Ohio State mailbag: Answering camp questions on defensive ends, offensive line, kickers and more

What's on your mind with the Buckeyes one week into preseason camp?

Ohio State linebacker Christian Alliegro could be one of the Buckeyes’ top pass-rushers this fall. (Photo courtesy of OSU football)

COLUMBUS — Ohio State held its sixth practice of preseason camp on Wednesday morning. We were able to watch three practices last week. You had some questions about what’s happened so far. Let’s get into the mailbag.

Sulley Clem: How much confidence do you have in the kicking game? Didn’t look great on Saturday. Plus, what are the odds the Notre Dame transfer kicker is the kickoff specialist this year? His leg was insane but wasn’t very accurate.

I’ve seen Jayden Fielding make too many kicks in practice only to miss nearly every high-leverage, in-game attempt. So, I’ll try not to put too much stock into what we saw at one practice. But, yeah, it would’ve been nice to see a higher percentage of the kicks go through the uprights on Saturday. It would be concerning to me if we get to Ball State week and Ryan Day seems unsure about who the field goal kicker is. Connor Hawkins was paid to come here and make clutch kicks. We’ll see what happens when he gets the chance. Notre Dame transfer Marcello Diomede attempted one field goal in three seasons with the Irish, a 54-yarder against Virginia in 2024 that he missed. I’d be pretty worried if it was determined he was the better field goal option over Hawkins.

Diomede handled 16 kickoff attempts last year at Notre Dame, and Hawkins didn’t handle any last year at Baylor (he had two in 2024). I’d expect Diomede to be the kickoff guy, and he has the leg to boot most of his kicks through the end zone.

Matt Gifford: Based on what you have observed so far and talking to players and coaches, how do you expect the Arthur Smith offense to differ from previous versions of the Buckeye offense?