Category: BuckeyeWIre

The Big Ten’s top five defensive ends heading into 2021

How many #Buckeyes will make this top five?

The college football season — and with it, some Ohio State football — kicks off in less than a month, and we have been rolling through the best of the Big Ten at each position. We have already completed our list of top five quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive tackles, guards, and centers.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have arguably the most talented defensive line in all of college football and they have insane depth at the defensive end position. Below we are going to rank the top five defensive ends in the Big Ten and the player or players listed from Ohio State may surprise you.

As always, keep in mind that it’s early in the season and there can be break-out players, injuries, and disappointments, so don’t get too upset with any of this.

Top Ten rated Ohio State running back recruits since 2000

The Ohio State football program has crushed the recruiting trail when it comes to running backs in the last two decades!

The Ohio State Buckeyes football program has had no problem snagging top recruits at the running back position and they have taken that talent and continued to develop them to create absolute studs. As we said previously in our quarterback article, 247Sports only goes back 20 years but we’re looking at the top-rated commits to go to Ohio State during that time. That means no Carlos Snow or Vince Workman and others of course, but still, some insanely talented names are on the list with a few transfers sprinkled in.

A few running backs that just missed the top ten were gems like Ezekiel Elliott, Carlos Hyde, and Daniel “Boom” Herron, but I can assure you that some of the names on this list will take you down memory lane.

More recruiting all-time lists: Top 20 defense | Top 20 offense | Top 10 QBs

Former Ohio State football players in the CFL

The Canadian Football League (CFL) is about to kick off. Did you know these former Ohio State players are playing north of the border?

The Canadian Football League will begin training camp this week with the season kicking off on August 5. There are always a few notable former Buckeyes that continue their gridiron careers up north like Duron Carter, Jonathan Newsome, and Troy Smith from years past. And true to form, there are five memorable OSU names to keep track of for the 2021 season as well.

For those unfamiliar with the CFL, there are nine teams and the field is larger with only three downs. But another key component is that teams are required to maintain a certain number of native Canadians on the roster and on the field, which makes roster sports even more complex.

Below are the five former Buckeyes who are looking to make waves this season in the CFL. Please remember there was not a season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Ohio State basketball lands Louisiana transfer guard Cedric Russell

BOOM! Some surprising transfer news for the Ohio State basketball team on a Friday.

Ohio State filled a big hole in its roster on Friday with the transfer news of Louisiana guard Cedric Russell. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein was the first to report the news.

A fifth-year senior, Russell comes to Columbus to fill the void left by leading scorer Duane Washington’s decision to opt-out of his senior season at Ohio State and keep his name in the 2021 NBA draft.

At 6-foot, 2-inches, and 190-pounds, Russell led the Ragin’ Cajuns in scoring last season, averaging 17.2 points per contest. He was an All-Sun Belt performer that entered his name in the transfer portal on June 30 and chose the Buckeyes over Oklahoma, Marquette, St. John’s, and Texas Tech.

Russell is a scorer first and foremost and can shoot it from deep, nailing 40 percent of his three-point attempts. In other words, he fits the need for scoring from the guard spot, but we’ll have to see how he fits in a Chris Holtmann scheme that likes to distribute the ball to multiple spots on the floor. He averaged just 1.7 assists per contest and 3.2 rebounds in 33.6 minutes of time on the floor.

This is potentially a huge get for the Buckeyes. Russell has the ability and experience to slot into a starting spot at the guard position immediately and will provide an instant solution to more offense from the perimeter.

[lawrence-related id=53164]

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

 

Former Buckeye wins IFL Player Of The Week

A former Buckeye is making moves in the Indoor Football League.

We take great pride at Buckeyes Wire at keeping up with and rooting for former Ohio State players, and this week we have some good news for one former Buckeye receiver. Verlon Reed who spent both 2011 and 2012 with Ohio State as a wide receiver finished his collegiate career at the Division II level with Findlay, and was an absolutely dominating and electric quarterback at that level.

Reed has had a dominant career in the Indoor Football League and exploded on the scene in 2017 when he won IFL Rookie of the Year. During the off-season, the expansion Northern Arizona Wranglers signed Reed and after an up and down start to the season dominated in week ten.

In the franchise’s first-ever win, Reed was responsible for five touchdowns as the Wranglers defeated the Tucson Sugar Skulls 48-44. He had two touchdowns through the air and added three on the ground, including the go-ahead touchdown run with thirty seconds left.

Chris Olave gets compared to current NFL stars by NFL.com

Who does Chris Olave most remind you of in the NFL currently? See what NFL.com says.

Draft season never ends it seems. The Ohio State football squad could realistically have two receivers drafted in the first round for the first time since 2007 when it had Ted Ginn Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez selected within the first 32. That’s because Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson are absolute stars. Speaking of Olave, he was brought up in a recent Daniel Jeremiah article for NFL.com.

