Safety, Ohio State (from Alabama), 2023–25
Caleb Downs
- Number
- No. 2
- Height
- 6′0″
- Weight
- 205 lb
- Class (2025)
- Junior
- Hometown
- Hoschton, GA
- Born
- Dec 10, 2004
Wikipedia readers: about 32,116 a month over the past year
Caleb Downs played safety at Alabama (2023) and Ohio State (2024–25). He won the 2025 Jim Thorpe Award. He finished eighth in the 2025 Heisman vote and was a consensus All‑American in 2024 and 2025. The Dallas Cowboys took Downs in the first round, No. 11 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft.
At a glance
Career highs
13tackles, career hightwice; last vs. LSU, 2023Honors
- 2023Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year
- 2023SEC Freshman of the Year
- 2023First-team All-SEC
- 2024, 2025Consensus All‑American
- 2024, 2025Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year
- 2024, 2025First-team All-Big Ten
- 2025Jim Thorpe Award
- 2025Lott IMPACT Trophy
- 2025Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year
- 2025Eighth in the Heisman vote
Team titles: SEC champions, 2023; National champions, 2024 (Ohio State)
All-America: consensus 2024 and 2025; Pro Football Focus 2023
Players of the year, conference and regional honors: Wikipedia’s lists (CC BY-SA), each linked from its honor.
Defense
| Season | Team | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD | Hur |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Alabama | 107 | 70 | 3.5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 2024 | Ohio State | 81 | 48 | 7.5 | 0.5 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 2025 | Ohio State | 68 | 45 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Career | 256 | 163 | 16 | 1.5 | 6 | 10 | 2 | |
Returns
| Season | Team | KR | Yds | TD | PR | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Alabama | – | – | – | 4 | 87 | 1 |
| 2024 | Ohio State | 1 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 98 | 1 |
| Career | 1 | 16 | 0 | 10 | 185 | 2 | |
Season lines from CollegeFootballData, regular season and bowls. A dash: the source has no number for that season (often an FCS season), and career totals count only the numbers on file.
On the roster
| Season | Team | No. | Pos | Class | Ht | Wt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Alabama | 2 | S | Fr. | ||
| 2024 | Ohio State | 2 | S | So. | ||
| 2025 | Ohio State | 2 | S | Jr. | 6′0″ | 205 |
As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.
Game by game
2025 Ohio State 14 games, 68 tackles, 1 sack, 2 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 30 | vs. Texas | W 14–7 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 6 | vs. Grambling | W 70–0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 13 | vs. Ohio | W 37–9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 27 | at Washington | W 24–6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 4 | vs. Minnesota | W 42–3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 11 | at Illinois | W 34–16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 18 | at Wisconsin | W 34–0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 1 | vs. Penn State | W 38–14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nov 8 | at Purdue | W 34–10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 15 | vs. UCLA | W 48–10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 22 | vs. Rutgers | W 42–9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 29 | at Michigan | W 27–9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dec 6 | vs. Indiana | L 10–13 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dec 31 ✦ | vs. Miami | L 14–24 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 Ohio State 16 games, 81 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 2 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 31 | vs. Akron | W 52–6 | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 7 | vs. Western Michigan | W 56–0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 21 | vs. Marshall | W 49–14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 28 | at Michigan State | W 38–7 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 5 | vs. Iowa | W 35–7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 12 | at Oregon | L 31–32 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Oct 26 | vs. Nebraska | W 21–17 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 2 | atPenn State | W 20–13 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 9 | vs.Purdue | W 45–0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 16 | vs. Northwestern | W 31–7 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 23 | vs.Indiana | W 38–15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 30 | vs.Michigan | L 10–13 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Dec 21 ✦ | vs. Tennessee | W 42–17 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan 1 ✦ | vs.Oregon | W 41–21 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Jan 10 ✦ | vs.Texas | W 28–14 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jan 20 ✦ | vs. Notre Dame | W 34–23 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 Alabama 14 games, 107 tackles, 2 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2 | vs. Middle Tennessee | W 56–7 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 9 | vs.Texas | L 24–34 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 16 | at South Florida | W 17–3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 23 | vs. Ole Miss | W 24–10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 30 | at Mississippi State | W 40–17 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Oct 7 | at Texas A&M | W 26–20 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Oct 14 | vs. Arkansas | W 24–21 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 21 | vs.Tennessee | W 34–20 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 4 | vs. LSU | W 42–28 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 11 | at Kentucky | W 49–21 | 7 | 5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 18 | vs. Chattanooga | W 66–10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nov 25 | at Auburn | W 27–24 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dec 2 | vs. Georgia | W 27–24 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan 1 ✦ | vs.Michigan | L 20–27 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.
Before the draft
| Drill | Combine 2026 |
|---|---|
| Height | 5′11⅝″ |
| Weight | 206 lb |
| Arm length | 30¼″ |
| Hand size | 9½″ |
| Wingspan | 73¼″ |
Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data).
In the NFL
1 season, 5 games with a stat; latest team: Dallas Cowboys.
| Season | Team | G | Tkl | Sacks | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | Dallas Cowboys | 5 | 31 | 1 | 0 |
Regular seasons, from nflverse (CC BY 4.0). G counts games in which the player recorded a stat.
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