Taron Vincent is going to the East-West Shrine Bowl.
The fifth-year senior defensive tackle became the first Buckeye to accept an invitation to one of this year’s postseason all-star games for NFL draft prospects when the Shrine Bowl announced Friday that Vincent would be playing in this year’s game.
BIG-time addition to the D-Line@OhioStateFB DT Taron Vincent (@t_lova23) has accepted his invite to the 2023 East-West #ShrineBowl!
— East-West Shrine Bowl (@ShrineBowl) December 3, 2022
#GoBucks | #ShrineBowlRoadToVegas pic.twitter.com/My2wgyme3v
Vincent has had his best season as a Buckeye as a fifth-year senior, playing the most snaps of any Ohio State defensive lineman (454) and leading the way for OSU’s interior run defense while recording 23 total tackles with two tackles for loss. While Vincent hasn’t loaded up box scores in his Ohio State career, he’s often made an impact on the game that has been felt in other ways, as he’s taken on double-teams in the middle of the offensive line and created disruption that has allowed other defenders around him to make plays.
“He has been absolutely consistent since I've been here,” first-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said in November. “We joke all the time, he and I, about the amount of double-teams he has to take on. It's not very sexy, but he does that work, and he's been incredibly consistent with it. And really a bonus for me to have inside, because he can do that. I don't care who you are, nobody really likes that. But then when we move him, he's athletic enough to make plays.”
While Vincent could have returned to Ohio State for a sixth year if he wanted to thanks to the additional year of eligibility the NCAA gave all players in 2020, his Shrine Bowl acceptance – as well as his participation in Senior Day – is an indicator that Vincent does not plan to use that extra year.
