How Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams and the rest of Ohio State’s defense graded vs. Iowa

October 7, 2024

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How Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams and the rest of Ohio State’s defense graded vs. Iowa

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State came into a game against Iowa looking to shut down the Hawkeyes’ star running back and did just that in a 35-7 win.

Kaleb Johnson had run for at least 100 yards in every game this season coming into Saturday and the last time Iowa played, he had a career-high 206 yards. But the Buckeyes held him to just 86 yards with 28 of them coming against the backups in an already-decided game.

The win provided a chance for OSU to solidify itself as one of the nation’s best run defenses, especially when healthy upfront. The defensive line led the charge on Saturday with three of its four starters holding the highest Pro Football Focus grades.

Ty Hamilton held the highest turning five tackles, a tackle for loss and a strip sack into a career-high 90.8 grade. Jack Sawyer followed with an 89.2 to go along with three tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks including a strip sack. Tyleik Williams returned to the field after two weeks off to record two tackles and an 87.1 grade.

Here’s how the rest of the defense graded:

(PFF grades every player on every play and uses a scale of 0-100, with higher grades indicating better play. PFF has explained its grades this way: 100-90 elite; 89-85 Pro Bowler; 84-70 starter; 69-60 backup; 59-0 replaceable. In other words, it’s similar to how we would match up percentages with traditional letter grades in school.)

DEFENSIVE END

Jack Sawyer: 89.2 (35)

J.T. Tuimoloau: 70.6 (35)

Caden Curry: 63.1 (15)

Eddrick Houston: 59.8 (3)

Kenyatta Jackson: 58.7 (19)

Mitchell Melton: 43.4 (5)

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

Ty Hamilton: 90.8 (30)

Tyleik Williams 87.1 (35)

Kayden McDonald: 73.0 (5)

Hero Kanu: 51.4 (5)