Jack Sawyer has quietly been one of the most consistent sources of production along Ohio State’s defensive line in 2023.
He’s had at least three tackles in all but one of the Buckeyes’ games, and on the season he is second only to Tyleik Williams in tackles among Ohio State defensive linemen with 30.
"If you watch Jack, he goes hard every play," defensive end JT Tuimoloau said. "That’s the guy I love playing on the other side of and he just brings that energy. I can feed off it. Having him, Mike (Hall), Tyleik (Williams) and whoever else is in there, especially with Jack, he just brings that mentality."
The role he fills for Ohio State’s 2023 outfit isn’t always a flashy one. Playing strong at the point of attack and setting the edge on running plays aren’t things that fans always take notice of.
But both on and off the field, Sawyer’s teammates and coaches feel he’s responsible for doing a great deal of important dirty work and representing the best parts of the team.
"He knows what it means and he knows this place, how special it is and he embodies everything that this program is about," Ryan Day said. "You just see that on a daily basis, in his attitude every day when he comes in, he works hard, he’s a hard-hat kind of guy. And you’re seeing him play that way."
Especially in terms of that above-mentioned run defense, the last two weeks may have been Sawyer’s strongest.
He collected 10 total tackles between Ohio State’s games at Wisconsin and at Rutgers, with six coming against the Badgers including an emphatic stop of star running back Braelon Allen on a 2nd-and-goal play near halftime. After another stop from linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, Wisconsin was forced to settle for a field goal.
Ohio State named Sawyer a co-defensive player of the game by the Buckeyes alongside Eichenberg against the Badgers.
"I get it, guys in the media and people who just watch the game, they want to see the big sack stats and all those, which is good," Sawyer said. "But we’re focused on winning games, playing good defense, playing tough, just keep winning. Don't worry about any of the stats, we'll come back up after the season, look at those."
Setting the edge isn’t going to draw headlines, but it is an important element of a defense’s success on a given play.
"If you don’t have an edge set, that’s when explosives happen, that’s when the ball starts running 10, 15, 20 yards downfield before you make a tackle," Sawyer said. "It’s really important to set edges, not just at defensive end. You set edges as the three-technique or if you’re a linebacker filling a gap."
Even though he’s only collected 1.5 sacks through nine games, Sawyer’s been projected by several outlets as a day-two pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, should he declare. It would seem those projections, like Ohio State's coaches, value him for more than just the number of times he's taken a quarterback down with the ball in his hands.
"I guess those people know what they’re doing," defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. "He’s just getting better. It’s all the hard work that a lot of people don’t see unless you break it down like you (reporters) do or maybe those services do. He’s controlling blocks, getting off blocks, making tackles, affecting the quarterback even if he doesn’t make the sack or the hit."
“He embodies everything that this program is about. You just see that on a daily basis, in his attitude every day when he comes in, he works hard, he’s a hard-hat kind of guy.”– Ryan Day
Day said Sawyer understands the traditions and prestige of Ohio State’s program, and the coach also pointed to the Pickerington, Ohio native’s path during his recruitment – or lack thereof.
Sawyer was the first commitment in Ohio State’s class of 2021, pledging his services in February 2019, two full years before that class’ National Signing Day. He was known as a lead peer recruiter as well, getting his future teammates together for cookouts at his family’s home.
"When you get into year three, you see a maturity there but there’s a physicality that’s being brought and a mentality that’s being brought every day," Day said. "This is an Ohio guy who understands what it means to be a Buckeye."
Sawyer feels the work he does behind the scenes isn’t abnormal for a player at his level. Regardless, he pushes himself to put in plenty of it.
“Every player who plays this game and everybody on this team, we can always find ways to get better,” Sawyer said. “It’s our responsibility to handle our time right, manage our time right and put in as much work as we can to give the best product on the field on Saturday. For me, I’ve just been trying to do anything I can, whether that’s watching extra film, more work with Coach (Larry Johnson), all that stuff.”
Another factor in Sawyer’s success has been a move back to his more natural defensive end position as opposed to the hybrid defensive end/linebacker “Jack” role he filled last year, formerly a calling card of Knowles’ scheme that has largely gone by the wayside for Ohio State in 2023.
That move, his performance and the Buckeyes’ general resurgence on defense have Sawyer in a good headspace as November marches on.
“I’m loving playing defensive end again, I’m having a lot of fun,” Sawyer said. “Our defensive line is playing really well. The front seven as a whole is playing really well, so is the back end, our defense is playing really well as a whole and we’re winning games.”
