One of the most significant challenges Ohio State has to tackle next season is replacing Caleb Downs. To replace him, Ohio State landed the top-7 safety in the portal in Earl Little out of the Florida State Seminoles. As good as that portal pickup may seem, it comes with a big-time gamble.

On February 7th, Florida State Insider Pat Murphy hopped onto X and gave his 2 cents analysis on Earl Little Jr.’s biggest weakness.

“(Earl Little Jr.) had a penchant for missing tackles because he came in too hot at times, but his physicality and closing speed were useful assets.”

While Earl Little Jr. is a certified playmaker, his biggest flaw heading into 2026 is his habit of “headhunting” instead of using solid tackling technique. He loves to go for the highlight-reel hit, but this often backfires; in 2025, he missed 14 tackles, giving him a missed tackle rate of over 16%. Caleb Downs had a significantly lower missed tackle rate of 11.5% (9 misses) compared to Little Jr.’s.

Earl’s expected to play a versatile “rover” or nickel role under defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. This often places him in open-field situations where a single missed tackle can be the difference between a short 2 yards gain and a 40 yards touchdown. Apart from these, Little Jr. is as good as anybody in the country.

The former Seminoles safety was supposed to go to the NFL draft before changing his mind and taking a detour to Columbus on 11th of January. He was the backbone of last year’s FSU defense, arguably the best pound for pound Seminole on the field. His performance was so impressive that he was named the team’s Defensive MVP and earned a spot on the Second-team All-ACC.

However, the coolest thing about his game is his closing speed. If a quarterback throws a short pass, Earl is there before the receiver even has time to look up. He’s got this crazy range where he can be way back in the secondary one second and then suddenly hammering a running back at the line of scrimmage the next. Last year, he racked up 76 tackles and four picks. Safe to assume that he’s always around the ball.

If he can cut those missed tackles in half, he’ll be one of the best safeties in the country by December; if not, those missed stops could be the difference-maker in a high-stakes game and end up become Jayden Fielding of safety.

Speaking of Jayden Fielding, the former Buckeye LB puts Ryan Day on the spot for special teams ruining the team’s effort time and time again.

The former OSU LB warns Ryan Day

The biggest problem Ohio State has been facing for some time now is special teams. The former Buckeyes LB Bob Carpenter believes it’s about time to sort out the glaring issue, and it might come at the cost of Ryan Day’s reputation.

“It’s been over 20 years. I’m not saying we need to win the big guy, but let’s get our b— to at least the finals, okay? Bobby Carpenter on his podcast. “How differently would people view Ryan Day’s tenure if maybe some of those kicking miscues were executed?”

Many of Ohio State’s losses under Day came from missed kicks, poor returns, or some kind of errors. Don’t look no further than the Washington game. Brandon Inniss had shown promise with a long kickoff return, but decided to fumble the ball.

Then, against Indiana, punter Joe McGuire played very well, pinning the opponent deep. But the return game added nothing. It even goes all the way back to 2022. In their 2022 Peach Bowl loss to Georgia, C.J. Stroud balled his heart out: 348 yards and 4 TDs against Kirby Smart’s top 3 defense. All it was for one missed 50-yard field goal at the end cost Ohio State a chance at natty.

Don’t even start with 2023’s Missouri loss. Not going to lie, if it wasn’t for special teams, the Buckeyes might’ve had more than one natty under Ryan Day. The Buckeyes were literally 117th in special teams efficiency last season. Now, after years of frustration, Ryan Day appears ready to make serious changes. Fixing that could be the best thing Ryan Day can do for his career.