COLUMBUS, Ohio — Larry Johnson’s bull rush drills haven’t changed much since he arrived at Ohio State in 2014.
Prior to each game, the associate head coach and defensive line coach lines up his players, each facing another member of the room. Then Johnson brings them all back to the same page, his page: the fundamentals, the basics.
It was a time for Nick Bosa and Chase Young to recenter their skills: the footwork, the hands, the techniques. It’s a tradition continued by members of the Buckeyes current defensive line room.
This is the process. There’s no skipping a step or jumping the line. Johnson’s process has worked, just ask his five Big Ten Defensive Linemen of the Year since his arrival in Columbus.
So when Johnson comes into the fourth week of the 2021 season, leading a unit that has only recorded four sacks for 21 yards in three games — tied for 10th in the Big Ten with Nebraska and Minnesota — he knows something is off with that process.
“We have to get to the quarterback,” Johnson said. “My guys know that, my room knows that, I know that. I don’t sleep well when we can’t get pressure to the quarterback because that’s what we have to do.
“When we do, we change the game. We change the game immediately, and that’s what we’re going to do: find ways to get to the quarterback.”
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day made it clear that it really doesn’t matter what’s going on in the scheme in the defensive backfield, whether the back seven are in man or zone coverage. Nothing will work if there’s not that consistent pass rush.
This is a philosophy Johnson has held for a long time: disrupting the timing and the trajectory of the football out of the quarterback’s hand, making him uncomfortable in and around the pocket after utilizing a run defense that forces the opposing offense to turn to a one-dimensional pass-only approach.
These have been the Ohio State defenses of the past. But based on the process, Johnson knows it’s in Ohio State’s defenses of the future too.
“We have them here,” Johnson said. “They are here. We just have to continue to develop them.”
The promise starts with the freshmen: five-star defensive ends Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau, who know the process, but are still getting their feet wet, according to the Ohio State defensive line coach.
But former four-star defensive tackle Tyleik Williams was one who really made his presence felt. Against Tulsa, the freshman finished with 1.5 tackles for loss including a sack.
After coming into fall camp more than 340 pounds, Williams lost 25 pounds, leaning into his athleticism and quick movements to earn a distinct spot in the middle of the line along with senior Jerron Cage, junior Taron Vincent and redshirt senior Haskell Garrett.
To be able to rush the quarterback, Johnson said, the unit must be able to stop the run, something Ohio State was able to do against Tulsa: limiting the Golden Hurricane backs to 2,6 yards per carry.
It’s all part of the process: the one Sawyer, Tuimoloau and Williams are being introduced to, the one Garrett, Zach Harrison, who Johnson expects to be back against Akron, and Tyreke Smith already have experienced, getting into that third and fourth year where it starts to pay off.
To Johnson, it’s not all about individual results. He doesn’t grade out champions based on solely sacks or tackles for loss. But for an Ohio State unit to record four sacks in three games, there’s something wrong, something that keeps Johnson up at night.
He knows what it’s supposed to look like. That’s what he’s aiming for moving forward.
“It’s four guys working together,” Johnson said. “It’s not an individual group. You have to understand how to close the lane, push the pocket, how to cage the pocket so you have a chance to surround the quarterback.”
