Buckeye captains announced for 2022
Third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud is one of six guys named as captains for the upcoming 2022 season. Photo by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
After Saturday's scrimmage, the Ohio State football team officially announced their captains on Saturday evening for the 2022 season and are as follows:
Quarterback C.J. Stroud, wide receiver Kamryn Babb, tight end Cade Stover, linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, defensive end Tyler Friday and safety Kourt Williams.
QB C.J. Stroud – No surprise here, the third-year quarterback led the team to an 11-win season in his first season as a starting quarterback, went on to either set or come close to setting several OSU records, was a finalist for the Heisman and capped off his first full season under center with an amazing 48-45 comeback win over Utah in the Rose Bowl where he set five different Rose Bowl and OSU single-game records including 573 passing yards and six touchdowns. Those six passes tied a single-game school record along with four others. He threw for 4,435 yards and 44 touchdowns, both the second-most in a single season in school history. He was the first player in Big Ten history to hit a trifecta of being named the offensive player, quarterback and freshman of the year while manning the Buckeyes to No. 1 national rankings in both total offense (561.5) and scoring (45.7). He is currently majoring in communications.
WR Kam Babb – In his fifth year, he repeats as a captain and is only the 15th Buckeye in team history to be named a captain multiple times. He was also designated as the team’s Block O jersey honoree for this season. Despite suffering several injuries to both knees, not only has he still been a leader in the locker room and on the field, he’s been a stellar representative off the field. In November, he spoke at OSU President Kristina M. Johnson’s investiture, graduated with a degree in communications and is a four-time OSU Scholar-Athlete.
TE Cade Stover – A do-it-all kind of guy, Stover is in his fourth season with 21 games under his belt which have been on both sides of the ball. Recruited as a four-star linebacker out of high school, he made the switch to tight end two seasons ago after being moved to defensive end after entering in Columbus as a true freshman. In all, he has played 15 games at tight end, four at defensive end and two at linebacker, including a start at LB in the Rose Bowl where he notched a single-game career-high six tackles. He has five catches for 76 yards and 15 tackles for his career. Currently taking snaps with the 1’s in fall camp, the projected starting tight end is majoring in agricultural systems and management.
LB Tommy Eichenberg – In his fourth year at Ohio State, “Eich” is coming off a solid 2021 where he played in all 13 games, started four, ranked second on the team with 64 tackles and tied-for third in tackles for-loss with 6.5. He also tied a Rose Bowl record with 17 tackles in the win over Utah and tallied a single-game high seven tackles against both Maryland and Michigan State. He is an OSU Scholar-Athlete currently majoring in business.
DE Tyler Friday – Even though the fifth-year Buckeye is coming off a season where he didn’t play due to injury, Friday still has experience throughout his career in Columbus with 26 games played, starting in five. He played in five of eight games during the 2020 campaign, including the CFP championship game versus Alabama, 11 in 2019 and 10 as a true freshman in 2018. The OSU Scholar-Athlete majoring in communications has 18 career tackles, including four tackles-for-loss and three quarterback sacks.
SAF Kourt Williams II – Possibly a head scratcher given he wasn’t a starter in the spring game but potentially a sign of things to come, the third-year player from Harbor City, Calif. showed some flash throughout last year that culminated with a start in the Rose Bowl. He played in 11 games last year after redshirting the 2020 season and ended up with 27 tackles, including 21 solo stops, four tackles-for-loss and a seven-yard sack. Williams had a single-game career-high seven tackles versus Michigan State and six solo tackles against Utah. He is an OSU Scholar-Athlete majoring in communications.