Buckeyes freshman defensive end Zion Grady loses black stripe

COLUMBUS — Ohio State defensive end Zion Grady is pushing for a much larger opportunity in his first season with the Buckeyes.

After posting his first-career sack on Saturday in the win over Grambling State, Grady is the latest member of the 2025 Ohio State recruiting class to lose his black stripe, a mark that he’s doing the right things to become a contributor for the defending national champs.

Grady is the 11th Ohio State freshman to lose the black stripe from the 2025 recruiting class. He joins wide receiver Quincy Porter, linebacker Riley Pettijohn, tight end Nate Roberts, cornerback Devin Sanchez, safety Faheem Delane, wide receiver Phillip Bell, offensive lineman Jake Cook, wide receiver De’zie Jones and defensive tackle Jarquez Carter. Porter lost his during spring practice, while Pettijohn, Roberts and Sanchez shed theirs during the first week of training camp. Delane and Cook lost their black stripe after the team’s second scrimmage of training camp last month. Bell lost his a week and a half before the opener. Jones lost his last week before the Grambling State game.

Grady is the latest ahead of the game against Ohio, losing it the same day Carter shed his black stripe.

Grady joined the Ohio State program in January and went to work proving himself for an early breakout. The former four-star prospect from Enterprise High School in Troy, Alabama, was the No. 104 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class. He was ranked as the No. 12 EDGE in the country and No. 6 player in the state of Alabama.

He made the most of his chances in the second half of the blowout — during his first college football action.

“Every time you’re in the game is an opportunity,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “And a lot of guys are found during opportunities like this. And so every time you’re on the field is an opportunity to get better. And you’re either putting strength or weakness on film. So, yeah, the guys that pop, they’re going to continue to get opportunities as long as what they’re doing fits into what we’re trying to get done on offense and defense and they’re grading out. Sometimes you can just play the game, kind of just go off on your own and try to make plays. And you can make a play, but that’s not within the discipline of what we’re doing. We have to consider all those things. 

“But, yeah, the more guys grade out, the more productive the guys are and utilize the staffs, then the more they’re going to play.”

Now he’s going to keep pushing for a larger role in the Ohio State defense moving forward. Zion Grady has lost his black stripe.