Tim Walton knows Ohio State.

He played for years for the Buckeyes at defensive back, recording 10 interceptions, including three in each of his first two seasons. The Columbus, Georgia native served as a co-captain for Ohio State during the 1993 season.

His coaching path was varied, bouncing between college football, whether it was at Bowling Green, Memphis, Syracuse, LSU or Miami; and the NFL, with stints with the Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams, New York Giants and the past three seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

In 2022, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has called Walton back to Columbus, hiring him as the Buckeyes next secondary and cornerbacks coach, one of a slew of moves the Buckeyes made to their defensive staff, along with the hiring of former Cincinnati cornerbacks coach Perry Eliano to coach safeties.

What Day seems to hope through Walton's hire is to continue that NFL pipeline of Ohio State defensive backs that Coombs helped start in his first stint with the Buckeyes from 2012-17.

“We’re very excited to welcome Tim and his family back to Ohio State,” Day said in a statement. “As a former Buckeye captain, he comes here with a deep appreciation for how special this place is. And, his experience at both the collegiate and NFL levels make him someone who is uniquely qualified to develop the back end of our defense.”

Throughout his career, Walton has helped players like cornerback Janoris Jenkins, Dominique Rogers-Cromarte and Jalen Ramsey make it to Pro Bowls with the Giants and Jaguars, respectively.

"Coach [Tim] Walton, he’s probably one of the best [defensive backs] coaches if not the best [defensive backs] coaches I’ve ever had in my life," Ramsey said in an ESPN interview in 2019. "The best thing is he was always trying to understand us. A lot of times, people in authority don’t really care to try to understand you as a person.”

With experience as a defensive backs coach and a defensive coordinator at both the college football and NFL level, Walton has the opportunity to continue those development skills with a young Ohio State cornerback room.

It was one that saw some success in 2021, but struggled like most of Ohio State's pass defense did, allowing 246.7 yards per game and a 129.7 pass defensive efficiency rating.

Both of Ohio State's starting cornerbacks from 2021 — Cameron Brown and Denzel Burke — are set to return for their redshirt senior and sophomore seasons, respectively. But other than those top two options, it's a room filled with young and unproven talent, whether it's returners like Jordan Hancock, Lejond Cavazos and Jakailin Johnson, or freshmen Jyaire Brown and Ryan Turner.

It's a filled room, one that Day feels Walton can begin to develop starting in 2022.