Two Buckeyes have already landed on preseason watch lists as college football’s biggest awards unveil their early candidates over the next week and a half, but that should come as no surprise for a program that boasted finalists for several of the nation’s most heralded honors a season ago.

Aside from having two Heisman Trophy finalists, Ohio State’s Chase Young won the Bednarik Award and Nagurski Trophy among many more accolades, Justin Fields was a Davey O’Brien Award finalist, and J.K. Dobbins and Jeff Okudah were in the final mix for the Doak Walker and Jim Thorpe Awards, respectively.

But while Ohio State players have taken home most of college football awards at one point or another, the program is typically not nearly as well represented across the board as it was in 2019.

As we wait to see which other Buckeyes will join cornerback Shaun Wade and Fields on the college football award watch lists between now and July 24, we took a look at Ohio State’s history with the college football awards (not including the Heisman) throughout the years.

Despite a laundry list of All-Americans, all-time greats and eventual NFL stars on the Ohio State defense year in and year out, no Buckeye had ever won the Chuck Bednarik Award, given to college football’s defensive player of the year, until Young in 2019.

All the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft had to do was lead the country in sacks –– even after a two-game suspension –– while setting the all-time program single-season sacks record and tying its single-game high mark. Young was also the first defensive player to finish fourth or better in Heisman voting since Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o finished second in 2012.

Young may have been the first Buckeye to win the Bednarik, but several of his predecessors were at least in the conversation in the past.

Since the award’s inception in 1995, finalists from Ohio State have included linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer in 1997, linebacker A.J. Hawk in 2005, linebacker James Laurinaitis in 2007 and ’08, and most recently prior to Young, defensive end Joey Bosa in 2014.

Wade is the lone Buckeye to turn up on the award’s preseason watch list this year, but a cornerback has taken home the Bednarik Award only twice in the past decade.

In the past eight seasons, Ohio State has equaled the number of Davey O’Brien Award finalists that it had in the previous 30 years dating back to the honor's 1981 inception.

But even though Fields (2019), J.T. Barrett (2017) and Braxton Miller (2012) were each named finalists for the distinction of most outstanding quarterback in college football in recent years, Troy Smith’s 2006 campaign was the only time a Buckeye has won it.

Smith tossed 30 touchdowns passes to just six interceptions, winning 12 games in a row to take the Buckeyes to the BCS National Championship against Florida, albeit in a losing effort, during a year in which he won the Heisman Trophy.

But Smith was not the first Buckeye quarterback to earn the nod as a finalist for the award. Nowadays the finalists are boiled down to three main contenders, but years ago there were many more names announced to have a shot to win it, which aided Ohio State’s Mike Tomczak and Jim Karsatos in earning back-to-back berths as finalists for the Davey O’Brien in 1984 and ’85, respectively.

Their numbers aren’t flattering compared to those of the modern era, though. Tomczak threw more interceptions than touchdowns in ’84, and Karsatos passed for less than 200 yards per game the following season, but both were named finalists nonetheless.

There was little doubt that Fields would be named to the 2020 watch list, but the circumstances surrounding the pandemic may be the biggest obstacle keeping him from claiming the award this year.

The clubhouse for Doak Walker Award winners is a tough one to crack, even at a program with as rich a tradition at running back as Ohio State.

Eddie George is the only Buckeye to win the award, given to the most outstanding running back in college football, during his Heisman-winning campaign in 1995.

The award has only been around since 1990, so the Archie Griffins of the world were never snubbed, but before 2019, guys like Ezekiel Elliott, Carlos Hyde and Beanie Wells never even made the cut as a finalist.

Dobbins became the first player in Buckeye history to top George’s 1995 rushing total of 1,927 yards this past year, and his 2,000-yard season was enough to grant him a spot among Doak Walker Award finalists.

But the distinction has been an elusive one for most programs other than Wisconsin in the past decade, as Jonathan Taylor won the award for the second-straight season in 2019; the fourth time the Badgers have captured the honor in the past eight years.

Former Ohio State wideout Michael Thomas won the AP’s Offensive Player of the Year award in the NFL this season, but the distinction of college football’s most outstanding wide receiver has escaped him and all but one Buckeye since 1994.

In the second season of the Fred Biletnikoff Award’s existence, Ohio State’s Terry Glenn put together a record-shattering season to become the only finalist and winner of the accolade to this day.

Glenn had just one season with more than eight catches at Ohio State, but 1995 was all he needed to leave an indelible mark on the program. Glenn caught 64 passes for 1,411 yards and 17 touchdowns that year, and at the time, the latter two were single-season records for the Buckeyes.

Glenn still holds the receiving touchdown record, as well as the single-game yardage record with 253 against Pitt. In the same game, Glenn caught four touchdown passes, which remains tied for most all-time at Ohio State.

Junior wide receiver Chris Olave may end up on the Biletnikoff preseason watch list on Thursday, but a potentially shortened season will hinder his chances at getting near any of Glenn’s records in 2020.

The Ohio State linebacker room has produced two winners of college football’s Butkus Award since its inaugural year in 1985, though many more have earned recognition as finalists.

Chris Spielman, who ranks in the top three of nearly every major tackles record for Ohio State, was a finalist in back-to-back seasons in 1986 and ’87, though he was not named the most outstanding linebacker in the nation in either year.

