Ohio State fans have been spoiled to have a Bosa in uniform going on six years now and this may be the last of this current generation as Nick Bosa enters his third season with the Buckeyes and what will likely be his last season if he follows the path of older brother, Joey.
Bosa will be one of the key players on Ohio State's defense in 2018, a defense that will be looking to replace a good amount of production but won't be short on athletes to carry the load. Bosa, along with Chase Young and Jonathon Cooper will shoulder the load at defensive end but it is Bosa that is among the elite in college football, not just at end but on the defensive side of the ball.
Joel Klatt, the former University of Colorado quarterback and current color commentator for FOX Sports has plenty of praise for Bosa as he has him atop his list of the top-five most dominant defensive players for 2018 and explains what he likes about Bosa compared to everyone else in the game.
"You cannot block Nick Bosa," Klatt explained. "He’s too powerful; he’s too fast; he’s too flexible; he’s better around the edge. This dude is a one-man wrecking crew, and he’s my most dominant defensive player in all of college football."
Ohio State had a wealth of defensive ends last year with Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis and Jalyn Holmes all rotating in along with Ohio State's three returners in 2018. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing and that limited anyone from putting up huge numbers as Larry Johnson and the defensive staff had to find a way to get everyone enough snaps, but nobody may have been getting enough snaps.
That won't be the situation in 2018 as the Buckeyes have fewer mouths to feed and that will keep guys like Bosa on the field for more plays.
"His production is going to be monstrous," Klatt continued. "Nick Bosa last year played 50-60 percent of the snaps because of how many great defensive ends they had at Ohio State. They could rotate them, so Bosa wasn’t in on every play. You take him from 28 snaps per game to 55-60 snaps per game – his production is going to go through the roof."
Bosa is already up for all of the major national defensive player awards that he is eligible for as a defensive end. But could another major award be in play? Defensive players don't get a lot of love when it comes to college football's top individual prize, but defensive players like Nick Bosa don't come around all that often as well.
"This guy has a legitimate chance to actually be in the Heisman Trophy race, because his team is going to be right there; his quarterback is going to be young and probably won’t get the love that people should give Dwayne Haskins," Klatt said.
Bosa and the Buckeyes open the season on September 1st at home against Oregon State.
