proven Buckeyes emergency weapon with placement poise
In the 2020 season, Zach Hoover showed he could handle pressure when Ohio State needed a last-minute punt answer, averaging 39.3 yards on three punts with two pinned inside the 10-yard line. He was a former walk-on and transfer who earned praise for stepping in cold and executing cleanly, which says a lot about his composure and special-teams readiness. The big differentiator here is trust: he’s not a volume-star stat guy, but he’s the kind of steady, low-drama specialist coaches love when field position matters.
