The Scarlet and Gray

[toysoldier00]

Jelani Thurman Plans to Redshirt, Will Sit Out Rest of Regular Season
By Zachary Anderson on October 1, 2025


Jelani Thurman has appeared in all four of Ohio State's games, recording two receptions for 10 yards.



Ohio State's is expected to get thinner at tight end for the remainder of the regular season.

Junior Jelani Thurman is planning to redshirt, a move that will require him to sit out the rest of the regular season in order to preserve that extra year of eligibility. Thurman has appeared in each of Ohio State’s first four games, meaning he can’t see the field again until the postseason, without burning the redshirt.

Thurman’s on-field production has been limited through the opening month, as he’s caught two passes for 10 yards while playing 61 snaps. Even with his athleticism and physicality, Thurman has worked primarily as Ohio State’s third tight end behind junior Max Klare and veterans Will Kacmarek and Bennett Christian, keeping his weekly role modest in an offense that doesn't particularly feature the tight ends.

From a roster-management standpoint, the decision is understandable. Kacmarek and Christian are both seniors and will be out of eligibility after this season, and Klare could have an NFL decision to make after the year. If Klare elects to leave early, Ohio State’s tight end room would look dramatically different entering 2026, and Thurman would be positioned to step into a significantly larger role with a year of development banked and two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Thurman is a junior, so redshirting this season would allow him to return in 2026 still with two years left to play. That kind of long-term runway matters at a position where Ohio State has valued experience, versatility and blocking reliability as much as receiving production.

In the short term, Ohio State will move forward with a tighter rotation at the position, leaning on Klare as the top option while Kacmarek and Christian handle the veteran workload behind him. For Thurman, the redshirt serves as a reset, a strategic pause now, with the expectation that a more meaningful opportunity could be waiting on the other side.

[James]

Your way of adding in the greater college football landscape really sets your chises apart from the other ones.

[Caesar]

Big win and another commitment, definitely can’t complain about that week

[ShireNiner]

A junior going for a redshirt is not common to see. Hopefully it does not backfire and he ends up transferring then

[toysoldier00]

Week 6 Preview: Miami–Florida State Sets the State on Fire While Vanderbilt Tries to Do It Again

Marissa Bleday
October 2, 2025


College football doesn’t always give you a clean, cinematic “this is what the season is about” weekend in early October. Week 6 does. GameDay is headed to Tallahassee for a top-five showdown with real stakes, real history and the kind of in-state tension that makes a regular-season Saturday feel like a referendum.

Miami arrives unbeaten and perched at No. 3, rising into the vacuum created by a chaotic month that already knocked down Penn State, LSU and Georgia. But the Hurricanes aren’t just benefiting from mayhem, they’ve earned oxygen with “prove it” wins over Notre Dame and Florida, then backed it up by surviving the kind of tricky spot that trips up contenders against a South Florida team that refused to play the role of tune-up.

“You don’t win anything in September,” Mario Cristobal said this week, “but you can absolutely lose your edge in September. Our standard is to show up every single week like the opponent is top-five.” The early returns have matched that tone, especially on defense, where Reuben Bain Jr. has been a weekly problem and Miami’s pass rush has given the Hurricanes an identity beyond highlight throws.

And yet, the face of Miami’s season is still Carson Beck, the transfer who slid into a roster that looks built to carry a quarterback rather than beg one. Beck’s numbers read like a Heisman résumé and his week-to-week command has been steady enough that Miami hasn’t needed to chase perfection. That matters in Tallahassee, where Florida State can turn a game into a track meet, a fistfight or something in between depending on how Tommy Castellanos is feeling. “He’s a competitor, and our team feeds off that,” Mike Norvell said this week. “We’ve got to play cleaner football, but I love the response I’ve seen since Sunday.” That response is the story for Florida State: the Seminoles were flying high in the Heisman conversation and ACC title chatter until an overtime stumble at Virginia reminded everyone how small the margins are when special teams slip and one turnover becomes two.

This is the kind of game where the numbers are less important than the leverage points. Miami wants to hit Florida State early, to quiet the crowd and make the game feel like a business trip. Florida State wants to make Hard Rock Stadium’s new kings of Florida prove it under the heat, the noise and the emotional weight of a rivalry that has a habit of producing strange endings. Norvell called it “a four-quarter test of poise,” and that might be the perfect descriptor: Beck has been outstanding, but there’s a difference between throwing into tight windows and operating an offense when every third down feels like a home crowd is trying to rip the play call out of your hands.

