Buckeyes have multiple highly touted underclassmen ready to make an impact during 2024 college football season

Ohio State’s 2024 roster is loaded with senior talent who decided to come back to Columbus with a common goal in mind of winning it all.

Still, the Buckeyes have underclassmen that are ready to make an impact and will make an impact. The Buckeyes have a few players who won’t be draft-eligible that will be a positive for the team.

S Caleb Downs

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. The moment that Downs decided to transfer to Ohio State, he gave the Buckeyes one of the best defenders in the country. Downs likely won’t leave the field hardly and that is a good thing for defensive coordinator Jim Knowles . Downs made over 100 tackles last season to lead Alabama and he added a pair of interpositions. The Buckeyes lucked out that Nick Saban retired.

WR Carnell Tate

For a freshman, Tate had a pretty strong season last year with the Buckeyes. He had 264 receiving yards and a touchdown. Getting playing time as a freshman wideout in Columbus has not been easy in past years and only the best of the best have done it.

Tate has a chance to be one of the primary wide receivers for Ohio State along with Emeka Egbuka and the next guy we will talk about. The 6-foot-3 wideout has the skill set to be a big weapon on the outside.

WR Jeremiah Smith

Freshman football players like Smith don’t come around often and that is why he was the No. 1 player in the country coming out. Smith had a strong spring and offseason to put him into position to be a big part of the offense as a true freshman. A legit 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, Smith is already built like a power-four college starter.

Smith has a chance to be right there with Egbuka and Tate as a primary target for Will Howard. Ohio State was careful with Smith in the spring game and that should tell you everything you need to know bout how high the Buckeyes are on him.

CB Jermaine Mathews Jr.

As a redshirt freshman last season, Mathews was a part of the cornerback rotation and was pretty solid. In nine games, Mathews made 13 tackles and recorded his first career interception. Expect Mathews to play a ton behind Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun.

LB Arvell Reese

Reese is the backup MIKE linebacker for the Buckeyes behind Cody Simon. Reese now loves up the depth chart with a couple of other players leaving for the NFL. Reese only played in 53 plays on special teams last season but will have an impact on defense this season.

Related: Forgotten five-star recruit surprisingly named most important player for Ohio State in 2024