Ohio State football: Buffalo depth chart

Looking at the offense first, there's no surprise at the top. Guiton once again earns the back-up role behind Miller, and is completely capable of coming in and taking control of the offense in case of injury. Both Carlos Hyde and Rod Smith are suspended for the Buffalo game, so they are not featured on the depth chart this week. Instead, senior RB Jordan Hall will take the first snaps as the number one running back. Backing up Hall, the depth chart lists Bri'onte Dunn OR Warren Ball, which most likely means we'll be seeing both backs at some point in the game, due to the offensive scheme of using Jordan Hall in a variety of positions.

At the wide receiver position, Philly Brown and Devin Smith will be sharing time as the number one's for the "X" position with Michael Thomas deeper on the depth chart. Although we heard a little about it earlier this week, a bit of a surprise came at the "Z" position with Evan Spencer starting for Ohio State. Freshman James Clark is no lock to play, but will backup to Spencer.

For the H-back position, Chris Fields is listed as the starter, and is someone the coaching staff has been praising just about all off-season as improving. Backing up Fields will be the freshman sensation Dontre Wilson, followed by another freshman in Jalin Marshall. Expect to see a some different packages with Wilson and potentially  Marshall during the game against Buffalo.

Head coach Urban Meyer has been quoted as saying he's really excited about the tight end position this fall. Jeff Heuerman will get the starting nod, but Nick Vannett will be used often as well. Meyer has praised both tight ends as being one of the best he's had.

For offensive line, there's no real surprise and expectations are high for this group. From left to right, Jack Mewhort, Andrew Norwell, Corey Linsley, Marcus Hall and Taylor Decker are extremely capable and have a healthy amount of game experience. It could be argued that as the offensive line goes, so does the Ohio State offense. With the exception of Decker, everybody is highly experienced, which  will come in handy early on for this position.

Moving to defense, the defensive line has the potential to be  one of the toughest and deepest positions on the entire team, and perhaps even the country. At defensive end, Adolphus Washington is the starter, with Noah Spence on the opposite side, however, Spence's position will be known as the Viper, which can be used as a combo position for both linebacker and defensive end. Backing up Washington will be freshman Joey Bosa OR Purdue transfer Rashad Frazier. At nose guard, I was a little surprised to see the staff starting Joel Hale over sophomore Tommy Schutt. Schutt is listed as the back-up tackle.

The secondary was relatively known coming in with Armani Reeves filling in for All-American preseason candidate Bradley Roby. Freshmen Gareon Conley and Cam Burrows will back him up. Ron Tanner as the backup to Christian Bryant follows a week that saw Meyer single out Tanner for working and practicing hard.