Three underclassmen who will impact the Ohio State football team

The Ohio State football team is going to be led in 2024 by a lot of upperclassmen. Most of them decided to come back this season to make a run at a national championship and to beat Michigan. Quite a few of them will be high draft picks as well.

Just because the team is full of upperclassmen doesn't mean that they are going to be the only ones making an impact. There are a lot of players who are young that will be starters or backups that make an impact on this year's team. In fact, the Buckeyes have a whole host of younger players who are fighting for playing time in the Fall.

There are three underclassmen who are going to make an impact on the 2024 team more than others. All of them are going to be focal points of the team, specfically the offense. The first player on this list is someone who has been getting a lot of hype in the offseason.

1. Jeremiah Smith

No freshman has had as much hype surrounding him on the offensive side of the ball in the last ten years than Jeremiah Smith. Smith was the number-one recruit in the country in the 2024 recruiting class. He has shown why in several different practices during the Spring.

Smith is in line to be either the third or fourth receiver on the depth chart. He is going to get a lot of playing time, especially early on when the Buckeyes play in the non-conference part of their schedule. They have an easy non-conference schedule for once this year.

Having a new quarterback in Will Howard should help Smith get the ball where he needs it. Smith is a deep threat and has a huge catch radius. He's a threat to get 10-15 yards every time he's on the field. By the time the end of the season comes, he'll have enough reps to feel comfortable in big games.

I fully expect Smith to be an impact player right away. He's too good of an athlete not to. The next player on this list is also on the offensive side of the ball and will be getting more playing time than Smith will.