players from four straight years of top-five recruiting. Brandon Inniss, Devin Sanchez, Sonny Styles, Carnell Tate, Riley Pettijohn, James Peoples, Payton Pierce, and CJ Hicks didn’t go anywhere or just arrived in Columbus, and they’ll have something to say.

But when a team loses almost 20 players to the NFL, there’s going to be some uncertainty.

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Can Smith and Downs do enough, especially in week one, to threaten teams before the Buckeyes figure it all out? That’s the leading question for the scarlet and gray ahead of Texas’ week one trip to the Horseshoe.

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