Ohio State news: Kirk Herbstreit ponders how Arthur Smith will change offense

Ohio State football has always been one of the top programs in all of college football, but the NIL era has taken that to a whole new level. Each and every year, the Buckeyes have arguably the best roster in the country with NFL talent littered throughout the lineup.

In recent years, head coach Ryan Day has also been leaning on NFL experience on his coaching staff. Chip Kelly was the offensive coordinator when the Buckeyes won the national championship in 2024, and Matt Patricia called one of the best defenses in the nation last season.

Now, longtime NFL play-caller Arthur Smith is calling the shots for the Ohio State offense this fall. While his NFL resume is a bit of a mixed bag, bringing some more NFL ideas to a college roster with a ton of talent has fans pumped up for the 2026 season.

On a Tuesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit pondered what a more NFL-style approach might look like in 2026.

“So you got an NFL defensive mind and you got Arthur Smith now with Chip Kelly gone and Brian Hartline gone, now you bring Arthur Smith from the NFL, and now it’ll be interesting to see how that impacts their offense,” Herbstreit said. “You know, if you think about him in the NFL, everybody thinks of Derrick Henry, and then when he went down to Atlanta, obviously in Pittsburgh. I mean, he is a run-first kind of guy, but with the weapons that he has, you know, are we going to see 12 and 13 personnel mixed in a little bit more or we open it up with Sayin and all those wide receivers that they have? Be interesting just to see what approach he has.”

Smith will have plenty of NFL talent at his disposal this season, including one of the best returning quarterbacks in the nation in Julian Sayin and a potential Heisman Trophy winner at wide receiver in Jeremiah Smith. The Ohio State offense was already elite in 2025, but it could be even better with Smith at the helm.