At times last season, Ohio State’s defensive line was exactly what Ryan Day expected it to be: the strength of the Buckeye defense. But in too many crucial moments, including both of the Buckeyes’ losses, it was anything but.
In order for that to change in 2022, Larry Johnson’s unit has had to identify what went wrong and how it can fill in those holes ahead of the new year. The same can be said for every level of the Buckeye defense, which ranked outside the nation’s top 25 in nearly every major statistical category, but given that Day has once again branded Johnson’s group the tip of the spear defensively, the change in mindset starts up front for Ohio State.