Ohio State Buckeyes safety Terry Moore Looking to Replace Caleb Downs Production in 2026
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The Ohio State Buckeyes are looking forward to another college football season in 2026. During the 2025 college football season, Ohio State started the season 12-0. They then lost to the Indiana Hoosiers in the BIG10 Championship Game and lost to the Miami Hurricanes in the college football playoffs. The Buckeyes finally ended its four-game losing streak against the Michigan Wolverines last season as well.
Ohio State lost a ton of key players in the 2026 NFL Draft. Wide receiver Carnell Tate, defensive tackle Kayden McDonald, safety Caleb Downs, and linebacker Sonny Styles were some of the key players on the Buckeyes roster a season ago. Head coach Ryan Day will be getting some key players back for the 2026 college football season. Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and quarterback Julian Sayin will be back this season. This program always reloads with talent. They also found some key talented players in the transfer portal as well this offseason.
Ohio State Buckeyes safety Terry Moore looking to be productive in 2026
Billy Connelly of espn.com made some predictions for the BIG10 Conference for the upcoming 2026 college football season. He listed his Top 10 transfers for this conference. One of the transfers he likes is safety Terry Moore coming over from the Duke Blue Devils to Ohio State. There is a chance that Moore could replace the production from Downs. Connelly said, “Ryan Day had some gaps to fill in the secondary and did a lovely job in grabbing Moore from Duke. He tore his ACL last season but was one of the best defenders in the ACC in 2024, racking up six TFLs, four interceptions and five breakups.”
Moore is 6’1″ and weighs 195 lbs. He recorded 71 tackles, one sack, two forced fumbles, and four interceptions with Duke during the 2024 college football season. With Moore being one of the starting safeties for the Buckeyes in the 2026 college football season, he is going to learn a lot from defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. Ohio State has been producing a lot of offensive and defensive players into the NFL over the last several seasons.
Potential 2027 NFL Draft pick
Nfldraftbuzz.com listed the top safeties for the upcoming 2027 NFL Draft in Washington, D.C. Moore from Ohio State is listed as the eighth best safety for next year’s draft. For now, he is projected to be a late second-round pick. Moore can always improve his draft stock or his stock can fall. Some of his profile said, “Terry Moore starred as a dual-threat running back at Washington High School, rushing for 4,935 yards over two varsity seasons with back-to-back offensive player of the year awards. The three-star recruit enrolled at Duke in January 2022, spent one season at running back, then moved to safety in spring 2023.
Moore’s 2024 junior season produced 71 tackles, seven tackles for loss, four interceptions, and two forced fumbles across 13 starts, earning second-team All-ACC honors and second-team All-America recognition from Action Network. He returned an interception 59 yards for a touchdown against Ole Miss in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, the longest interception return in Duke bowl history, but tore his ACL in that game.
The knee injury sidelined Moore for the entire 2025 season, and he took a medical redshirt while Duke won the ACC championship without him. He entered the transfer portal after the season and committed to Ohio State in January 2026 for his final season, reuniting with safeties coach Matt Guerrieri, who originally recruited him to Duke.”
It is a good move for him that he reunited with his safeties coach at Ohio State. Moore needs to be a leader for this Buckeyes defense.
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