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Joel Klatt, Bruce Feldman explain why Ohio State is still ‘Class of the Big Ten’ despite inexperience

Spenser Davis

By Spenser Davis

Published:

Ohio State is entering 2021 with a lot of holes to fill from its 2020 team that made the National Championship Game.

But the Buckeyes are still the overwhelming favorites to win another Big Ten title, and several members of FOX’s broadcast team explained why on Friday.

Joel Klatt, Bruce Feldman and Tim Brando got together to preview the Big Ten, and all agreed that the Buckeyes are clearly the “Class” off the conference going into this season.

That’s despite the fact that OSU must replace difference-makers at quarterback, running back and in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

Klatt pointed to Ohio State’s dominance on the recruiting trail as a reason to why it should still run through the Big Ten this season.

“Ohio State is the class of the Big Ten and they have been for the last few years by a wide margin,” Klatt said. “Ohio State has basically all of the 5-star players in the entire Big Ten. They’re concentrated on that roster. They have their coach and obviously they’re going to have to replace their quarterback, but that roster is too deep at almost every single position with someone that could start almost anywhere else in the Big Ten. They are loaded and if they get any sort of quarterback play out of one of these young guys, they’re going to be the class of the Big Ten.”

Feldman agreed, and pointed out that whoever wins Ohio State’s QB competition will have the luxury of throwing to receivers like Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.

“Whoever wins that job is going to inherit the best group of receivers in the country,” Feldman said.

Feldman also said he’s bullish on Ohio State’s talent on the defensive line, and specifically mentioned 5-star pass rusher Jack Sawyer.

“For as much as they lost on defense, they weren’t really special relative to what Ohio State usually is at edge rusher,” Feldman said. “Now they got Jack Sawyer and they really upgraded the talent level in (defensive line coach) Larry Johnson’s room again. I think they could be really nasty up front. They were good last year, but I think they could be really, really good because of the buzz around some of these young edge rushers.”

Here’s a clip of Klatt, Feldman and Brando discussing the Buckeyes on their Big Ten preview show:

Spenser Davis

Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.