Ohio State Football: Top 5 defensive ends in Buckeye history

With the dominance Chase Young has put on display this season, where does he rank on the list of best Ohio State defensive ends of all-time?

Watching Chase Young dominate offensive lines this year has me thinking about who has been the best Ohio State football defensive ends over the years.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but here are the top five defensive linemen in Buckeye history.

5. Will Smith

Starting out the list is the menacing Will Smith who played for the Buckeyes from 2000 to 2003 and helped lead the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2002.

In that 2002 season, Smith was second on the team in sacks with 5.5 and seventh on the team in tackles. He was an anchor and a leader on a defensive line that held their opponents to under 80 rushing yards per game.

Opponents only averaged 2.6 yards per carry that season on the stout Buckeye defense and Smith was a huge part of that.

The 2002 season was great for Smith because it ended in a championship but the 2003 season was his best, at least statistically. Smith led the team in sacks by a large margin with 10.5, doubling his sack total from 2002.

The 10.5 sacks also rank eighth on the all-time single-season sack list for Buckeyes. Smith was also first on the team in tackles for loss with 20 and sixth in tackles with 49. He was named a first-team All-American in 2003 for his fantastic performance.

On the career leaderboards, Smith is eighth in Buckeye history with 22 sacks in his four-year Buckeye career with most of those sacks coming in his final two years at OSU. It’s easy to see why he made the list.