As we continue to march through fall camp and head towards the beginning of the college football season, we’ve seen plenty of Ohio State players receive preseason accolades and honors. The Buckeye program always has a few players mentioned among the best in the country because — well — it IS Ohio State after all.
This week, two OSU players received another preseason honor when ESPN announced its preseason 2025 College Football All-American team. And while there are plenty of Ohio State players that could have been mentioned, and maybe just missed the cut, there are two that continue to appear on everyone’s preseason list of best players as members of ESPN’s first-team preseason All-American squad.
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On offense, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith was honored with ESPN gushing about the star wide receiver and perhaps the best player in all the game.
“Smith returns as college football’s premier player and the one who strikes the most fear into opposing defensive coordinators’ hearts,” wrote Chris Low. “The 6-3, 225-pound sophomore is a nightmarish matchup for defensive backs with his blend of size, strength and speed. He had 17 touchdown catches last year, including four in the Buckeyes‘ first two playoff games, and averaged 17.5 yards per catch.”
On the defensive side, you can once again guess which OSU player was recognized on the first team, none other than all-everything safety Caleb Downs.
“Downs came into college football as one of the top prospects in the country, played that way as a freshman at Alabama and took yet another step this past season after transferring to Ohio State and helping lead the Buckeyes to the national championship,” Low said. “The prototypical safety, Downs was third on Ohio State’s team last season with 81 tackles, 7 ½ of them for loss, and had two interceptions.”
It should be noted that there was also one other Ohio State player who was mentioned on ESPN’s second-team, and that was tight end Max Klare. He, too, is expected to do big things and build off of what he did at Purdue. In other words, there is still plenty of talent in the cupboard on the banks of the Olentangy.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Two Ohio State players make ESPN’s preseason CFB All-American team