Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson sat down with BTN's Anthony “Spice” Adams for a segment on BTN Tailgate in Columbus and the two discussed the Buckeyes' front, how Columbus is treating Johnson and one hilarious phone call from Adams' mother.
Johnson on the transition from State College to Columbus: “It's been awesome. It's a great place. Ohio State fans are really passionate about football here, which is neat to see. Coach Meyer has been great and I work with a great staff. And I've got a great group of young men who I really like in my room.”
On not having a drop off after the departure of Joey Bosa and Adolphus Washington: “You know how I feel about that. It's called developing young players. You gotta get the young guys ready to go. With me, it's just finding those young players and just buying into them.”
On his group being the quickest he's ever coached: “These guys are so young. I have two defensive ends who are now playing inside, so I've changed the dynamic of how we play. We're a little bit twitchy on the inside. Not as big as we'd like to be, but I think that makes this group faster.”
Adams – who played for Johnson at Penn State before going on to play in the NFL for eight years – thanked the coach for what he did for him in State College, particularly, helping him through a tough period.
“The encouragement that you gave me, I appreciate it,” Adams said. “I'm holding back a lot of tears right now because he means so much to me and my family and I just want to thank you, coach. We gotta end this because I'm about to start crying.”
“I can close with this,” Johnson replied. “Your mom called me that day and she gave me permission. She said, ‘Coach Johnson, you can use a belt, a switch,’ anything I wanted to make sure you understood exactly what it took to be a man. And really, Spice, from that moment on, you changed.”
It wasn't all tears for Adams in Columbus, however. Earlier, he stopped by the Buckeye wrestling room to square off with Ohio State's gold medalist, Kyle Snyder, and you can guess what happened:
