David Pollack identifies defense as Ohio State's biggest question in 2025

The Ohio State defense ruled the 2024 college football season, boasting an NCAA best 12.9 allowed points per game and 254.6 yards per game. The Buckeyes rode their fiery defense to a 14-2 record and their ninth National Championship in program history.

The offseason was not good to Ohio State‘s defense however, as defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was poached by Penn State and it had eight players selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.

• DT Tyleik Williams (Round 1, Pick 28 to Detroit Lions)
• DE JT Tuimoloau (Round 2, Pick 45 to Indianapolis Colts)
• LB Cody Simon (Round 4, Pick 115 to Arizona Cardinals)
• S Lathan Ransom (Round 4, Pick 122 to Carolina Panthers)
• DE Jack Sawyer (Round 4, Pick 123 to Pittsburgh Steelers)
• DT Ty Hamilton (Round 5, Pick 148 to Los Angeles Rams)
• CB Jordan Hancock (Round 5, Pick 170 to Buffalo Bills)
• CB Denzel Burke (Round 5, Pick 174 to Arizona Cardinals)

Due to their roster overturn and change at defensive coordinator, college football analyst David Pollack picked the Buckeye defense as his concern for Ohio State heading into the 2025 season on his “See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack” podcast.

“I think most people are going to lean into quarterback, but I don’t because I know what Ohio State is in the quarterback room always,” Pollack said. “It’s always consistent and has great coaching, so I don’t doubt the Ohio State offense. I think to me it’s the defense. You’ve got a new defensive coordinator and you’ve got a ton of new players.

“Does this defense look more like it did a couple of years ago when it was a big time deficiency of the team before they won the national championship, or does it look somewhere in the middle or closer to last year? But I could go down the list of so many names with [JT Tuimoloau] and [Jack] Sawyer and all of these guys that have been there done that, stayed and had experience in the moment that I trusted.”

The Buckeyes brought in former NFL head coach Matt Patricia as their new defensive coordinator, a bit of a splash to replace Knowles. Patricia was with the New England Patriots from 2004-2017 before taking over as the head coach of the Detroit Lions in 2018. He returned to the Patriots staff in 2021 following his firing and spent the 2023 season as the Philadelphia Eagles’ senior defensive assistant.

He’ll oversee a defense led by superstar safety Caleb Downs and the nation’s No. 10 ranked Transfer Portal class. Ohio State opens its 2025 season against Texas on August 30.