Before the 2022 football season, Ryan Day said he didn’t want to bring in any transfers to join the Ohio State secondary because it included players like Denzel Burke, Jordan Hancock and J.K. Johnson, so it would have been very crowded and tough to get playing time for all of them.
After the struggles the cornerbacks faced last year, he thought it was time to go looking in the transfer portal, and Davison Igbinosun became a Buckeye, leaving Ole Miss to come to Columbus. He has found a place in the starting lineup very quickly across the field from Burke and has remained there for each of the eight games this season, and Day said it hasn’t created an issue with the players that were already on the team.
“Those guys really embrace Davison,” he said. “You can see he’s done a really good job of establishing himself and his work ethic, and his play, his toughness, and he’s producing. The quickest way to get respect around here is to go put it on the field and go to work, and he’s done that.”
This season, Igbinosun has 35 tackles, the most of any player in the secondary with 1.5 tackles for a loss, three passes broken up and two fumbles recovered.
Igbinosun has found his way with the Buckeyes very quickly and has been part of a secondary that has improved greatly since last year, and he has been a big part of that.
Now as the Buckeyes head to New Jersey to face off against Rutgers, Igbinosun will be playing against his brother Desmond, a safety, in their home state. Davison credits all of his success to his older brother, who he said taught him more than anyone has to this point about football.
“He’s helped me the most out of anybody,” Igbinosun said. “I credit my skills to him… he just was stronger than me. I just feel like he made me work on the technical aspects of my game more because he was stronger than me.”
Igbinosun said he was committed to Rutgers his senior year of high school, but he changed his mind because of the opportunity to play football in the Southeastern Conference was something he didn’t want to pass up.
Now he has found his way to Ohio State and when the Buckeyes go into SHI Stadium on Saturday, the Igbinosun’s mother will be wearing a split jersey so she can represent both of her sons.
