Ohio State Buckeyes' Football Is Elite at More Than Just Football

The Ohio State Buckeyes football team just added another piece of major hardware, but this time, it wasn't for their on-field dominance.

Former Ohio State Buckeye Donovan Jackson received three rings for winning the College Football Playoffs during the spring game at Ohio Stadium on April 12, 2025. Players and coaches from the 2024 championship team received a ring for making the College Football Playoff, one from the CFP for winning it and a championship ring from Ohio State. | Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When watching college football players anywhere between 180-400 pounds of bulk and pure muscle wrestling each other to gain ground in the trenches, it's easy to forget that the athletes on the field are just students, most of whom aren't even old enough to drink yet. While some of them are on a path to the big leagues and will eventually see their dreams realized at the NFL Draft, the vast majority of college football players will play their last snap of meaningful ball for their university.

That's why it's crucial that these student-athletes take the first part of that title seriously. With the new transfer portal rules and the NCAA's new Name, Image, and Likeness deals, college players can significantly extend their athletic careers and profit off of them without having to be a professional prospect, but capitalizing on their scholarships to obtain a high-quality education should still be a priority.

Recently, Ohio State football just received a huge honor that'll only make them a more prestigious program across the board. The NCAA recently named OSU football the number one Division I program in Academic Progress Rate with an astounding score of 1000.

For comparison, Harvard's football team clocked in at third with a 997 score while the Alabama Crimson Tide came in second with 998. APR is a measure that encapsulates a team's academic performance, factoring in players' academic eligibility, retention, and graduation rate. The Buckeyes coming in first shows that their players aren't just excelling on the field but in the classroom as well. This recent 1000 score that Ohio State received is an average across multiple years, starting with the 2020-21 academic calendar, meaning that the Buckeyes have been consistently performing at the highest level for the past half-decade.

The football team isn't the only one that's doing well, either. According to the university, Ohio State received a cross-sport score of 990, with seven programs hitting 1000 and an additional 12 clocking in with 990 or higher.

In this new age of college football, with the easy, breezy transfer rules and schools and boosters offering NIL deals left and right, schools need to find every edge they can in recruiting. Ohio State football dominating in their academics is another strength they can boast to maintain their blue-chip pedigree as an elite program.