If Miami–Florida State is the headline, Vanderbilt’s trip to Alabama is the subplot that could turn into a main story by nightfall. Vanderbilt is 5–0 and still living in the strange space between “cute start” and “take them seriously,” even after last season’s upset of Alabama in Nashville. This week, they get the rematch, only now it’s in Tuscaloosa, and Alabama is coming off a statement win at Georgia that pulled Kalen DeBoer’s team back into the national conversation after a season-opening loss to Florida State. “We’re still building who we are,” DeBoer said earlier this week, “but last Saturday showed what our best can look like. Now the challenge is doing it again.” That’s coach-speak, sure, but it also tells you exactly why this game matters. Alabama can’t afford to treat Vanderbilt like a novelty when Diego Pavia is playing with the confidence of a quarterback who believes he belongs in the Heisman conversation.

Vanderbilt’s pitch is straightforward: they’re efficient, they’re tough, they convert third downs, and they don’t beat themselves. Clark Lea framed it as a mindset game as much as an X’s-and-O’s game. “Our guys don’t need to borrow belief,” Lea said. “They’ve built it. Now we get to test it in the hardest environment we’ll see.” That belief is powered by Pavia’s dual-threat strain on defenses and by Sedrick Alexander’s touchdown binge, which has turned red-zone trips into automatic points. The tension comes from Alabama’s ceiling. Ty Simpson has steadied the Tide through the early turbulence, and the offense has found different ways to produce, not just by force-feeding one star, but by spreading stress across the field. If Alabama plays clean and avoids giving Vanderbilt extra possessions, the talent gap should show. If it gets loose with the football or stalls on third down, Vanderbilt has already proven it can make a favorite sweat.

Beyond the spotlight games, the weekend is loaded with “quietly huge” matchups. Iowa State’s unbeaten run heads to Cincinnati with the Cyclones trying to keep their playoff angle intact while navigating a road environment that can turn ugly if you let it hang around. Boise State’s visit to Notre Dame feels like a season-tilt moment for the Irish, they survived Arkansas, but “survive” isn’t a long-term plan in October. Virginia, fresh off a program-jolting win over Florida State, has to prove it wasn’t a one-off when it goes to undefeated Louisville. And in the Big 12, Texas Tech’s trip to Houston is the kind of early conference game that shapes the middle of the standings before anyone realizes it’s happening.

Week 6 is a crossroads weekend dressed up as a preview. Miami can grab the state. Florida State can take it back. Vanderbilt can force the country to stop squinting at the résumé. Alabama can prove Georgia wasn’t a one-week peak. Either way, this is the kind of Saturday that doesn’t just move teams up and down, it tells you who’s actually real.




[toysoldier00]

Game Preview: Buckeyes Return Home to Meet a Minnesota Team That Finally Found Its Spark
By Zachary Anderson on October 3, 2025





Ohio State's first month has been about proving it can win in more than one way. The Buckeyes opened the season by out-muscling Texas in a statement 31-13 win, handled business against Grambling State and Ohio, then went on the road to Washington and came back with a 37-16 victory that looked like a playoff-caliber team learning how to travel. Now the Buckeyes return to Ohio Stadium for the first true Big Ten “grind” game of the year, a Minnesota team that has been uneven, then suddenly loud.

Ryan Day spent this week reminding anyone who would listen that undefeated résumés don’t come with guarantees. “In the Big Ten, it’s never about what you did last week,” Day said. “It’s about how you prepare this week, because you’re going to get everybody’s best shot.” Minnesota is exactly the kind of opponent that can turn a comfortable afternoon into four quarters of stress if you let it: a power-run identity, a quarterback who is growing up on the job, and a defense that can create chaos with takeaways.

The Gophers’ season has been a zig-zag. They survived Buffalo, sweated out Northwestern State, got punched at Cal, then used a bye week to reset, and the reset showed up in neon against Rutgers. Redshirt freshman Drake Lindsey [Pictured Right], a first-year starter with the classic 6-foot-5 pocket passer build, threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-7 win. That doesn’t erase the earlier clunkiness, but it does change the conversation about what Minnesota can be when it’s on time.

