Defensive tackle wasn’t exactly a position of concern for Ohio State entering the offseason.
The Buckeyes lost two veterans in the middle of Larry Johnson’s defensive line in Taron Vincent, a regular starter in 2023, and Jerron Cage, who logged 187 snaps as a sixth-year senior this past season. But the Buckeyes still returned arguably their three most talented tackles with Mike Hall and Tyleik Williams back for their third year in the program and Ty Hamilton entering year four. Those three combined to play 819 snaps last season with 55 total tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and six sacks.
Beyond that trio is where the questions began. Johnson is notorious for rotating defensive linemen at a breakneck pace to keep players on the field fresh, and that was no different in 2023. Five defensive tackles played at least 185 snaps and four played more than 250.
So who could play that big a role this season beyond the three aforementioned proven commodities? Ohio State began the offseason with only five non-freshmen in the position group, with Hall, Williams and Hamilton occupying three of those slots. After that, veteran lineman Jaden McKenzie and second-year tackle Hero Kanu were the next men up, but neither played more than 58 snaps in 2022.
Luckily for the Buckeyes, both produced during the spring. McKenzie made a number of standout plays in scrimmage periods open to the media, and Kanu might have had the best spring game of any Ohio State defender. The Germany native was credited with five total tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack on the day, routinely clogging up lanes in the run game and busting into the backfield to disrupt the Buckeye offense during an exhibition game that the defense dominated.
If Johnson had any hesitancy about the ability of Kanu or McKenzie to step into bigger roles in the coming season, their performance through March and April likely calmed those nerves. Still, another body in the position group couldn’t hurt, and Ohio State had already shown an increased willingness to dip into the transfer portal to bolster several units.
Despite adding seven transfers to the roster this offseason, more than twice as many as any other season in the Ryan Day era at Ohio State, the Buckeyes landed another such prospect last week when former Ole Miss tackle Tywone Malone announced his commitment to the program.
New chapter same Mission pic.twitter.com/vFr7w4ePDl
— Tywone Malone (@TywoneMalone) May 9, 2023
And Malone’s recruiting profile suggests he could be more than just another body in scarlet and gray.
While he didn’t see an abundance of opportunities in his first two seasons as a Rebel, the 6-foot-4, 300-pound lineman was the No. 63 overall prospect as a four-star recruit in the 2021 class, and slotted in as the No. 11 defensive lineman in the nation. In fact, he was the top-rated prospect in Lane Kiffin’s entire class that year. Malone hasn’t lived up to that potential just yet, but he still has three years of eligibility in which he can blossom in Columbus.
Malone won’t be in line for a starting job in his first season at Ohio State. Some combination of Hall, Williams and Hamilton already have those locked down, barring injury. But as a third-year college football player, Malone has more experience than Kanu and more statistical production in a shorter window than McKenzie. That means a spot on Ohio State’s two-deep depth chart is well within reach for Malone, although he’ll have to play catch-up given the post-spring timeline of his expected arrival on campus.
Ohio State’s defensive tackle rotation still may seem top-heavy, but the pieces are in place for what could now be another deep unit – just how Johnson likes it. And considering the success of Ohio State’s defensive line in general over the course of the spring, the talent in the first two units seems to be plenty.
Even before the spring game, Day raved about play of Ohio State’s defensive line after multiple scrimmages as it frequently got the better of the Buckeyes’ retooled front five on offense.
“Overall, I thought the defense brought it today. They played really well,” Day said after Ohio State’s Student Appreciation Day scrimmage on April 2. “They pretty much dominated today's winner/loser. … There's a lot of pieces that come with it, we tried a couple situations coming out; third down, put the ball down in the red zone. So that was good to get that, we'll get it on film and keep growing. A lot of young guys are really grinding, stacking days, getting better. But I thought it was a really good job by the defense today, and particularly the defensive line, bunch of sacks.”
It was no different after the spring game, as Day once again praised Johnson’s group for spearheading a 40-31 victory for the defense on a day that he said Jim Knowles and company were “very vanilla” schematically.
Not to mention, Ohio State has an intriguing freshman prospect at defensive tackle that could factor into the equation earlier than some might expect. Four-star recruit Kayden McDonald, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound Georgia tackle, is a physical specimen whose potential has already drawn praise from fellow classmates. While he won't arrive until the summer, McDonald could be a name to watch as a potential depth piece in the unit this season as well.
Perhaps Kanu’s continued development and Malone’s ability to quickly acclimate to the program this summer will remain variables for just how deep Ohio State’s defensive tackle position could be in 2023, but the indications are undoubtedly positive at this juncture.
