Matt Patricia made waves this offseason with the longtime NFL assistant taking the defensive coordinator job at Ohio State. Patricia, once the righthand man for Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots, fills the void left behind by Jim Knowles’s departure to Penn State.

Coming off a national title, expectations will be high for Patricia to keep an elite defense rolling under Ryan Day. The hire is not without risk, but it has been viewed as a strong one by many analysts.

On Friday, Patricia made his first comments with the media in Columbus, and one question he tackled relates to which player(s) he is most excited to coach. He did not have to wait long to find his answer.

“It’s hard not to walk into the building and try to find Caleb (Downs) as fast as possible,” Patricia admitted in regards to the All-American safety. “He is unbelievable, amazing player, very versatile. You look at a guy like that and you think ‘Okay, we can do a lot of things with him.’ And he’s super smart, such a great student of the game and his approach is amazing.”

While Downs was the first player mentioned, Patricia had a core group of others he rattled off including Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese, Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Matthews.

“You have so many great players, to me, it’s exciting,” said Patricia.

On the surface, Downs and Styles are likely the 2 most important pieces of the defense returning from a unit that sent a load of talent to the 2025 NFL Draft. Patricia will have to make the most of his first season with those 2 pieces as they will likely both be off to the NFL once the season wraps up.

As for the job itself, Patricia expressed being “so excited” to be at Columbus. While this is Patricia’s first significant college job, he sounds ready for the task at hand.

“Ohio State, everything that it represents, college football… For me, the NFL is great, I had a great run, it was a lot of fun… but I just love the college environment,” said Patricia. “I just love this atmosphere.”

While Patricia has the right level of excitement, he’ll be expected to step in and perform immediately for a defense replacing a lot of veteran production for a team that maintains the best national title odds at DraftKings. The Buckeyes opened at +500 to repeat after securing their first title since 2014 last season, and fans can find the best offers with the DraftKings promo code Ohio.