The Ohio State Buckeyes are ready to reload with talent after losing a ton of talent to the 2025 NFL Draft. With the Buckeyes winning the national title in 2024, they are ready to make a run at it once again with different players on the roster and different contributors.
One potential name to watch out for on defense during the 2025 college football season is defensive tackle Eddrick Houston. Houston will be entering his sophomore season for the Buckeyes. He is 6’3″ and weighs 270 lbs. Houston is projected to be one of the starting defensive tackles for Ohio State for the 2025 season.
College Football Analyst Believes Ohio State Buckeyes Defensive Tackle Eddrick Houston Will Be a Breakout Star For This Team
Michael Cohen of foxsports.com listed 10 different players who could potentially be on the verge of a breakout in 2025. Well, Cohen thinks that the Buckeyes sophomore defensive lineman is on the verge of having a big year. He said about Houston potentially being a star for Ohio State in 2025,
“One of the prevailing storylines surrounding Ohio State’s national championship last season was the value of experience for a team that did an exemplary job preserving its roster over the winter. By retaining key pieces from a 2021 recruiting class that ranked No. 2 in the country coming out of high school, the Buckeyes entered the year with a handful or more of NFL-caliber players who formed the backbone of head coach Ryan Day’s squad. That the Buckeyes went on to have 15 players selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, including seven in the first two rounds alone, offered even more proof of how skilled the team’s nucleus really was.
No position group housed more future pros than the defensive line, which saw all four starters drafted: Tyleik Williams at No. 28 overall, JT Tuimoloau at No. 45 overall, Jack Sawyer at No. 123 overall and Ty Hamilton at No. 148 overall. Their collective stranglehold on available snaps last season is why most college football fans probably aren’t familiar with Houston.
But those in and around the Ohio State program believe Houston, a former five-star prospect and the No. 26 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle, might be the program’s next great defensive lineman. Houston chose the Buckeyes from a loaded crop of suitors that included Georgia, Clemson, USC and Alabama, among others, with the Crimson Tide making such a strong push last December that some industry experts predicted a last-minute flip.
In the end, however, defensive line coach Larry Johnson and the Buckeyes held firm to a player who is now the ninth-best defensive linemen to sign with the program in the recruiting rankings era behind Tuimoloau, Sawyer, Noah Spence, Nick Bosa, Chase Young, Zach Harrison, Adolphus Washington and Taron Vincent — a star-studded group of contemporaries. A significant chunk of Houston’s rookie season was spent adjusting from defensive end to defensive tackle, the role he is expected to fill in 2025. His playing time increased throughout the year and peaked during the College Football Playoff when he averaged 13.8 snaps per game.”
Ohio State runs a 4-3 defensive scheme, and it will be interesting to see how the Buckeyes defensive front will produce with a lot of talent gone to the NFL. To go along with Houston, the other projected starters on Ohio State’s defensive line for now will be Kenyatta Jackson Jr., Kayden McDonald, and Beau Atkinson. Houston during the 2024 college football season for Ohio State recorded seven tackles and two pass deflections.
He didn’t record a sack during the 2024 season, but Houston will be on the field more often and will have a chance to show his skills on the field. Ohio State is very high on the former five-star recruit. This defensive line is going to be tested right out of the gates in Week 1 against the Texas Longhorns. There is no doubt that Houston has a chance to be the next great defensive lineman for this football program.
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