Real Pod Wednesdays: Ohio State’s Most Important Players for the 2024 Season

Ohio State’s 2024 roster is loaded with star players, but some of them would be tougher to replace than others.

While there’s no question that the likes of Denzel Burke, Jack Sawyer and Emeka Egbuka rank among Ohio State’s best players entering the 2024 season, the Buckeyes have enough depth at each of their positions to be OK if someone misses time. Losing a starting offensive tackle, safety or Will Howard, on the other hand, could be more concerning.

On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we discuss which Ohio State players most need to stay healthy and perform well for the Buckeyes to achieve their goals of beating Michigan, winning the Big Ten and winning the national championship this season.

Later in the show, we also discuss the ongoing backup quarterback competition between Devin Brown and Julian Sayin, why Justin Frye should be on the hot seat and why we think the Buckeyes got it right with their captain selections.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

0:00 Intro
4:12 As Ohio State’s New Starting QB, Will Howard Stands Out As Important Player
11:03 Why Josh Simmons, Josh Fryar Might Actually Be OSU’s Most Indispensable Players
17:12 Ohio State’s Most Important Defensive Player: Caleb Downs or Lathan Ransom?
20:33 Jordan Hancock’s Unique Skill Set at Nickel Makes Him One of Most Vital Defenders
23:45 Cody Simon, Ty Hamilton Are Important Defenders Who Shouldn‘t Be Overlooked
28:20 Donovan Jackson Being Dominant is Crucial to Offensive Line’s Success
30:25 Why Will Kacmarek Might Be the Most Important Non-QB or Lineman on Offense
33:09 Both Top Running Backs Are Needed, But We’re Confident in James Peoples
35:57 Who is More Likely to Start A Game This Season: Devin Brown or Julian Sayin?
41:25 Only A National Championship-Caliber Offensive Line Should Save Justin Frye’s Job
50:08 Sawyer, Simon, Egbuka and Henderson Were The Captains We Expected

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#GoBucks

[DougSheppardSr]

Zen Michalski was the number two left tackle behind Paris Johnson in’22. Imagine how bad that season would have went if Paris went down.
I’m rooting for Zen to get playing time and be good at it because Everything Zen

[DougSheppardSr]

Will Howard will not be scared that will be an upgrade over last season

[DougSheppardSr]

On another site they reported Justin Frye had to be forced into offering the Armstrong twins. If this is correct Frye should have been made to find his own way home after the Cotton Bowl disaster.

[DougSheppardSr]

McCord needed to slide to his right a step or two away from the defensive pressure he moved towards the pressure

[DougSheppardSr]

Pass protection is the highest hurdle for freshmen running backs to clear.

[DougSheppardSr]

Is Ramzy going to be joining you guys regularly?
Andy needs to change the angle of his camera