COLUMBUS, Ohio - On Monday we started this process by looking at the offense and now we are moving to the defensive side of the ball and to special teams.

A lot of great players have come through the program during the entire history of the program and to look at the players who have been through in just the last 10 years, the depth and diversity of players is just staggering as Ohio State has really cemented itself as one of the top, top programs in the nation.

Things don't appear to be slowing down either as Ohio State is likely going to be preseason No. 2 going into this year, continues to put together top recruiting classes and the record of great coach passing the baton to the next great coach has been something that the Buckeyes have been able to pride themselves on over recent history.

As we now drill down just on the defensive side of the ball, there are going to be a lot of players that we couldn't put on the list. There would be no sport in doing a second or even third team when you are looking at just the course of 10 seasons. You have to be selective and make cuts somewhere.

So that means guys like Marshon Lattimore, Darron Lee and Nick Bosa may not make this list. That is just downright impossible to believe, right? Well, it happened as our spots were limited and it just came down to a three-person vote and while everyone was allowed to make an impassioned plea to get the vote reconsidered, once a position was done, it was done.

So who makes the cut? Obviously we had some debates on this side of the ball, more than on the offensive side. Check it out and see for yourself who we gave the nod to.

Be sure to listen to our BIA Podcast as well, recorded just mere minutes after we drew up our final teams and get our fresh thoughts on why we picked the players that we did. Like who we picked? Don't like who we picked? Be sure to sound off in The Horseshoe Lounge and let us know where we were right and where we were wrong.

It would be unfair for both Chase Young and Joey Bosa to be rushing the quarterback at the same time. Ohio State has quickly become a defensive end factory, and Young and Bosa are certainly the cream of the crop for the decade.

Young was able to dominate in his three years at Ohio State, with his final season being the cherry on top. After recording 14 sacks in his first two seasons, Young was primed for an impressive junior year.

While the expectations were set high for Young, he was somehow able to deliver on them. Not only was he able to break his previous season's 10.5 sacks, but he broke the Ohio State single season record of 14 sacks held by Vernon Gholston. Young, even with the two-game suspension, would finish the 2019 season with 16.5 sacks.

Young was able to dominate the award season as well, bringing home the Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year, Chicago Tribune Silver Football and much more.

Young is projected to be the No. 2 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Before Young, however, there was Bosa. While his brother Nick Bosa received consideration for this team, it was Joey Bosa who earned the spot.

It was Joey Bosa who had memorable moments and the statistics to back his placement on this team. With a moment like his game-clinching sack in Happy Valley against Penn State, it was hard to leave a force like him off the team.

Bosa finished his career with 26 sacks as a Buckeye, and his career was highlighted by his impressive sophomore season that helped the Buckeyes win the national championship. Bosa would record 13.5 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss in the 2014 season. He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of Year that season.

Bosa was selected third in the 2016 NFL Draft by the Chargers.

With rushmen being a staple of Ohio State's identity, it is fitting that this team was loaded with stars at the position. - Keaton

This one makes sense for me to sound off on since Braden and Keaton were both much younger with both of these players played and I have been covering this team for many, many more years.

We go back a little bit into the history books (well, as much as you can when you just have a 10-year window) for both of these players. That does not mean we have not seen some solid tackles since then, but both of these players were such difference makers during their time within the program, it was just a pretty easy call.

Johnathan Hankins was not one of the biggest names in his recruiting class, in fact many people were not sure what Ohio State was getting. But to the credit of Hankins, he had a level of drive that surprised a lot of people and it was not a case of him being a player who they could just roll out there and let him play. He had to do a lot of work in the weight room to get to the point where he could go more than 15-20 plays.

By the time he left the Ohio State program, he was ready to be taken in the second round of the draft with the No. 49 overall pick and would go on to a solid NFL career that has seen him put in seven years of service and counting. Not bad for a 3-star recruit that really did not stand out in his class.

As for Michael Bennett, he was probably my favorite interview over the decade of all the players that I talked to. It almost seemed like a disappointment to have to talk football with him as he was one of the most interesting players on the roster and had a varied range of interests that could have him conversing on just about anything. But this is a list for being a top football player and not for being part of the Toastmaster. Bennett had the football side of things down too.

Obviously there will be a lot of us who remember his run during the 2014 championship season where he honored a lost teammate by wearing the number of Kosta Karageorge in the B1G Championship Game as well as the College Football Playoff, but the body of work around all of that was just special, just as special as Bennett was and made this a pretty easy selection. - Noon

Other than cornerbacks, the linebackers saw arguably the most debate. There was no question about Ryan Shazier or Raekwon McMillan, but much debate was spent over the third linebacker.

First things first, Shazier was the clear first-ballot member of the All-Decade Team. His 317 tackles over just three seasons led the Buckeyes in the 2010s, and when you throw in his 45 tackles for loss and 15 sacks, he dominated on every level of the defense for Ohio State.

He even had an interception return touchdown and four passes defended, because that was the type of player Shazier was. It wasn't enough to plan for him in the middle of the field because he could hurt you in a lot of different ways.

Our second unanimous linebacker selection, McMillan, led the Buckeyes in tackles in 2015 and 2016, something which was not easy given that McMillan played with Joshua Perry and Tyvis Powell.

McMillan finished his Ohio State career with 275 tackles, 18 for loss, and six sacks. With nine passes defended and an interception returned for a touchdown, McMillan dominated opposing offenses like Shazier did and was one of the most feared members of Ohio State's defense.

