Ohio State With Plenty of Options to Reload on Defensive Line, Starting With Those Who Played in Fiesta Bowl

When Joey Bosa drove the crown of his helmet into the chest of Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer, penalty markers flew and a chill crept down Urban Meyer's spine.

"Oh, my goodness, that was a kidney shot," Meyer said minutes after Ohio State downed the Fighting Irish, 44-28, in the Fiesta Bowl despite losing the two-time All-American defensive end to a targeting ejection with six minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

Bosa led with his head, one of the two portions of the rule that give officials the right to kick a player out of a game. After review, Bosa's college career was over, with having declared himself eligible for the 2016 NFL Draft before the game began.

"I asked the official, I knew it was targeting, it wasn't below, the first part of the rule is you hit with the crown of your helmet and he did," Meyer said Thursday. "Was it the correct call? Was there a chance of anybody getting hurt? No, but we don't teach that."

Notre Dame didn't score on the possession Bosa was ejected, but the momentum creeped back toward the Fighting Irish with Ohio State's most dominant defensive player sitting in the locker room.

Bosa's absence stressed the depth of the Buckeye defensive line even further, as starting defensive tackle Adolphus Washington was left home, suspended for a solicitation citation, and nose guard Tommy Schutt couldn't play due to a broken foot.

"That was, by the way, when that hit and I knew our depth at the D-line issue, I thought we could lose the game," Meyer said. "I looked out, we were down another lineman, Adolphus Washington didn't make the trip. We were playing with some cats out there I didn't know were going to play.

"But they played hard and did fine against a very good team."

The Buckeyes beat the Irish relying on youth like Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard, Michael Hill, Tracy Sprinkle, Jalyn Holmes and Donovan Munger to pick up the slack. It also doubled as an early preview for 2016 and defensive line coach Larry Johnson.

"That's what we got to see," Ohio State defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said Thursday. "A lot of what you might see here in the near future."

In a funny way, Bosa's ejection could help Ohio State's defensive line after the exodus of talent present on the unit. It called for those more inexperienced players—outside Lewis and Hubbard, who both saw extensive minutes in 2015 at defensive end—to make plays in a big-time environment.

"Those guys got a lot of work and you gotta give Coach Johnson a lot of credit," Fickell said. "Not that we hadn't prepared for Joey not to be able to play, but the reality is, those guys getting an average of 10-15 snaps a game in the entire season, that boded well for us obviously in that situation and it'll bode well for us next year."

Redshirt freshmen Jashon Cornell, Dre'Mont Jones, Robert Landers and Davon Hamilton as well as redshirt sophomore Darius Slade also are readying to be in the mix to replace guys like Bosa, Washington, Schutt and Joel Hale. They just didn't hear their numbers called in 2015. 

True freshman Malik Barrow and Jonathon Cooper are already on campus as early enrollees, and Bosa's younger brother Nick isn't far behind. He and Jones are rehabbing from knee injuries, but a wealth of defensive linemen is available for Johnson to mold.

And many of them saw time at key moments in the Fiesta Bowl in place of Bosa, Washington and Schutt, a surprise sneak peek at the future.

"You've got a bunch of guys who redshirted too," Meyer said. "Dre'Mont is a guy we're very, very excited about. A couple kids coming in here, going to be here (this) week that we're very excited about. It's going to be the winter of development."