8 2019 Ohio State Football 9

1. SEASON SETUP2019 marks the 130th season of Ohio State football. The Buckeyes are 911-325-53 all-time and rank second in college football history in total wins.

2. NCAA TOP 10 WINNINGEST PROGRAMS

TEAM WINS1. Michigan.......................... 9532. Ohio State ....................... 9113. Texas ............................... 9084. Alabama .......................... 9055. Nebraska ......................... 8976. Notre Dame .................... 8977. Oklahoma ........................ 8968. Penn State ....................... 8879. USC ................................. 83910. Tennessee ....................... 838

3. SEVEN WILL CAPTAIN THE BUCKEYES IN 2019Ohio State will be led in 2019 by seven captains – SAF Jordan Fuller, LB Tuf Borland, DE Chase Young, DE Jonathon Cooper, WR K.J. Hill, RB J.K. Dobbins and WR C.J. Saunders. Fuller and Borland are repeat selection from 2018 and represent the 13th and 14th two-time captains in program history. Joining Borland and Fuller on the defensive side of the ball, Cooper has played in 33 career games and started 13 times last year. He is majoring in consumer and family financial services. Young led the team in both sacks (10.5) and tackles for loss (15.5) last year while earning second team All-Big Ten honors. He’s a criminology and criminal justice major.

On offense, Dobbins is the first-ever player to rush for 1,000 or more yards as both a freshman and a sophomore. He’s majoring in consumer and family financial services. Hill, who graduated in August with his degree in communications, enters 2019 needing 48 catches to break David Boston’s 20-year-old school record of 191 career receptions. Saunders, who graduated last May with his degree in accounting, initially walked on to the team but earned a scholarship in the spring of 2017.

4. DAY IN OHIO STATE’S 25TH HEAD COACHRyan Day, who begins his head coaching tenure with three victories already on his resume as an interim head coach last season, is the 25th head coach in the history of Ohio State football. He is from Manchester, N.H., is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and is in his 18th season coaching, a tenure that includes two seasons as a quarterback coach in the NFL (2015 with Philadelphia and 2016 with San Francisco).

5. J.K. DOBBINS’ 1,000-YARD RECORDJ.K. Dobbins became the first player in Ohio State history to record 1,000-yard rushing seasons as a freshman and as a sophomore. He finished the 2018 season with 1,053 yards and a team-high 10 touchdowns. He had a school-freshman record 1,403 yards rushing last season.

6. THE GROUND GAMEWhile Ohio State’s offense in 2018 put up historically great passing numbers, the Buckeyes success on the ground has been a constant since 2012. Ohio State’s 23,261 yards rushing since the start of the 2012 season ranks second among Power 5 conference teams and its 5.7 yards per rush is first.

YARDS PER RUSH – 2012-18 (POWER 5 ONLY)1. Ohio State ................... 5.6 yards/rush2. Oregon ............................ 5.6 yards/rush3. Georgia Tech ................... 5.5 yards/rush4. Oklahoma ........................ 5.5 yards/rush5. Wisconsin ........................ 5.5 yards/rush

YARDS PER GAME – 2012-18 (POWER 5 ONLY)1. Georgia Tech ................... 300.8 yards/game2. Oregon ............................ 251.3 yards/game3. Ohio State ................... 246.0 yards/game4. Wisconsin ........................ 241.6 yards/game5. Arizona ............................ 234.6 yards/game

7. CONSECUTIVE 10-WIN SEASONSIn 2018, Ohio State extended its school record of consecutive seasons with 10 or more victories to seven. The streak is currently third-longest nationally.

CONSECUTIVE SEASONS 10-OR-MORE WINS11 ........................................ Alabama8 ........................................ Clemson7 ................................... Ohio State4 ........................................ Oklahoma

8. ANOTHER STREAK EXTENDED IN 2019Ohio State begins the 2019 season ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press preseason poll. It’s the 31st consecutive year that the Buckeyes have been ranked in the AP preseason poll, the longest active streak in the country. It’s also the sixth time in the past seven years the Buckeyes have opened the season ranked among the Top 5 teams in the country, after rankings of Nos. 2, 5, 1, 6, 2 and 5 between 2013-2018, respectively.

9. THE OFFENSENEW FACES IN KEY PLACESRyan Day’s first Ohio State team must replace seven starters from its unit that rewrote the school and Big Ten record books last year. The Buckeyes will have four new starters along the offensive line and a new quarterback. But there will also be plenty of familiar faces, too:

• K.J. Hill returns as a fifth-year senior primed to break David Boston’s 21-year-old record for career receptions. The Little Rock, Ark., native caught 70 passes last year for 885 yards and six touchdowns. He’s caught at least one pass in 34 consecutive games.

