Ryan Day got honest about a hidden gem player that’s stepping up for Ohio State, and his path is being applauded
The first few games of the season for Ohio State has been telling when it comes to one underrated player stepping up for the Buckeyes.
The Ohio State Buckeyes have made it through non-conference play, and Big Ten conference play begins Saturday against Illinois at home.
Ohio State finished non-conference play with a 2-1 record, with the tough loss against Texas standing out. Starting conference play against Illinois should serve as a solid tune-up before the Buckeyes face the gauntlet of the Big Ten schedule.
Three games in, the roster is starting to reveal itself, but players are still stepping up and roles can shift as the season rolls on.
Ohio State defensive tackle Jason Moore is emerging as one of the Buckeyes’ most impactful interior defensive linemen heading into the key stretch of the 2026 season, and Ryan Day has taken notice.
Jason Moore is making the most of his opportunity
Moore, the former 4-star recruit from Maryland in the class of 2023, has waited his turn at Ohio State. The 6-foot-6, 303-pound defensive tackle hadn’t played much before this season. Going into 2026, he had appeared in just 16 games across his previous three seasons, and his most productive year was 2025, when he made a combined six tackles.
Moore has already surpassed that total. He has nine tackles and a half sack through three games, making this his most productive season in Columbus by a wide margin. He looks like a rising player who is going to see more and more snaps if he continues to show good disruption in the middle of Ohio State’s defensive line.
Day commended Moore on Tuesday for toughing it out and sticking around rather than hitting the transfer portal, something you don’t see often from players who aren’t getting playing time.
“Everybody has their own journey, and for a lot of these guys, it’s just going to put one day in front of the other and stacking days over and over again, which is what Jason has done”, Day said. “And just when you think, man, you know, this isn’t right for me, you know, Ohio State’s not the right place for me. I got to try maybe looking somewhere else. He just kept working and working and working, and then you know he finds himself in a backup role, and then before you know it, you know now he’s finding himself getting a lot more reps.”
Moore is part of a deep defensive tackle rotation at Ohio State
Eddrick Houston, John Walker, and Will Smith Jr. are the other defensive tackles figuring in for the Buckeyes at this point, along with Alabama transfer James Smith. Moore might be playing the best football of any of them all right now, though.
That’s good news for a Buckeyes team that needs a strong presence in the middle this season, even if it’s not going to be the kind of impact Kayden McDonald had last year.
Moore is helping chip away at filling that production, and Day’s recent comments are more fuel to the fire that he’s going to be a bigger part of what Ohio State does going forward.
Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson has a potential late bloomer to work with along the defensive line, and that could pay dividends as the competition ramps up in Big Ten play.