Still, the centerpiece is Darius Taylor. Minnesota relies on him to create the kind of explosive runs that flip a drive, and he’s averaging 6.9 yards per carry with multiple 20-plus-yard bursts already. The problem is he’s running into Ohio State’s most consistent strength: a defense that is built to force opponents into long-yardage situations. If the Buckeyes win early downs, they can make Minnesota live in obvious passing situations and let the pass rush hunt.

That plan gets a little more complicated because Ohio State is expected to be without Sonny Styles. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound senior linebacker is dealing with a hamstring tweak, and his absence removes a player who can erase mistakes with range and violence. It also opens the door for Payton Pierce and Riley Pettijohn to take on more responsibility in real snaps, not just garbage time. The assignment is simple and brutal: tackle Taylor before the play becomes a problem, and keep Lindsey from feeling comfortable enough to sit in the pocket and pick spots.

If Minnesota’s upset path exists, it probably starts on the back end. Sophomore safety Koi Perich has turned ball-hawking into a weekly habit, already snagging four interceptions, including two pick-sixes against Rutgers. That forces an offense to respect the risk that one mistake becomes seven points the other way. Ohio State has been efficient, but not perfect, and Minnesota’s best chance to shorten the game is to steal a possession or two.

The good news for Ohio State is the offense has answers that don’t require perfection. Julian Sayin has settled into the job through four games, and his production, 885 yards, six touchdowns, two interceptions, plus 92 rushing yards, reflects a quarterback who is taking what is there and occasionally creating what isn’t. Against a Minnesota defense that has played well, the goal is less about fireworks and more about staying on schedule.

And the receiver room gives Ohio State a ceiling most teams can’t match. Jeremiah Smith is still the headliner with 32 catches, 378 yards and four scores, but Brandon Inniss has become the surprise weekly nuisance, finding the end zone in three of four games. Minnesota’s secondary has been solid, yet it hasn’t seen a group that can stress every blade of grass like this one can.

Minnesota, meanwhile, arrives thin in the trenches, with injuries taking away key pieces up front. Fleck didn’t pretend the margins are wide. “When you play a team like this, it’s fundamentals and toughness,” Fleck said. “You can’t beat yourself, and you’ve got to make them earn it.” If the Gophers can protect Lindsey, survive early downs, and manufacture a turnover, they can make this interesting. If Ohio State plays clean football, the Buckeyes should turn Minnesota’s spark into another Big Ten win.

Date	Opponent	Stadium	TV	Result
Aug. 30	Texas Longhorns	Ohio Stadium		W, 31-13
Sept. 6	Grambling State Tigers	Ohio Stadium		W, 46-6
Sept. 13	Ohio Bobcats	Ohio Stadium		W, 40-10
Sept. 20	BYE
Sept. 27	Washington Huskies	Husky Stadium		W, 37-16
Oct. 4	Minnesota Golden Gophers	Ohio Stadium		3:30 PM
Oct. 11	Illinois Fighting Illini	Memorial Stadium
Oct. 18	Wisconsin Badgers	Camp Randall
Oct. 25	BYE
Nov. 1	Penn State Nittany Lions	Ohio Stadium
Nov. 8	Purdue Boilermakers	Ross-Ade Stadium
Nov. 15	UCLA Bruins	Ohio Stadium
Nov. 22	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	Ohio Stadium
Nov. 29	Michigan Wolverines	Michigan Stadium

[toysoldier00]

Your way of adding in the greater college football landscape really sets your chises apart from the other ones.

appreciate it! I want it to feel like a real world. To me at least.

Big win and another commitment, definitely can’t complain about that week

100%

A junior going for a redshirt is not common to see. Hopefully it does not backfire and he ends up transferring then

gotta risk it for the biscuit. If he stays I think he’ll be a two year all big ten type player. If not, I’ll have to find someone in the portal, cause tight end is thinnnn.

[djp73]

Go Noles
Minnesota should be light work for y'all

[Soapy]

[toysoldier00]

Go Noles
Minnesota should be light work for y'all

yessir

maybe we'll see you again in 20 years