Katzenmoyer became the first Buckeye to win the award a decade after Spielman’s final season in Columbus, tallying 97 tackles and 13 for loss to become just the second sophomore to earn the distinction.

No Buckeye would be named a finalist again until Hawk in 2005, which began a four-year streak of Ohio State linebackers to make the cut for the award.

Only one year of the four did a Buckeye win the award though, as Laurinaitis captured the Butkus in 2007 in between two other seasons in which he was named a finalist.

Ryan Shazier and Raekwon McMillan were named finalists in 2013 and ’15, respectively, but 2019 was the 12th consecutive year that a Buckeye has not won the Butkus Award.

Okudah was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award in 2019, given to the nation’s top defensive back, but even making the final list for contention is more than most of his predecessors can claim.

The award has been around since 1986, but Ohio State claims just two winners, with cornerback Antoine Winfield capturing the award during an All-American campaign in 1998, and Malcolm Jenkins taking home a Thorpe Award of his own in ’08.

LSU safety Grant Delpit bested Okudah for the award this past year, but Ohio State may have another candidate in 2020.

Considering Wade already made the Bednarik Award watch list, it would be hard to believe he wouldn’t make the cut as an early entry in the Thorpe Award discussion as well when its list comes out next Monday.

Before Young’s stellar 2019 earned him the Nagurski Trophy, given to the nation’s most outstanding defensive player, Laurinaitis was the only Buckeye to hold the award.

It could be argued that the four-year stud at linebacker had his finest season as a sophomore in 2006, when Laurinaitis racked up 115 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and five interceptions. It was that year that Laurinaitis earned the nod for the Nagurski Trophy, even though it was his junior season that saw him walk away with the Butkus and Bednarik awards.

Laurinaitis was a finalist again in 2007, but LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey won the award instead.

Before Young and Laurinaitis, Katzenmoyer was a finalist in 1997, but Michigan defensive back and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson beat him out for the distinction.

The Outland Trophy given to the nation’s most outstanding interior lineman is one of the oldest awards in college football history, having been around since 1946, and Ohio State has had ample time to accumulate winners of the award.

Four Buckeyes can lay claim to an Outland Trophy, starting with senior Jim Parker in 1956. The three-year starter won two national championships and was a two-time All-American during his Ohio State tenure.

Jim Stillwagon and John Hicks won the award in 1970 and ‘73, respectively, and it wasn’t until 1996 that the next Ohio State lineman would take home an Outland Trophy, when Orlando Pace was given the honor.

Pat Elflein was a finalist in 2016, but lost out to Alabama’s Cam Robinson.

Returning All-American guard Wyatt Davis will be one of the top candidates for the award this season, but last year’s winner Penei Sewell from Oregon will also return this year, which should lessen Davis’s prospects at becoming the first Buckeye since Pace to win the award.

Ohio State’s kick and punt specialists earned the top honors at their respective positions in back-to-back seasons in 2003 and ’04, when Mike Nugent and B.J. Sander each garnered one of the nation’s most heralded special teams awards.

As a senior kicker, Nugent won the Lou Groza Award given to the nation’s most outstanding place kicker after drilling all 30 extra point attempts and 24-of-27 field goals.

Sander won the Ray Guy Award given to the most outstanding punter in college football in 2003, a season in which he averaged 43.3 yards per punt on 82 attempts.

Both players were selected in the opening three rounds of their respective NFL Drafts.

Cameron Johnston came close to snagging one of the awards in 2016, when the senior punter averaged 46.7 yards per punt, but Utah’s Mitch Wishnowsky bested Johnston in the vote.

Since 2005, the Danny Wuerffel Award has recognized a player in college football who displays exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement, and a Buckeye took home the award in only the honor’s second season.

Defensive lineman Joel Penton won the Wuerffel in 2006 before going into a career as a motivational speaker, and longsnapper Bryce Haynes nearly followed in his footsteps when he was named a finalist for the award in 2014.

The Maxwell Award has recognized college football’s player of the year since 1937, but oftentimes when it comes to Buckeyes, its winner has not matched up with the Heisman Trophy.

In 1955, Howard “Hopalong” Cassady became the third Buckeye to win the Heisman after Les Horvath and Vic Janowicz, but Cassady was the first Ohio State player to take home the Maxwell.

The Buckeyes didn’t have another Heisman winner until Archie Griffin in 1974, but Ohio State running back Bob Ferguson won the Maxwell Award in 1961.

The legend of Griffin’s back-to-back Heisman Trophy wins grows with each year that no player is able to match the achievement, but he actually only won the Maxwell Award once, in 1975.

Only two Buckeyes have won the Heisman since Griffin’s second win in 1975, with Eddie George and Troy Smith in ’95 and ’06, respectively. But Ohio State has yet to claim another Maxwell since George won it 25 years ago, as Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn bested Smith for the award in 2006.

Ohio State did have a finalist for the Maxwell with Young in 2019, but don’t be surprised if the next Buckeyes to win the Heisman and Maxwell don’t take place in the same season.

Not only have the Buckeyes never had a winner of the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s best tight end, but they’ve never even had a finalist since the honor’s inception in 2000.

The same is true for the Paul Hornung Award, the shortest-lived honor of the bunch. The award that recognizes the nation’s most versatile player has only been around since 2010, but no Buckeye has been in serious contention as of yet.