Will they stay or will they go: Tracking 2024 plans for draft-eligible Buckeyes
COLUMBUS — There was a chance Ohio State would have its largest NFL Draft class to date in 2024. Now, after a third straight loss to Michigan and an embarrassing defeat in the Cotton Bowl, there’s a chance the Buckeyes will be returning a good portion of that would-be draft class.
Lettermen Row is tracking the decisions of Ohio State’s draft-eligible players this offseason.
Will they stay or will they go? That’s the question.
This tracker will be updated as players make their 2024 plans official.
DE Jack Sawyer — RETURNING
Sawyer finished the 2023 season on a high note, piling up 16 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and five sacks over the final three games of the year. He matched the Ohio State bowl record with three sacks in the Cotton Bowl and was one of the more notable Buckeyes voices following their loss at Michigan. Sawyer — the On3 Industry Ranking’s No. 4 overall prospect in 2021 — is coming back for more after his best season yet, a year in which he recorded Ohio State’s top PFF run defense grade (86.6), doubled his previous career high for total tackles (48 vs. 24) and generated a personal-best 37 pressures.
READ: What Jack Sawyer returning for senior year means for Buckeyes
DT Mike Hall Jr. — DECLARED FOR NFL DRAFT
Hall is off to the NFL after a three-year stay in Columbus, a run that had some highs and some lows and some “what ifs.” He teased All-American potential as a redshirt freshman when he posted 4.5 sacks and, per PFF, 14 pressures through six games. But a shoulder injury limited him down the stretch of last season, and he never had the game-wrecking performance in 2023 that he flashed against Michigan State in 2022. That said, he still rounded out the year third on the team with 29 pressures, six of which came against Michigan and Missouri. Hall’s 24 total tackles were a career high, too.
READ: What Mike Hall heading to NFL Draft means for Buckeyes
DT Tyleik Williams — RETURNING
Williams will be back in the fold for 2024. As Williams said, he’s reloading the clip for his senior season after a breakout junior year. In 2023, he mounted 54 total tackles — he combined for 37 his first two years at Ohio State — not to mention his 10.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks and five passes defended, plus a fumble recovery for a touchdown he recorded against Western Kentucky in Week 3. Maybe most notably, Williams upped his snap count significantly, playing 645 defensive snaps this season, according to PFF. He had notched 251 and 183 defensive snaps in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
READ: What return of Tyleik Williams means for Buckeyes defense
DT Ty Hamilton — RETURNING
Hamilton is running it back for the 2024 season as well. He rounded out the 2023 campaign with 38 total tackles — his previous career high was 15 — 4.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. Plus, according to PFF, Hamilton generated nine pressures. He surged at the end of the season, combining for 19 total tackles, 4.0 TFLs, both of his sacks and five pressures over the final five games. Hamilton, a former three-star prospect, has taken his game to the next level year after year. He has a chance to play an even bigger role alongside Williams next season.
READ: Ohio State defensive tackle Ty Hamilton coming back for 2024 season
DE J.T. Tuimoloau — RETURNING
Tuimoloau and Sawyer feed off each other, and they’ll both be back for 2024. Tuimoloau is coming off the best year of his career. He finished 2023 with the most total tackles (38), sacks (5.0) and, per PFF, pressures generated (37) as well as defensive snaps (677) of his three years at Ohio State. Tuimoloau once again proved to be a difference maker for the Buckeyes in 2023. He made back-to-back stops that set the stage for Ohio State’s game-winning drive at Notre Dame. He also dialed up a sack and fourth down pass deflection in the fourth quarter against Penn State to help deliver another top-10 win.
READ: What J.T. Tuimoloau returning for senior season means to Buckeyes
LB Steele Chambers — DECLARED FOR NFL DRAFT
Chambers has declared for the NFL Draft. He began his Ohio State career at running back before switching positions ahead of the 2021 season. It was late in that year that Chambers entered the starting lineup in the second level. He manned the WILL spot the last two seasons alongside friend, roommate and teammate Tommy Eichenberg. Chambers led the team with 83 total tackles this season. Last year, he had 77 total tackles, in addition to two interceptions — including one in the Peach Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal versus Georgia — and a fumble recovery touchdown against Maryland.
READ: Buckeyes linebacker Steele Chambers declares for NFL Draft
LB Tommy Eichenberg — TBD
NOTE: Although Eichenberg hasn’t officially announced his plans for 2024, he has already accepted an invitation to the Reese’s Senior Bowl, indicating that he will not return to Ohio State next season. Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles also suggested that Eichenberg won’t be with the team in 2024 when talking about the future of the linebacker room.
LB Cody Simon — RETURNING
Simon is coming back and will be the successor to Eichenberg as the quarterback of the Buckeyes’ defense. The soon-to-be fifth-year linebacker filled in for Eichenberg in that role against Michigan State and Minnesota in Weeks 11-12 as well as in the Cotton Bowl versus Missouri. For the most part in 2023, however, he was once again Ohio State’s go-to third linebacker when it deviated from its 4-2-5 base formation. Simon’s regular season defensive snap count (374) didn’t mark a career high — that still belongs to his 2021 season when he started 10 games — but he played a more significant role than he did last year. His 57 total tackles were good for fourth on the team this season.
