By Mallory Mattingly
Caleb Downs might be among the top 2026 NFL Draft prospects, but for him, his “faith in Jesus Christ” matters most.
“There’s two things that are more important than me, more important than me playing football,” Downs said on “The Walk” podcast in August when asked why he chose to wear No. 2. “My faith in Jesus Christ and my family. So those two things is what I wear on my chest every game and those are the two most important things in my life.”
The safety played at the Ohio State University and won the 2025 Jim Thorpe Award.
“Downs was also a two-time consensus first-team All-American and a key member of the Buckeyes’ 2024-25 national championship team and Big Ten runner-up squad in 2025-26. Furthermore, he was given the Big Ten’s Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year honor and, for the second straight season, the Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year award,” according to Sports Spectrum.
Related: Ohio State Football Kicks Off Season with ‘An Invitation to Jesus’
More than his impressive stats and awards, Downs wants others to see his love for God.
In 2025, he helped host a student-led worship night on campus. The event featured worship music, testimonies from players and baptisms.
“No play we make on the field — no touchdown, no interception — can compare to the Kingdom of God,” Downs told the crowd of 2,000, per ABC 6 News.
After the event, he told the outlet, “God is good. I mean, I can’t take credit for it. None of my teammates can take credit for it. At the end of the day, His glory is above anything that we can do, but we know Jesus is real and we know that if you believe in Him, you will be saved.”
That night on campus also changed the way Downs talked about his faith publicly.
“Some people say, ‘I’m not ready to be baptized. I’m not ready to come to Jesus,'” he said on “The Walk” podcast. “But the realization is that Jesus is for the people that are sick. Jesus is for the people that aren’t perfect. You’re never going to be perfect enough to come to Jesus. That’s the point.”
Later on, he explained, “Whenever you surrender to Him, that’s when everything will be washed away and you will be made renewed in Him. The faster that you can come to Him and run to Him and totally surrender your heart and your mind to Him, that’s the better off you’re going to be. There’s no amount of good behavior that you can do that will allow you to feel like you’re righteous enough to come to Him, because you never will be. It’s just a realization that He is what makes you righteous. He’s what makes you perfect.”
The 2026 NFL Draft runs from April 23-25. No matter what happens, Downs is secure in his identity in Christ.
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