In the offseason, one of the biggest issues that the Ohio State Buckeyes tried to address was the poor performance of the kicking game. Jayden Fielding couldn't stop missing kicks in big games over the course of his career, including the final two games that he played with the Buckeyes.
As soon as the season ended, the Buckeyes got Connor Hawkins out of the Transfer Portal. Hawkins transferred in from Baylor and is expected to fix the kicking woes. If reports out of the first few days of Fall camp are any indication, the kicking issues are far from being fixed.
Ohio State kickers struggle early in Fall camp
It seems that the kickers still can't get their act together, and Hawkins is included in that.
Immediate Ohio State practice observations:
— Chase Brown (@chaseabrown__) August 8, 2026
• Legend Bey was back but bottled up
• Jay Timmons continues to rise
• Jeremiah Smith — still good at football
• Ohio State’s kickers have a looong way to go after some missed FGs
• Motion, motion and then some more motion
If Ohio State cannot rely on its kickers for what seems like the seventh straight season, that lowers its ceiling. Hawkins was brought in to clean up that problem and give Ryan Day some confidence in the kicking game again. He even passed his first test during spring practice.
However, it seems that the kickers had a massive problem early on in Fall camp. That is the one saving grace for Ohio State football fans. They have time to get the issues cleaned up, whatever they may be. Whether it's a mechanical problem or a confidence issue, the kickers have time to fix the problem.
If Hawkins isn't going to be reliable, the Buckeyes will have to consider going for it on fourth down much more often than they have in the past. Day doesn't have a problem being aggressive, but he's toned it down a bit in the last couple of seasons. That has benefitted the team greatly.
The goal is to obviously score touchdowns every drive. If the Buckeyes don't have any competent kickers on the roster, they might be desperate enough to explore a return from Fielding. That would be the nightmare scenario and would likely be a last-ditch effort at saving the position.
Ohio State fans shouldn't panic about the kicking situation yet
While this isn't a good sign, it's still way too early in Fall camp for fans to start panicking about this. There is still a good three weeks before the first game is kicked off in the Shoe. Against Ball State, the Buckeyes shouldn't be kicking a lot of field goals, anyway. That game should be a blowout.
The biggest issue might arise in Week 2 in Austin. That is going to be a lower-scoring game, and Hawkins might need to be counted on. Last season with the Baylor Bears, Hawkins hit on 81.8 percent of his kicks, including a long of 54 yards. He made three of his four kicks from 50+.
Consistency is going to be what is needed out of the kicking game. Ryan Day will certainly have to address this issue if it continues into next week. Until then, chalk this up to Hawkins and the guys having one bad practice early in Fall camp.
Add us as a preferred source on Google