Unlikely as number 1 Ohio State Buckeyes are now Fined and Suspended for this season for failing to h….

Unlikely as number 1 Ohio State Buckeyes are now Fined and Suspended for this season for failing to h….

More preseason honors came in, as running back James Peoples was named to the Doak Walker Watch List.

A member of the 2024 class, Peoples was the team’s No. 3 running back behind Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson. Both running backs were taken in the top 40 of the NFL Draft.

Peoples had 49 carries for 197 yards and two touchdowns last season, with a season-best 10 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown against Western Michigan last September.

Now, he’s set to be the team’s leading ball-carrier in his second season alongside West Virginia transfer CJ Donaldson.

“He’s playing so fast right now,” linebackers coach James Laurinaitis said Wednesday. “When he was young, trying to teach him the scheme and everything about college football, it was a lot. It was overwhelming. You had to pare it down.”

Reese, who had 43 tackles a year ago, was the team’s third linebacker last season behind Styles and Cody Simon. Former defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said last September that Reese was on, “A structured course to greatness.”

That course has seemingly come to fruition.

When asked about how defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and Laurinaitis were using him in the defense, Reese simply said that they were doing a lot of different things defensively.

The expectation, though, and conventional wisdom, would have you believe that Reese won’t simply be an off-ball linebacker in 2025. Rather, Ohio State will be able to use him in a variety of ways to maximize his skillset, and cause headaches for opposing offenses.

“I feel like I’m always around the ball,” Reese said. “I’m sideline to sideline. I think I could do a lot of stuff on the field too. A lot of different things.”