Caleb Downs (2) (left) celebrates during Ohio State’s 70-0 win over Grambling State Sept. 6, 2025. Credit: Liam Ahern | Managing Photo Editor. Then-sophomore forward Joy Dunne (16) (right) enters the offensive zone with the puck during the championship game of the 2024 Women’s Ice Breaker Tournament against Cornell. Credit: Faith Schneider | Managing Design Editor.
Out of Ohio State’s 36 Division l athletic teams, two Buckeyes separated themselves from the rest over the past year.?
Caleb Downs and Joy Dunne, of football and women’s ice hockey, respectively, were named Ohio State’s 2025-26 Athletes of the Year Monday.?
The award becomes the latest honor for Downs, an all-American, and Dunne, an Olympic gold medalist, who each won a national championship during their storied Buckeye careers.?
Caleb Downs
Since transferring from Alabama in 2024, Downs’ impact on the Buckeyes can’t be understated.???
In his two seasons as a safety in the Buckeyes’ secondary, Ohio State’s defense gave up the fewest points and yards allowed per game, both years.?
During the 2025 campaign, Downs tallied 68 total tackles, five tackles for loss, two interceptions and two forced fumbles.?
Downs racked up numerous accolades for his play during junior season, such as unanimous All-America honors for the second consecutive year, the Jim Thorpe Award—which names the nation’s best defensive back in college football—and the Big Ten Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year.
Downs became one of four Buckeyes, along with Carnell Tate, Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, to be selected in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, as he was taken with the No. 11 pick by the Dallas Cowboys.?
Joy Dunne
Dunne’s junior season with Ohio State was highlighted by netting 27 goals for the Buckeyes, leading the team in scoring for the third consecutive season.?
Yet Dunne, who received second-team All-America honors, made an even greater impact on the ice away from her time in the scarlet and gray.?
Dunne was one of seven collegiate players to be a member of Team USA’s women’s ice hockey team in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.?
Despite being the youngest player on the Team USA roster, Dunne scored three goals and added two assists during the Olympic games. In Team USA’s 2-1 overtime win in the Gold Medal game against Canada, Dunne was on the team’s first line as a forward.?
Dunne, who is set to return for her senior season, has led the Buckeyes to the national championship game in all three seasons that she’s played for Ohio State.?
Now, Downs and Dunne are both eligible to win the Big Ten Athlete of the Year, which will be revealed in July.
