The transfer portal is officially open for the spring window. That means that players from across the country will flock to the portal in search of more playing time. Ohio State football players will likely do that too, although they might not lose as many players as some other programs.
Most of the players the Buckeyes were going to lose decided to enter the portal after the 2024 season was over. There are only a few candidates to leave now that the spring portal is open. What makes sense for Ohio State might not make sense for some of those guys.
The Ohio State Buckeyes have lost their first player to the spring transfer portal, and it's at a position where they could use some help. Anthony Venneri, a punter, has decided to enter the transfer portal and will play somewhere else for the 2025 college football season.
Ohio State football player Anthony Venneri enters the transfer portal
Venneri transferred in from Buffalo before the start of last season to compete for the starting job. Despite some solid stats, he was the third-string punter. It was a move that didn't make much sense because of how poorly the Buckeyes punted the ball last season.
The Spring Game didn't exactly show that the Buckeyes have a lot of great options at punter. Neither Joe McGuire nor Nick McLarty looked very good. It was pretty clear to Venneri at this point that he was not going to get a chance to compete for the starting job.
I don't blame Venneri for going back into the portal. He should have gotten more of a chance to compete for the starting job than he was given, especially given his track record coming from Buffalo. Punter is a major concern for Ohio State entering this season.
Ohio State must feel that their punters have more in them than they have shown to this point. Fans are hoping that the punter won't see the field very much this year because the offense will be rocking. That's how they were able to win the national championship last season.