All throughout the offseason, we at Scarlet and Gray Report will start the day by answering a question related to Ohio State football, whether it has to do with the team in 2022, recruiting or looking back at past teams and players.

Zach Harrison was next in line.

He was going to be the next great Ohio State defensive end, in the same path as Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa and Chase Young: dominating opposing Big Ten offensive lines before leaving the Buckeyes as a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.

That’s what Harrison was projected to be out of the 2019 class: a five-star defensive end, the No. 3 defensive end in the class. But Harrison was different from the Bosa brothers and Young. He was homegrown, growing up outside of Columbus, attending Olentangy Orange High School.

He was Ohio State’s next great defensive end, sought out and refined from right in the Buckeyes’ backyard.

But through his three seasons with the Buckeyes, those expectations have not been quite met. Progress has been made, leading the team with eight tackles-for-loss in 2021 with a career-high four sacks.

He just hasn’t been as dominant as some of some of the defensive ends of recent memory. And as he talked about his decision whether to enter the NFL Draft or stay for one final season prior to the Rose Bowl, it seemed to be at the forefront of his mind.

“There’s still some things I feel like I have left on the table that I feel like if I come back, I can accomplish,” Harrison said Dec. 16.

It seems like that decision has been made.

It wasn’t with any real spectacle or anything, just posting a few pictures in an Instagram post with the caption “9-3-22” — the date of the Buckeyes’ season opener against Notre Dame — with an emoji of a movie clapperboard.

In 2022, Harrison is ready to make some highlight-reel plays with an entirely new coaching staff.

So what could new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and company turn Harrison into?

Whether it’s through a traditional defensive end spot or the standing lineman that can do anything from rush the passer, act as a spy to the quarterback or serve as another linebacker, dropping back into coverage, Knowles brought defensive ends to life in his time at Oklahoma State.

In 2021, it was freshman Collin Oliver taking charge, leading the Cowboys in both tackles-for-loss (15.5) and sacks (11.5). It was redshirt senior defensive end Brock Martin, adding 14 tackles-for-loss and nine sacks of his own.

Yes, sack numbers were there for Ohio State in 2021 too, finishing tied for 28th with Liberty and Air Force, averaging 2.85 sacks per game. But it was nothing compared to the 4.07 Oklahoma State averaged in 2021, the only team in the FBA to average more than four.

It was consistent pressure coming from the defensive line and the linebackers, a tenacity that Ohio State never really had in 2021.

Now, it's a possibility that pressure could be on its way with Knowles' new scheme.

It’s potential that Harrison sees not only for himself, but for those defensive ends around him: Jack Sawyer, J.T. Tuimoloau, the freshmen Omari Abor and Caden Curry.

There’s changes coming, changes Harrison seems to hope launch him into that legacy conversation in Ohio State’s defensive line room, bringing him to the level of expectations he arrived with initially.

That process, as Harrison said in his Instagram post, starts “9-3-22.”