The main argument for the third position came down to Joshua Perry and Darron Lee. Keaton and I had initially argued for Lee, saying he was more dominant during his time with the Buckeyes. While I still agree with that assessment, it's hard to discount Perry and his three full seasons where he racked up nearly 300 tackles.

Lee had the more exciting numbers with 27 tackles for loss and 11 sacks in just two seasons, but it was Perry's status as a consistent fixture of the second-level defense that gave him the nod.

It's certainly a favorable position for Ohio State to be in that a player like Malik Harrison with 205 tackles, 29 for loss, and nine sacks didn't really even come up in our conversation.

This was one of the most stacked positions for the Buckeyes in the 2010s, and while we eventually settled on Shazier, McMillan and Perry, you really can't go wrong with any combination of the playmakers mentioned above. - Braden

Of all the positions, this one was the most difficult for me. When you pass over Bradley Roby, Marshon Lattimore, Gareon Conley, Eli Apple and many others, you are talking about a deep room.

When we were sitting on campus and voting, I reminded everyone that Denzel Ward went No. 4 overall in his draft and if the Detroit Lions don't move their pick in the 2020 draft and things hold to form, Jeffrey Okudah could go No. 3 overall. Now, you never know what will happen in the draft and many mocks have had Detroit moving back a couple of spots and still landing Okudah with their need for a corner being of utmost urgency.

The other thing to remember about the corner position is the unique nature where the players that are respected the most have the fewest numbers. Think that a corner is elite? Why would you throw at him in the first place? Every other defensive position really has tangible numbers in terms of tackles and things of that nature and while a corner would like to rack up the interception total, if you think a player has a good chance at taking the ball away and create a sudden change, why not go and pick on the other corner.

Ohio State has had more than one good corner at a time however, thus creating the issue of picking your poison. That has not worked out well for most foes.

Denzel Ward came to Ohio State under a different amount of fanfare that Jeffrey Okudah came in. Ward was a 3-star (5.6 RR) corner from the state of Ohio, almost feeling like one of those offers that you make just to keep your Ohio numbers up whereas Jeffrey Okudah was a five-star player, the No. 16 player in the nation in the class of 2017.

Okudah was that big corner that everyone wants, taller than 6-foot, big body that can run for days. Ward was not 6-foot, he was not around that 200-pound range, but he proved to be one of the fastest and quickest players on the field, plus he was a cheat code when it came to special teams.

Both players ended their careers with the 'white glove' treatment as nobody wanted to throw at them and when they did, not much success was had by the opposing offense.

Now, as we mentioned, we were unable to pick a lot of great corners who excelled at Ohio State. Remind us why ESPN continues to leave Ohio State off the DBU graphics? - Noon

While Ohio State has clamored to be recognized as the school that produces the best talent in the secondary, it is fitting that the safety position was strong.

There was no debate on this position, as all three of us decided to give the spots to Malik Hooker and Vonn Bell. These two players were not only able to roam the deep third for the Buckeyes, but they were able to step up and make tackles.

Hooker was as instinctual of a player to come through Ohio State. The safety was a ballhawk that seemed to always been in the right position to make a big-time play. In only 19 games with the Buckeyes, Hooker was able to pick off seven passes.

All of his interceptions came in his final season with the Buckeyes, and he was also able to score three touchdowns that same year. Also in 2016, Hooker was able to make 74 tackles on a team that would make it to the College Football Playoff.

Hooker was named a consensus All-American in 2016. He would be drafted No. 15 by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Like Hooker, Bell was able to do it all from the safety position. In 36 career games with Ohio State, Bell was able to record nine interceptions and 175 tackles, 91 of which came in the 2014 championship season.

Bell would be named a First-Team All-American in 2015, and he would be selected in the second round at pick No. 61 to the New Orleans Saints in the 2016 NFL Draft.

Playing the back end of a defense is never easy, but these guys were able to do it the best this decade at a university that is known for producing top-flight talent in the secondary. - Keaton

By virtue of how long punters usually last in college football, Ohio State only had three candidates to choose from for the All-Decade Team: Ben Buchannan (10-12), Cameron Johnston (13-16) and Drue Chrisman (17-19).

Johnston led the pack during his career with an average of 44.9 yards per punt on 211 punts during his time at Ohio State, including an eye-popping 46.7 yards per punt in 2016, the fifth best mark in the country.

Chrisman does have the distinction of being the only punter to complete a pass in the 2010s, but it wasn't enough to move him above Johnston who impressed year-in and year-out as a Buckeye.

When looking at placekickers, the group was initially leaning towards Sean Nuernberger based on longevity and general consistency, but a look inside the numbers showed us that Blake Haubeil, in a little over a season as the full-time kicker, has actually been the better option for the Buckeyes.

Haubeil is perfect thus far on extra points in his career, 122-of-122, and has connected on 82.1 percent of his field goals, a current Ohio State record. His 55-yarder against Northwestern in 2019 was the longest field goal of the decade for the Buckeyes and tied for the second-longest in team history.

Nuernberger was just 72 percent on his field goals and was benched twice during his career, the second time in favor of Haubeil in 2018, so Haubeil is the pick here.

All things considered, Jalin Marshall may have been the easiest pick of the entire team. Marshall played just two seasons for the Buckeyes, leaving after his redshirt sophomore season, but he was the only returner during the 2010s that actually took a punt to the house.

He averaged 12.7 yards per punt return over 52 attempts, and in general was the only returner that was able to strike fear into the hearts of opposing special teams. Indiana will not soon forget the day that Marshall had four touchdowns from scrimmage, including his 54-yard punt return touchdown. - Braden