Noah Potter will look to continue his college football career elsewhere.
The redshirt junior defensive end entered the transfer portal on Saturday, as first reported by On3’s Matt Zenitz.
Potter, who arrived at Ohio State in 2019 as a four-star recruit out of Mentor, Ohio, had been hoping to earn a spot in the Buckeyes’ defensive line rotation this spring after missing the entire 2021 season due to injuries, including a detached retina, which nearly cost him his vision in his right eye.
Potter played snaps at both defensive end and tackle in the spring game and performed well, recording six total tackles with two sacks. Still, he did not have a clear path to playing time on Ohio State’s defensive line this season, with Zach Harrison, J.T. Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, Javontae Jean-Baptiste and Tyler Friday all likely to be ahead of him on the depth chart at defensive end, where he spent most of his time this spring.
Potter becomes the second Ohio State defensive lineman to enter the portal this week, following Jacolbe Cowan. Even with their departures, Ohio State still has 16 defensive linemen on scholarship for the 2022 season: Harrison, Tuimoloau, Sawyer, Jean-Baptiste, Friday, Mitchell Melton, Caden Curry, Omari Abor and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. at defensive end, and Taron Vincent, Jerron Cage, Ty Hamilton, Tyleik Williams, Mike Hall, Jaden McKenzie and Hero Kanu at defensive tackle.
Ohio State is now down to 86 players on scholarship for the 2022 season, just one above the 85-man limit.
Potter becomes the second member of his family to enter the transfer portal after starting his college career at Ohio State. His older brother, Micah, played basketball at Ohio State for two seasons (2016-18) before transferring to Wisconsin for the rest of his collegiate career.
Thanks to the NCAA giving all athletes an additional year in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Potter still has three years of collegiate eligibility.