Despite the season being shortened due to the COVID-19 situation, Olave recorded 50 receptions for 729 yards and seven touchdowns in seven games. Most expect Olave to take another step forward in 2021, but even if he only maintains his level of play, he will still be in the first-round conversation.

Jeremiah mentions Olave needs to play more physically as both a ball carrier and blocker, but he compares the Buckeye to Jerry Jeudy and Will Fuller who are full-fledged burners and first-round selections in their own right.

Of course, Olave has to put up another game-breaking season like we’ve seen throughout his career and remain healthy, but with such lofty comparisons, it’ll be interesting to see if his draft status next year follows suit.

Every former Ohio State player currently on an NFL roster

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

Former 5-star USC linebacker Palaie Gaoteote appears to now have name in Ohio State student directory

There has been no official word from Ohio State, but USC linebacker Palaie Gaoteote’s name is now appearing in the OSU student directory.

Well, what do we have here? Thanks to a little detective work, it appears as though former USC linebacker Palaie Gaoteote is now appearing in the Ohio State student directory. The discovery appears to have first been made by Buckeye Scoop.

For weeks now, it had been assumed that Ohio State was in the running for the former five-star talent. Once Tennessee linebacker Henry To’o To’o spurned OSU for Alabama through the transfer portal, the word on the street was that the Buckeyes began to turn up the heat on swaying Gaoteote to transfer to the Buckeye program. Gaoteote entered his name into the transfer portal last December and was thought to be leaning towards Texas before Ohio State aggressively entered the picture.

If the literal writing on the OSU student directory is true, Gaoteote would provide some experience and talent to a very young linebacking corps this coming season. The 6-foot, 2-inch, 250-pound junior out of Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas didn’t quite fulfill the promise his recruiting accolades said he would, but he was still a solid starter in the second level of the defense for the Trojans.

We must stress that there has been no official word from Ohio State on the transfer of Gaoteote, but we’ll be on top of it once anything more concrete beomes available.

[listicle id=52386]

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

Jared Sullinger wins MVP of the Korean Basketball League

Former Ohio State basketball big man Jared Sullinger was named MVP of the Korean Basketball League over the weekend.

If you haven’t noticed, former Ohio State basketball star Jared Sullinger absolutely tore it up this season in the Korean Basketball League (KBL). The stats he rolled out on almost a nightly basis were like me playing against toddlers in NBA 2K.

Alas, it all led to his team Anyang KGC winning the league title in a bit of a cakewalk. And of course, the team has one former Buckeye to thank for all of it, with Sullinger being named the MVP of the league. Heck, he even went out the right way by scoring 42 points and grabbing 15 boards to seal the deal and lead his team to a perfect 10-0 record in the playoffs.

Sullinger absolutely dominated the KBL and it’ll be interesting to see if another league takes advantage of his reshaped body and renewed energy next season. He has not been shy about his desire to make a comeback, but it’ll take playing against a higher level of competition for it to be taken seriously.

Either way, congrats to Sully, and here’s to hoping he agrees to play for Carmen’s Crew in “The Tournament” and balls out a little more before ultimately finding his way back in the NBA.

Former Ohio State football player set to participate in The Spring League

Malcolm Pridgeon is the only former Ohio State football player competing in The Spring League this season.

The Spring League is finally kicking off their spring season and it is their biggest yet with eight teams in two different locations. The Spring League views itself as a developmental league and started its humble beginnings as a camp in West Virginia. At the time, it only had two rosters with the games being streamed on Facebook. Now The Spring League is a full-fledged successful alternative football league and the games can be watched on FOX.

During the fall season, the most notable former Ohio State payer to play in the league was J.T. Barret. He had a very solid season and even faced former Michigan Wolverine quarterback Shea Patterson who had a very impressive Spring League season himself (surprise!).

This season, the only former Buckeye is offensive lineman Malcolm Pridgeon who is set to suit up for the Aviators of the North Division. The Ohio State alum should dominate in this league considering that he has technically been with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL the last two seasons. I say technically because Pridgeon did elect to opt out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns.

Pridgeon started at guard for the Buckeyes during the 2018 season and had a fairly unspectacular season, but was able to sign with the Houston Texans as a free agent after going undrafted in the 2019 NFL draft. He was released but did land with the Cleveland Browns.

 

 

Undrafted Ohio State Buckeyes

Which former Ohio State Buckeyes went undrafted in the 2021 NFL draft?

The 2021 NFL draft is over and many former Ohio State Buckeyes have heard their names called, but a few have not and they are anxiously waiting for NFL teams to call them for an undrafted free agent contract offer.

It is not necessarily a career death sentence to go undrafted. Former Buckeyes J.T. Barrett, Austin Mack and Binjimen Victor all went undrafted and found opportunities in various camps. More than a few undrafted prospects have still made a good living and the following are a few more hoping to get a longer look.