COLUMBUS -- The timing was odd.

There was no grand announcement.

And the fact that it coincided with a rough stretch on the field hardly seemed ideal either.

But Ronnie Hickman made his intention to declare for the NFL Draft clear in the buildup to The Game in November, which if nothing else gave Ohio State a chance to start planning for the future without him at safety after two years in the starting lineup.

"Yeah, I mean, that's going to be my last game in the Shoe," Hickman said then. "So, you know, I'm going to cherish it and enjoy the best I can.

"I think everyone's clock starts ticking at a certain point. And at some point, it's going to be time for everyone to take that next step. And I think that's here for me."

There would still be time for Hickman to change his mind with the deadline still a couple weeks away, but there have been no indications from the veteran defensive back that he will change course.

So, with Hickman apparently heading for the exits, he'll be the first in a series of Dotting The Eyes breakdowns of Ohio State players moving on and how that impacts the program heading into next season.

After putting his name squarely on the radar for talent evaluators by leading Ohio State in tackles during his first year in the starting lineup, Ronnie Hickman followed that up by seemingly never putting a foot wrong during the opening two months of the season. Hickman was a sure-handed tackler, he flashed to the football to break up passes and nab an interception and capped the month of October with his most impactful performance of the season at Penn State

Had it all ended there, Hickman's stock was soaring and he was potentially climbing into second-round consideration. But that was the high-water mark, and the descent from there included a lackluster showing in The Game following his announcement -- and a disastrous outing in the Peach Bowl that PFF evaluated as the worst of his season and the second-lowest of his career. There's no doubt that Hickman delivered plenty of positives for the Buckeyes over the last couple seasons, but he's leaving at a low point that will make the NFL Draft process a challenge.

The Buckeyes have made it well known since Jim Knowles arrived as the coordinator that safeties will dictate the success of the defense, and clearly there was a correlation between the late-season struggles of that unit and the huge piles of yardage allowed. Knowles has shouldered the blame for that, and it's also true that his system takes time to fully install -- which might be the more relevant part of the conversation for the Buckeyes since Hickman and Tanner McCalister are leaving an experience void.

Ohio State has already restocked with a proven veteran in Syracuse transfer Ja'Had Carter, giving it a solid nucleus to build around with Lathan Ransom expected to return for another season, Sonny Styles and Kye Stokes on the rise -- plus Cameron Martinez back with another year of defensive development under his belt. How exactly the Buckeyes will fit those pieces together is going to be fascinating heading into spring camp in March, but there would appear to be enough high-end talent on hand for the safeties to retool quickly.

The decision to reclassify came as a mild surprise, although the all-business approach of Sonny Styles made it seem like a natural choice for him. The bigger shock was seeing somebody who was supposed to still be in high school lining up for key snaps in a Big Ten matchup in the first month of the season, which made clear just how highly Ohio State thought of the young safety.

Styles is cut from a different mold than Ronnie Hickman, and it's hard to know exactly how it intends to deploy the sophomore next year after only using him in the box against bigger personnel packages so far. But the ceiling is tremendously high for somebody with his physical skills, athleticism and serious-minded focus on the game -- and Styles is a key player to watch in the offseason.