The Buckeyes are set to kick off their season Saturday against Florida Atlantic, and now we have a better idea who will start that game. The first 2019 Ohio State depth chart was just released.
The starters at a number of positions won’t come as a big surprise.
As announced earlier this month, Justin Fields will start at quarterback. J.K. Dobbins is the running back, Chase Young is starting at defensive end… this isn’t exactly news.
As Ryan Day said Monday, senior RT Branden Bowen got the starting nod over redshirt freshman Nicholas Petit-Frere.
Four of the five starting jobs along the offensive line are going to different players than a year ago.
LT Thayer Munford is the only returning starter. Rutgers transfer Jonah Jackson is the top man at LG, Josh Myers won the center job, and Wyatt Davis will start at RG after taking over that role for the last two games of 2018.
The wide receiver unit seems to have a few players who have separated themselves. Austin Mack and Chris Olave are listed as co-starters at Z. Binjimen Victor is the only starter at X, and K.J. Hill is the only starter at H.
On the defensive side of the ball, with Jonathon Cooper out, Jashon Cornell slides outside from his usual 3-tech defensive tackle position to pair up with Chase Young.
Pete Werner and Malik Harrison are returning starters at the SAM and WILL linenbacker spots, respectively. But there is one interesting development: Tuf Borland and Baron Browning are listed with an “OR” at the MIKE. That means the battle for that starting spot isn’t quite settled yet.
Damon Arnette and Jeff Okudah are the starting corners, with Shaun Wade at the slot corner position. Jordan Fuller returns at free safety, the deep safety spot. Brendon White is listed as the strong safety, which is how they’ve designated the Bullet position.
K.J. Hill is the starter at punt returner, and Demario McCall and Chris Olave have an “OR” between them for the starter at kick return.
Gunnar Hoak and Chris Chugunov are listed with an “OR” at the backup quarterback spot.
Garrett Wilson and Jaylen Harris have an “OR” at the backup X receiver position, while Jaelen Gill is the only backup listed at H with C.J. Saunders out.
Luke Farrell has the starting tight end spot to himself this week with Rashod Berry out, and Jeremy Ruckert at Jake Hausmann are listed with an “OR” as the backup.
The battle for the backup running back position behind Dobbins is still very much up in the air. Demario McCall, Master Teague, Marcus Crowley, and Steele Chambers are all listed with an “OR”, meaning any of them could conceivably be the No. 2 back.
There is some significant intrigue with some of the backup spots on defense. The players separated by “OR” are not in alphabetical order, and aren’t listed by seniority, either. If the first guy listed genuinely has a leg up on the players he is listed with, then true freshman Zach Harrison and redshirt freshman Javontae Jean-Baptiste are slightly ahead of sophomores Tyreke Smith and Tyler Friday at the moment.
That is particularly interesting because Day mentioned Harrison and Jean-Baptiste first on Monday when he was talking about the depth at that position.
“In terms of defensive end? Obviously Chase is there and Javontae Jean-Baptiste has come along. Zach Harrison will play this year. He’s ready at the beginning of his career. He’s got a huge ceiling; the more he plays the better he’ll get. And you have Tyreke Smith and Tyler Friday as well,” Day said.
It’s not definitive, and it could simply be related to Smith and Friday being listed as game-time decisions on the availability report, but those are two pieces of information that suggest that Harrison and Jean-Baptiste have made a major leap this offseason.
A few of the backup linebackers have been shuffled around. Dallas Gant is now listed as a MIKE, and Teradja Mitchell is now backing up Harrison at the WILL.
Cameron Brown and Sevyn Banks are the backup corners, with Amir Riep OR Marcus Williamson at the slot position.
Finally, Isaiah Pryor and Josh Proctor are listed with an “OR” at the backup free safety spot. Pryor started for the first half of the 2018 season, and Proctor’s name came up frequently during fall camp as someone who was standing out as a playmaker.
You can see the full depth chart below, or click the link at the bottom of the page for a downloadable PDF version.
Ohio State Depth Chart 2019 FAU
Interesting …