7/15/2021 football Edit

J.T. Tuimoloau joins the Ohio State football roster

The Buckeyes rolled out the red carpet for Tuimoloau in June and now he is enrolled and on the roster (Kevin Noon)

Kevin Noon • DottingTheEyes

Publisher

It did not take Ohio State long to add its final commitment of the 2021 class to its football roster with the addition of J.T. Tuimoloau on Thursday afternoon. The Sammamish (Wash.) product committed to Ohio State on July 4th and it took less than two weeks to add him to the list of players for the upcoming season.

Ohio State lists the former five-star at 6-foot-4, 277 pounds and as a defensive lineman, not an uncommon thing for a true freshman, many who come in without a specific designation. The belief is that Tuimoloau could play both inside and outside within Ohio State’s defensive scheme, but that remains to be seen at this point.

Tuimoloau (pronounced Too-ee-moe-low-ow) was rated as the No. 6 overall player in the class of 2021 by Rivals.com and comes in as Ohio State’s highest ranked recruit of the class. He is joined by fellow five-stars Emeka Egbuka (No. 10), Jack Sawyer (No. 11) and Donovan Jackson (No. 12).

Most of Ohio State’s class of 2021 enrolled at the start of the January semester and were able to go through spring practice but there are still a number of players who are just getting to campus and getting into summer workouts including scholarship players Michael Hall, Jordan Hancock, Donovan Jackson, Jakalin Johnson, Jaylen Johnson, J.T. Tuimoloau and Andre Turrentine. Additionally there are a pair of famous walk-ons with Kirk Herbstreit’s son Zak joining the team as a tight end and the son of offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, Toby, joining the team as an offensive lineman.

It would be safe to assume that Tuimoloau will have a role in the Ohio State defense in 2021 but just how immediately he makes an impact will be determined with how quickly he is able to catch up with his teammates in terms of a conditioning standpoint as he is only now getting a chance to work on the prescribed regiment by strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti.

No word at this point on transfer linebacker Palaie Gaoteote, the former USC start who has been seen in Columbus via social media points, appears in the student directory but has yet to be added to the football team. There appears to be the necessity of a transfer waiver as Gaoteote entered the portal before the NCAA reversed course and allowed one-time transfers to all student athletes.

No word on jersey numbers for the summer enrolling freshmen per an Ohio State Athletics spokesperson.