COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football’s Caleb Downs was honored Tuesday as a finalist for two national awards.
The star safety is a finalist for the Thorpe Award and the Bednarik Award.
The former goes to the nation’s top defensive back while the latter is awarded to the country’s best defender.
Defensive end Chase Young (2019) is the lone Buckeye to ever win the Bednarik Award. Antoine Winfield (1998) and Malcolm Jenkins (2008) are the only Thorpe Award winners from Ohio State.
Downs, a sophomore, is in his first season with the Buckeyes. He transferred from Alabama in the offseason where he was the Southeastern Conference’s freshman of the year in 2023.
With Ohio State, he’s collected 50 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss. Among Big Ten safeties who have played at least 406 snaps this season, Downs has the second-best defensive grade, according to Pro Football Focus.
Downs has also factored into special teams for the Buckeyes, highlighted by his 79-yard punt return touchdown Saturday against Indiana.