The 2020 football season may be still somewhat up in the air, but this year’s Ohio State football captains are now official.
Tuesday afternoon, the Buckeyes announced that seven players would serve as captains for this fall.
Among them are two returning captains, linebacker Tuf Borland and defensive end Jonathon Cooper.
The five first-time captains are QB Justin Fields, OL Wyatt Davis and Josh Myers, LB Justin Hilliard, and CB Shaun Wade.
One player who served as a captain in 2019, WR CJ Saunders, was not selected as a captain this season. Saunders missed the entire 2019 season with an injury. Tuesday, Ohio State announced that the NCAA did not grant him a waiver for a sixth season, so his playing career is now over.
Borland is just the second player in program history to serve as a three-time captain, joining QB JT Barrett.
Fields returns for his second season as a Buckeye following a breakout sophomore year where he threw for 41 touchdowns against just three interceptions.
This marks the first time since Barrett left in 2017 that an Ohio State quarterback has served as a team captain.
Davis and Myers were among the easiest captains to project this season. Both have served as team leaders and are projected to be all-conference and perhaps all-American players this fall.
On defense, Cooper and Hilliard are both back for their fifth seasons with the program due to injuries. Cooper took a redshirt in 2019 after suffering an ankle injury. He saved his fourth game to play against Michigan, and recorded a sack in the Buckeyes 56-27 win.
Hilliard has battled several different injuries over the course of his career, but had seemingly fought his way into the rotation for playing time at linebacker during the spring.
Wade turned down the chance to enter this spring’s NFL Draft and returned for his redshirt junior season. He mainly played slot corner last season, but is expected to move outside this fall.
