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Ohio State on the search for leaders to become captains

The Buckeyes had the most captains they’ve ever had last season.

NCAA Football: Cotton Bowl-Ohio State vs Southern California Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Parris Campbell, a fifth-year senior, is an obvious choice to retain his captaincy from last season. He’s one of the most productive Buckeyes on the offensive side of the ball and also a leader in the locker room.”

- Ryan Ginn, Land of 10

The captains at Ohio State have always been a pretty big deal. After all, it’s a great honor to be selected as a captain for a team with as much history as any other in the country. The Buckeyes last season had their most ever captains on a team, with nine total captains. J.T. Barrett, Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, Jalyn Holmes, Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis, Billy Price, Tracy Sprinkle, and Chris Worley made the cut last season for the honors. Only Campbell and McLaurin return from those nine, and are certainly favorites to be included in the captains group again this season.

As for other candidates, Ryan Ginn of Land of 10 broke down the roster and who would make the most sense as captain. He has Dwayne Haskins a little lower than I would have expected considering the starting quarterback for the team is generally always a captain. It will be interesting to see if Meyer goes with as many captains as he did last season or if he cuts it down. Based off his early spring comments, not a lot of players have truly gone above and beyond in the leadership role, so it’s something to keep an eye on in the future as the decisions get made.


“With that being said, I think that as long as both running backs stay healthy, it’s more likely than not that each will run for 1,000 yards.”

- Ryan Ginn, Land of 10

There is no questioning that Ohio State might have the most talented running back duo in college football entering the 2018 season. J.K. Dobbins is returning after a sensational 1,000-yard season as a true freshman and Mike Weber is looking to pick up where he left off last season after returning from injury midway through the year. A talented tandem in the backfield like that can be dangerous for opponents as was evident last season, when the Georgia Bulldogs rode the legs of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel all the way to the national championship game where they barely lost to Alabama.

Whether or not Dobbins and Weber can live up to that sort of production remains to be seen, but they showed flashes last season of being able to play off each other, not being too worried about getting a rhythm within the offense. With the Buckeyes rolling with Dwayne Haskins at quarterback, that should open things up for the running backs since Haskins isn’t going to be needing the ball in his hands to run and take carries away from Dobbins and Weber.


“She [Carmen Grande] leaves Ball State with 697 assists and finished near the top of the country with 9.2 assists per game in 2017-18 for a Ball State team that went 25-7 and made the second round of the WNIT.”

- Andrew Erikson, The Columbus Dispatch

Chris Holtmann isn’t the only one convincing talented players at other programs to come to Columbus and play basketball. Ohio State women’s basketball head coach Kevin McGuff landed a commitment and transfer from former Ball State’s Carmen Grande (what a great name for a Buckeye). Grande was one of the top players in assists last season and helped guide Ball State to a solid record. Now she’ll try her luck with the Buckeyes.

Grande is also the third graduate transfer in recent weeks to commit to playing for Ohio State in the upcoming season. LaSalle’s Adreana Miller and Cleveland State’s Ashanti Abshaw also join the ranks under McGuff. The Buckeyes were bounced out of the NCAA tournament last season in the second round to Central Michigan, a surprise upset.


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