40 best Ohio State football players this century, ranked

Best Ohio State football players this century 20. Nick Bosa – Defensive End 2016-18

Nick Bosa’s time in Columbus was short, but it was oh so sweet. He came in his brother’s footsteps, and he might have outdone him if he stayed a little while longer. Bosa played just 29 games at Ohio State. 12 of those games came as a freshman. In his sophomore season, that’s when we saw the makings of a superstar.

Bosa got into the backfield constantly. He had 8.5 sacks and 16 tackles for a loss. He did all that in 14 games. Think about this; Bosa had 34 tackles total. Basically, half of his tackles came behind the line of scrimmage. Bosa was a threat on every play to blow it up before it starts. Ohio State knew that every time he was on the field, there was a chance that the offense would lose yards.

Bosa was destructive in his junior season. He had four sacks and six tackles for loss in less than three games. Then, he got hurt in a game against TCU. He ended up having core muscle surgery, and people thought he’d be able to come back. He eventually left Ohio State and declared for the NFL Draft, where he was basically guaranteed to be a top-three pick.

Bosa was one of the most destructive players on the defensive line of this era. His injury was unfortunate because without it he’d be in the same place as his brother on this list. The way he started 2018 looked like it was going to be one of the most special seasons in history.