Ryan Day names announces kicker for No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Miami

Despite missing a crucial chip-shot field goal in Ohio State's Big Ten Championship Game loss, Jayden Fielding has been named the starting kicker for the Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day spoke with the media Tuesday, discussing the starting kicker position for the Buckeyes. Day said that Fielding will remain the starter for the No. 2 seed Ohio State’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against No. 10 seed Miami Wednesday inside AT&T Stadium.

According to Day, backup junior kicker Jackson Courville had been competing against Fielding during practices leading up to the Buckeyes’ 2025 CFP debut.

“[Courville] kicked in practice during this time,” Day said. “We’re going to go with Jayden in this game, but [Courville] has had an opportunity every day in practice to kick, and we will keep a close eye on it, but we’re going to go with Jayden to start the game.”

While the senior kicker has missed multiple important field goals during his tenure with the Buckeyes, Fielding is one of the most accurate kickers of all time in the Big Ten.

Over his three seasons as the starter, Fielding has made just over 80 percent of his field goals and only missed one extra point of his 177 attempts. This season is the senior kicker’s most accurate, making 84 percent of his field goals.

Courville, who transferred to Ohio State after the 2024 season, is not as precise as Fielding. During his two seasons at Ball State, Courville made 76.5 percent of his field goals while missing two extra points.

While Day and the Buckeyes’ coaching staff appear to be confident in Fielding’s ability against the Hurricanes, the same cannot be said for many Ohio State fans. After missing a game-tying 27-yard field goal with 2:48 left in the fourth quarter against Indiana, Fielding experienced significant amounts of harassment.

According to Eleven Warriors, Fielding was forced to take extreme precautions after receiving death threats online and having his phone number and home address leaked.

“I was constantly in contact with the OSU Police Department for my safety because they were worried about me, and my mom was worried about me,” Fielding said.

This was not the first time Fielding had dealt with such threats. After the Ohio State kicker missed two field goals in Ohio State’s 13-10 loss against the Michigan Wolverines at the end of the 2024 season, Fielding faced similar amounts of harassment.

“I’d say it was probably worse this year than last year,” Fielding said, referring to the backlash he faced after the Michigan loss compared to the Indiana loss.