• J.K. Dobbins has 28 games of experience under his belt and has put together two outstanding seasons in his first two years with the program. He set a freshman record by rushing for 1,403 yards in 2018 and then came back to rush for 1,053 yards in 2018 to become the first Ohio State back ever to have 1,000-yard seasons as a freshman and as a sophomore.

• Binjimen Victor enters 2019 as one of the most experienced receivers on the 2019 roster. He has played in 33 career games and currently ranks 22nd in school history with 12 touchdown receptions.

• Austin Mack is a well-rounded student-athlete who has made his mark on the field and in the community at Ohio State. A veteran of 34 career games, Mack is tops among returning wide receivers with 19 career starts.

• Luke Farrell is in his fourth season with the program and is an experienced and talented tight end … he has played in 22 games and is coming off a 2018 sophomore season when he led the team’s tight ends with 20 receptions for 205 yards.

• Thayer Munford is the lone returning starter on the offensive line and will be counted on to be a leader on that unit this fall. He started 13 games in 2018 as a sophomore before an injury cost him an appearance in the Rose Bowl.

A LOT OF FIREPOWERFew teams – only three be to exact – have averaged more points per game since the start of the 2017 season (Day’s first on Ohio State’s staff). The Buckeyes’ 41.8 points per game is nearly five points better than the next highest Big Ten team (Penn State, 37.4 points/game)

POINTS PER GAME – 2017-181. Oklahoma ........................ 46.8 points/game2. UCF ................................. 45.7 points/game3. Memphis ......................... 44.2 points/game4. Ohio State ................... 41.8 points/game5. Oklahoma State .............. 41.7 points/game

Perhaps even more impressively, Ohio State is averaging 38.0 points per game against Top 25 teams since 2017 (six games), second best in the nation.

1. Oklahoma State .............. 42.4 pts./game (5 games)2. Ohio State ................... 38.0 pts./game (6 games)3. Texas ............................... 33.7 pts./game (7 games)4. Alabama .......................... 32.3 pts./game (6 games)5. Georgia ........................... 29.3 pts./game (6 games)

10. THE DEFENSESTRENGTH IN NUMBERS ALONG THE DEFENSIVE LINECoach Larry Johnson’s 2019 group returns a total of 228 career games played and 35 starts with the most veteran members of the group fifth-year seniors Jashon Cornell, Davon Hamilton and Robert Landers along with true senior Jonathon Cooper and true junior Chase Young.

LOTS OF LINEBACKERSThe linebacker unit will be an intriguing one in 2019. Led by new coach Al Washington, a Columbus native who attended Bishop Watterson H.S., all three starters from a year ago return, led by senior Malik Harrison and junior Tuf Borland, who were second and third, respectively, on the team in tackles last year. Pete Werner, a first-year starter in 2018 as a sophomore, proved to be a key contributor as well, finishing with 58 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and seven pass breakups while playing in all 14 games. The group will be deep in 2019, as junior Baron Browning, sophomore Teradja Mitchell, sophomore Dallas Gant and sophomore K’Vaughan Pope all appear poised to make their mark.

DBs PRIMED FOR BIG THINGSThe secondary figures to be a strength in 2019 as the group is both talented and experienced. Safety Jordan Fuller, a senior, is a 26-game starter in his career and was the co-leader in tackles last year with 81. The corners are junior Jeff Okudah

and senior Damon Arnette, both of whom have plenty of game experience over the past two years. The safety spot opposite of Fuller was solidified by junior Brendon White over the second half of the 2018 season.

11. BUCKEYES ON PRESEASON WATCH LISTS/PRESEASON HONORSJ.K. DOBBINS:Doak Walker Award Watch ListMaxwell Award Watch ListBig Ten Conference Preseason HonorsSporting News Preseason Second Team All-American

JUSTIN FIELDSMaxwell Award Watch List

JORDAN FULLERThorpe Award Watch ListNagurski Award Watch ListAssociated Press Preseason Second Team All-American

CHASE YOUNGBednarik Award Watch ListNagurski Award Watch ListBig Ten Preseason HonorsSporting News Preseason First Team All-AmericanAssociated Press Preseason First Team All-AmericanESPN Preseason All-American

K.J. HILLBiletnikoff Award Watch List

MALIK HARRISONButkus Award Watch List

TUF BORLANDButkus Award Watch List

LUKE FARRELLMackey Award Watch List

THAYER MUNFORDOutland Trophy Watch List

DRUE CHRISMANRay Guy Watch List

2019 OUTLOOK2019 OUTLOOK