COLUMBUS — Who are the most important people to the Ohio State Buckeyes for the 2026 college football season?
We went through this exercise over on our Northern Aggression show, where we compiled a list of the 50 Most Important People in Big Ten Football for this year. Six Buckeyes made the list as determined by me, Landis and our co-host Matt Fortuna.
That included both players and coaches, but only people who directly affect the football. No commissioners or lawyers on the list.
I thought I’d explain our thinking on the six Buckeyes we ranked, and then include four others that we thought about but didn’t put in the Top 50. I’m not sure there’s much controversy here, but I found it a worthy exercise.
This is different from the list of Top 22 Buckeyes, ranking the best players, that we will do on Wednesday’s show. Important isn’t the same as good. (For instance, Bryce Underwood is No. 4 on our Big Ten list, and not because he was good last year. It was based on how much Michigan’s season will swing based on his performance, and how important Michigan is to the Big Ten.)
With that, our Top 10 Most Important Buckeyes for 2026.