Ohio State’s Larry Johnson not going anywhere, but defensive line questions remain, too

Ex-NBA star Larry Johnson sent threatening messages to his ex

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football coach Ryan Day delivered a message Wednesday, perhaps to a single defensive line prospect wavering in his commitment, or perhaps to all potential Buckeye targets across the country.

None of the assistant coaches spoke to the media on signing day. Therefore, Larry Johnson was not available to once again bristle at the notion that anyone would use “retirement” and his name in the same sentence. That instead fell to Day, who confidently said Johnson will return for his 11th Buckeye season in 2024.

On one hand, the constant age-related speculation is unfair. Give or take a few months, Johnson is the same age as 72-year-old Alabama coach Nick Saban. Some believe the hoarder of national championships has summoned one of his best coaching performances to lead the Crimson Tide into the playoff.

On the other hand, Johnson and OSU would be naive to think teams won’t spin Johnson’s age (and standard short-term assistant coach contracts) as a source of uncertainty. Day, almost as if he knew five-star Eddrick Houston was streaming the press conference live from Georgia, brought a full-throated support of Johnson to the signing day lectern.

“Guys have brought that up over the years in recruiting, but he’s young,” Day said, “In terms of his approach every day, he’s got a lot of energy. He wants to continue to coach. The guys in that room love him.

“He’s still got a lot of energy when it comes to coaching and he still has a passion for coaching. His wisdom, his experience is the best in the country, and our guys know that and certainly people recognize that in recruiting.”

Not long after making that statement, Day left the middle of his press conference to take a phone call. After Houston’s letter of intent had been signed, Day confirmed the call had concerned the top-30 prospect. What could have been a disastrous day for the defensive line — and frankly, for Johnson — had been averted.

Staff changes are almost certainly coming for Ohio State, though likely not until after the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29. After a third consecutive loss to Michigan and another year out of the playoff, Day faces tough decisions.

He laid out the three factors he uses to evaluate his assistant coaches, in order: Recruiting, development and schematic contributions. Few defensive line coaches in the game’s history have experienced Johnson’s peaks in all of those categories.

From 2016-20, he sent Nick and Joey Bosa and Heisman Trophy finalist Chase Young to the NFL Draft as top-three picks. That unprecedented string of backfield terrors solidified Johnson’s reputation as the country’s premier identifier, evaluator and developer at arguably the most important defensive position.

It was unrealistic to expect generational talents to keep rolling through on an annual basis — and they haven’t.

The last few high-profile edge rushers who entered the NFL draft went in the fifth round (Tyreke Smith, 2022) and third round (Zach Harrison, 2023). Two former top-five prospects on this roster — J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer — may return for a fourth season. Tremendous news for the 2024 squad no doubt, but also indicative of a lack of consistent dominance at that position.

The last four sack leaders among OSU defensive ends combined for 15.5 sacks — one fewer than Young achieved in 12 games in 2019. Perhaps no statistic better illustrates the conversation around the direction of the defensive line performance. Just because one thing represented an impossible standard does not mean what followed it has not, for lack of a better word, underwhelmed.

Which is why, with Houston trending toward Alabama per some analysts’ read, Day faced questions about the defensive line recruiting trajectory and Johnson’s future.

Justin Scott, the class’ other five-star defensive line commit. had flipped to Miami weeks earlier. With no Houston, this would have been OSU’s third class in as many years with no top-50 defensive line signee. The entire class would have hinged on 3-star Eric Mensah.

Some of those classes contained promising players, such as defensive ends Kenyatta Jackson and Caden Curry in 2022 and tackle Kayden McDonald in 2023. Johnson, though, was only being judged against the five-star reputation he built. Day defended the defensive line recruiting and said it has met OSU’s standards in both quality and quantity.

It’s not as if that argument has no evidence. Only two years ago, Johnson’s patience and perseverance won Tuimoloau’s prolonged recruitment. While he had help to finish off the tight fight for Houston — including from defensive passing game coordinator Tim Walton — the win came in his room. (Lately, at a number of positions, last-minute decisions from players in the heart of SEC country have not favored the Buckeyes.)

The past season also counts as evidence of Johnson’s continued developmental prowess. The emergence of defensive tackle Tyleik Williams and the play of the defensive line as a whole helped resurrect the defense. Day again on Wednesday hinted the pending NFL Draft decisions for some of those linemen will set OSU up for another strong defensive front in 2024.

As for the future, OSU’s may keep growing. Multiple national recruiting outlets cited OSU among the teams pursuing two still-unsigned 2024 defensive tackles: Washington commit Dominic Kirks of Riverside, a four-star, top-250ish prospect, and Texas A&M five-star commit Derrick McKinley. The latter’s mother told 247Sports her son won’t sign during the early period.

So Johnson’s final word on this defensive line recruiting class may be yet to come.

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