READ: Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon announces return for 2024 season
S Lathan Ransom — RETURNING
Ransom is returning to Ohio State for 2024 after missing the final five games of the season with a lower-leg injury that he suffered Week 9 at Wisconsin. Ransom has been a mainstay in the Buckeyes’ starting lineup the last two seasons, remarkably playing 614 defensive snaps in 2022 and emerging as a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award — given annually to the best defensive back in college football — after recovering from a broken leg that he suffered on kickoff coverage during the previous year’s Rose Bowl. This year, Ransom was fourth on the team with 34 total tackles at the time of his injury, and he had allowed just six catches for a mere 47 yards on 16 targets, per PFF.
READ: What Lathan Ransom returning means for Buckeyes
CB Denzel Burke — RETURNING
Burke helped restore the Ohio State secondary’s “Best in America” tag line this season. He wants to build on that effort and establish himself as a top-10 pick for the 2025 NFL Draft next season. After a breakout junior year — during which he allowed just one touchdown and 25 receptions on 48 targets, according to PFF — Burke is hoping to take the next step in Year Four. He earned freshman All-American honors in 2021, dealt with some injury trouble in 2022 but bounced back in a big way in 2023 by adopting what he called a “pro approach” and leading the Ohio State cornerback room.
READ: What Denzel Burke returning for senior season means to Buckeyes
CB Jordan Hancock — RETURNING
Hancock responded to an injury-riddled 2022 with a breakout 2023 campaign that saw him line up everywhere: 401 defensive snaps in the slot, 90 on the corner, 48 at free safety, 70 in the box and four on the defensive line, according to PFF. Hancock proved his run defense chops with 16 tackles in that category, per PFF, not to mention a forced fumble. When all was said and done, he finished with 41 total tackles, good for ninth on the team. He also wasn’t too far behind corners Davison Igbinosun and Burke with a reception percentage allowed of 55.6%, per PFF, and he snagged two interceptions, including a 93-yard, game-changing pick-six at Rutgers in Week 10.
READ: What Jordan Hancock returning for to Ohio State for senior season means
LG Donovan Jackson — RETURNING
Jackson posted a better pass blocking grade this season than last (72.7 in 2023 vs. 60.7 in 2022) but logged a worse run blocking grade this time around (67.3 in 2023 vs. 80.1 in 2022), according to PFF. After a slow start this season, Jackson had two three-game streaks without a pressure conceded. The second of those two streaks was snapped at Michigan, where he, most notably, tripped over center Carson Hinzman and let a stunting Jaylen Harrell burst through the trenches and get a hit on Kyle McCord before his game-ending interception. Jackson — a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2023 and a two-year starter — has turned the page from that Michigan moment and is coming back for 2024 with a chance to improve his draft stock and help the Buckeyes’ O-Line return to a high level of play.
READ: What Donovan Jackson returning for senior season means to Buckeyes
RB TreVeyon Henderson — RETURNING
Henderson is coming back to make up one half of arguably the best running back tandem in college football. He’ll be joined by Quinshon Judkins, who the Buckeyes reeled in from the transfer portal. Henderson is coming off a strong junior season, in which he bounced back from an injury-riddled 2022 and recorded more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage with 926 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground, plus 19 receptions and 229 receiving yards. Henderson missed three games in the middle of the season but returned to jolt the Buckeyes’ offense, as a runner and as a receiver.
READ: What TreVeyon Henderson returning means for Ohio State
RB Miyan Williams — DECLARED FOR NFL DRAFT
Williams is off to the NFL after missing the final seven games of the year with an undisclosed season-ending injury. He led the team with 817 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground during the 2022 campaign, despite dealing with knee, hand and lower-leg injuries. But, even before his injury in 2023, he wasn’t as productive as Henderson and fellow running back Chip Trayanum. Williams wrapped up his Buckeyes career with 1,555 rushing yards, 20 rushing touchdowns and 143 receiving yards.
READ: Buckeyes tailback Miyan Williams enters NFL Draft
WR Marvin Harrison Jr. — DECLARED FOR NFL DRAFT
Harrison could become the highest-drafted wide receiver since Calvin Johnson in 2007 if he’s selected in the top three this spring. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound phenom is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison Sr. But the younger Harrison has made a name for himself. He broke onto the scene at the end of the 2021 season with a three-score performance in the Rose Bowl. Then he became the first Ohio State player to ever record 1,000 receiving yards in two separate seasons. His 2023 campaign saw him catch 67 passes for 1,211 yards and 14 touchdowns. Harrison won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the best receiver in college football, and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy award.
WR Emeka Egbuka — RETURNING
Egbuka is returning and is in line to be the Buckeyes’ top receiver in 2024. He entered the 2023 season as not only the second-best wideout at Ohio State but arguably as the second-best receiver prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. An ankle injury Week 6 derailed what could have been another prolific season for Egbuka, who wound up missing the next three games. He came back Week 10 at Rutgers and finished the year with 41 catches for 515 yards and four touchdowns, including one score in the regular season finale at Michigan. Egbuka stepped up earlier in the year with a 3rd-and-19 catch at Notre Dame that set the stage for the Buckeyes’ last-second, game-winning touchdown. Egbuka posted 74 receptions, 1,151 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns — not to mention two rushing scores — in 2022.
READ: What Emeka Egbuka returning for senior season means to Buckeyes
TE Cade Stover — TBD
NOTE: Stover hasn’t officially announced his plans for 2024, but his 2023 campaign felt like his final season at Ohio State as soon as he revealed he was coming back last winter. Stover made no mention of a possible sixth season when he met with media leading up to the Cotton Bowl.
