Cotton Bowl 2024: Top Stars, Picks in Ohio State vs. Texas CFP Semis Bracket

The Cotton Bowl field will be littered with future NFL stars on Friday.

The Ohio State Buckeyes and Texas Longhorns should have multiple players drafted in the early rounds of the 2025 NFL draft.

However, the best prospect of them all is only a freshman. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is already one of the best players in college football and he has a chance to continue to write his legend on Friday inside AT&T Stadium.

The offensive stars on both sides get a ton of attention, but where most of the elite talent lies is on defense.

Ohio State and Texas both rank in the top five in most defensive categories, and that could lead to a tightly-played affair where one big offensive play makes the difference.

WR Jeremiah Smith

Jeremiah Smith has been the Most Valuable Player of the College Football Playoff through two rounds.

The freshman wide receiver recorded 290 yards and four touchdowns in the wins over the Tennessee Volunteers and Oregon Ducks.

Smith tore apart two solid defenses, so of course he could do the same to Texas' unit.

A strong case could be made that Smith is the best overall NFL prospect on any college football roster right now, but he has to wait two more years to enter the draft pool.

DL Tyleik Williams

Tyleik Williams is one of the many Ohio State players who will be chosen in the 2025 NFL draft.

The interior defensive lineman has 38 tackles and 2.5 sacks, but his impact goes far beyond the stat columns.

Williams is a menace on the interior and he could be a major disruptor to Texas' rushing attack.

Ohio State owns the best scoring defense and fifth-best rushing defense in the FBS and Williams is a huge part of that unit's success.

S Caleb Downs

Caleb Downs was the prized defensive player in the transfer portal last offseason.

The Alabama transfer has been OSU's biggest difference-maker in the passing defense.

Downs will be tasked with slowing down Matthew Golden, Isaiah Bond and the Texas wide receivers who may be forced to play a bigger role on Friday if OSU slows down the Longhorns' ground attack.

Downs will be one of the top defensive players in the 2026 draft class. He has 178 tackles, nine passes defended and three interceptions so far through two collegiate seasons.

LB Anthony Hill Jr.

Anthony Hill Jr. will be listed alongside Downs as one of the best defensive prospects in the 2026 draft class.

Hill is the only Longhorns defender with over 100 tackles. He also has 7.5 sacks and four forced fumbles.

Hill must be a major disruptor to the OSU ground game, which boasts two solid running backs in Quinshon Judkins and Treveyon Henderson.

Do not be surprised if Hill ends up in Will Howard's face a few times as well as the leader of Texas' pass rush.

QB Quinn Ewers

Quinn Ewers could be playing in his final season at Texas.

Ewers has decent NFL prospects and he has Arch Manning waiting in the wings to take over the starting quarterback role in 2025.

Ewers put together back-to-back 3,000-yard seasons and helped Texas reach the semifinal heights twice in the last two seasons.

The junior quarterback must be at his best for the Longhorns to potentially match OSU's passing game.

WR Isaiah Bond

Isaiah Bond is Texas' X-factor in the passing game.

Bond is not as highly-rated as Smith or Emeka Egbuka on the OSU roster, but carries a ton of experience from his time at Alabama and Texas.

Bond did not make much of an impact in the Peach Bowl because he was returning from injury, but he should play a larger role in the Cotton Bowl.

The junior wide out had 126 receiving yards in the SEC Championship Game and Rose Bowl last season for Alabama.

Ohio State 27, Texas 20

No team has come close to slowing down Ohio State's offense in the CFB Playoff.

Texas boasts a remarkable defensive unit, but it has not gone up against a wide receiver unit quite like the one OSU possesses.

The Buckeyes have the biggest difference-maker on the field in Smith, and until he is stopped, they have to be viewed as not just the Cotton Bowl favorite, but the program most likely to win the national championship.