3 Ohio State football newcomers who will have the biggest impacts in 2024

Despite having a 56-8 overall and 39-3 Big Ten record as the head coach of Ohio State football, this is the most important year of Ryan Day's career.

The three Big Ten losses have come at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines over the past three seasons and kept the Buckeyes out of the playoff two of those three years. In a place like Columbus where all that matters is beating Michigan and competing for championships, the last couple seasons have been disappointments and caused many to question the future of Day at Ohio State.

While the Buckeyes do have tons of high-level players returning on both sides of the ball, they still utilized the transfer portal to form what is arguably one of the best on paper rosters college football has ever seen.

Here are the three biggest newcomers who will have the biggest impact for Ohio State this season.

1. Caleb Downs, S

Caleb Downs was arguably the top target in the transfer portal this offseason after being part of the mass exodus from Alabama following the retirement of Nick Saban.

Despite only being a freshman last year he was one of the best players on the defensive side of the ball in all of college football. In his first season he earned SEC freshman of the year along with being a freshman all-American. Downs possess great athleticism, pass coverage skills, and showed that he is not afraid to come up and have an impact in the run game as he led the SEC in solo tackles with 70 last season.

The Buckeyes' defense is already solid up front, and this is a great addition to their back end that has been shaky the past couple of years.