With the deadlines to enter the NFL draft and the transfer portal now passed, Ohio State knows what its 2025 roster will look like entering the spring.
While it’s still possible that Ohio State could add transfers to its roster, the window for players from Ohio State – and all other schools – is now closed until the 10-day post-spring window from April 16-25. Any further transfer additions for 2025 are most likely to come after spring practice, as most of the top players who entered the portal this winter are now enrolled at new schools, while it’s not expected that Ohio State will make any late additions to its 2025 high school recruiting class.
Given that, we’re taking a first look at how Ohio State’s 2025 roster stacks up at every position now that we know which Buckeyes are staying in Columbus, who’s going to the NFL and who’s transferring elsewhere.
The following roster breakdown includes all players who were on the team this past season that have not exhausted their eligibility, entered the NFL draft or entered the transfer portal, along with all players who signed with the Buckeyes as either a member of their 2025 recruiting class or a transfer.
Walk-ons are denoted with an asterisk. Some walk-ons from the 2024 season could lose their roster spots for 2025 with the impending roster trim from 120 players to 105, but walk-ons with remaining eligibility who did not participate in Senior Day or enter the transfer portal are listed as returning.
Sayin, Kienholz and St. Clair will all compete for the starting quarterback job this offseason; Sayin is viewed as the frontrunner, but Kienholz will also get a shot to win the job and St. Clair’s five-star talent gives him a chance to be an immediate factor in the competition.
Maggs is a walk-on who spent much of this past season with the running backs, so Ohio State would ideally like to have one more quarterback on scholarship by the start of the season. Any such addition would likely be a veteran transfer who’s comfortable with playing a backup role, similar to the additions of Tristan Gebbia, Gunnar Hoak and Chris Chugunov in recent years.
Running Backs
Returning: James Peoples, TC Caffey*, Rashid SeSay*, Chase Brecht*
Incoming: CJ Donaldson, Bo Jackson, Anthony “Turbo” Rogers, Isaiah West
Outgoing: TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins, Sam Williams-Dixon
Peoples is the only scholarship running back from Ohio State’s 2024 roster returning for 2025, but the Buckeyes added some much-needed experience with the transfer addition of Donaldson, who ran for more than 2,000 yards in three seasons at West Virginia. Donaldson and Peoples are expected to lead Ohio State’s 2025 running back room in one order or the other, but the door is open for all of Jackson, Rogers and West to compete for immediate playing time.
Wide Receivers
Returning: Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss, Bryson Rodgers, Mylan Graham, Damarion Witten, David Adolph, Dorian Williams*, Nolan Baudo*, Shawn Lodge*, Brennen Schramm*, Reis Stocksdale*
Incoming: Phillip Bell, De’zie Jones, Bodpegn Miller, Quincy Porter
Outgoing: Emeka Egbuka, Kojo Antwi, Jayden Ballard, Joop Mitchell*
Ohio State’s wide receiver corps projects to be the best in the country once again in 2025 with Smith, Tate and Inniss returning to lead the way and Graham and Rodgers topping the candidates to play bigger roles behind them. With 11 wide receivers on scholarship, Brian Hartline’s position room remains in very healthy shape.
