Quick Hits: Larry Johnson Says “Culture” and “Brotherhood” Led Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau Returned For Another Season, Keenan Bailey Says “It’s Been Awesome” to Work With Chip Kelly

Two showed up.

The reason for the third's absence?

He left Columbus for Ann Arbor.

After Ohio State's sixth spring practice, Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson and tight ends coach Keenan Bailey held press conferences on the Woody Hayes Athletic Center indoor practice field.

Each coach discussed the progress their rooms have made this offseason and their expectations for the Buckeyes in 2024. Johnson also discussed Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau, Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton's decisions to return to Ohio State for another season. At the same time, Bailey shared how “awesome” it has been to work with new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Kelly.

Larry Johnson

• On Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau returning: “It was just great conversation (I had with them). It’s a culture. It’s a brotherhood. It’s all the reasons why they came back, but we spent a lot of time talking and talked to the parents for them making the right decision.”
• Johnson feels it’s still to be seen if this is the best defensive line he’s ever had in Columbus. “It’s a long way away to determine that, but I like where we are in the sense that those players make us better and also make the young players better.”
• On what he wants to see from the second group: “They’ve gotta be able to come in and play 25, 35 plays a game and do it early in the season. That’s the plan, get those guys ready for the long haul. And so they’ve gotta play early, they’ve gotta play often. ... They’re taking a lot of (first-team) reps.”
• Jason Moore has had a “surprisingly good” spring at the open of his second season, Johnson said.
• On Tywone Malone: “He’s coming along really good. I think with Tywone, he was behind football-wise because he’s been a baseball player all his life. Then he goes down to his other college and he plays baseball again. So he’s behind football-wise, just technique, playing the game. It’s taken a year. Now we see the growth, we see the potential he brings to the table.”
• On Eddrick Houston’s recruitment: “You think you’re to the end of it and you’re all done, then all of a sudden there’s a pause. ... He just went quiet, no one could talk to him. ... I think he knew where his heart was, and his heart was always here. He said that.”
• Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. remain the next men up at defensive end with Mitchell Melton mixing in. At defensive tackle it’s Moore, Kayden McDonald and Hero Kanu.
• When it comes to teams using his age to recruit negatively against him, Johnson said all he can do is tell prospects “the truth.” Right now the truth is that he has no plans to leave in the near future.
• On Jack Sawyer’s emergence in the latter half of last season: “I thought, after the sixth game, you saw Jack emerge and go back to the things he does well. Go back to his toolbox. Do the things, not guess and just start playing really good football. And then he started playing really physical football.”
• On Moore: “He’s 6-5, he’s 295 pounds. He’s the ideal three-technique in our system. It’s just a matter of him having confidence and playing. Sometimes you get here, it’s bigger than you think it is. It can kind of set you back. Now in the spring, we’re challenging him and that’s what I’m telling him. Every day is a good day for Jason Moore.”
• On where he’s challenging Jackson: “It’s all about being consistent. He’s tough. He has all the skillset. He can bend, he can run, he can tackle, he’s physical, he has all that. Now can you be consistent in doing what you’re supposed to do, and so far he’s doing a good job of that.”
• On Kayden McDonald: “He’s a nose guard, he’s powerful. We’d like to see him continue to bring his weight down. He’s a big man, he’s very strong and he can handle the center really well. He gives the ideal nose guard. That’s what you’re looking for. An explosive guy, big guy in the middle.”
• With Sawyer, Tuimoloau and Tyleik Williams getting the hype they’ve gotten as returning starters, Johnson made sure to praise Ty Hamilton in a big way, too. “Ty is our hammer. Ty is a physical player inside. If you watch his play from last year, there’s times when he was, we call it, ‘Bobbled up.’ He’s just taking the center and shaking his head. Very strong, very physical. ... Ty, to me, is a sleeping giant.”
• A schedule that could reach as many as 17 games calls for more rotation than Ohio State used last year, Johnson said.
• On the lack of rotation along the defensive line at points last season: “We weren’t quite ready to throw those guys in and say, ‘Go battle.’ You’ve gotta be smart. You don’t want to put them in situations where they have a handicap, the handicap being that they fail and let everybody down. You can carry that. ... Now those guys have some depth, they have some experience. Now let’s go play.”
• Johnson said Jim Knowles’ idea to train Sawyer and Tuimoloau to play some outside linebacker in a special five-defensive lineman package is “great.” “We do a little bit of that now in our drop-eight defense, so it’s not a big deal. ... It’s just a matter of changing the front on the inside. That’s all. We haven’t gotten there yet but I know Coach Knowles is interested in trying to experiment with that a little bit.”

Keenan Bailey

• Gee Scott Jr. “sets the tone” for the tight end unit, Bailey said. “He’s been here for quite a while. He knows what it takes, right. So he sets the tone as far as details and preparation and effort and toughness.”
• Bailey said he isn’t expecting just one tight end to singlehandedly replace Cade Stover. Collectively, his goal is for Ohio State’s tight end room to be the best tight end unit in the country.
• Bailey said former Ohio State wide receiver Sam Wiglusz called him to tell him he would love Will Kacmarek, who transferred to Ohio State this offseason after playing with Wiglusz at Ohio for the past two years. Bailey said Kacmarek is still “transitioning” to Ohio State, but Bailey has been pleased with the way Kacmarek is working.
• Bailey said he was “really proud” of how hard Bennett Christian worked last year despite being suspended from playing for testing positive for a banned substance. He thought Christian developed in practice even though he couldn’t play in games.
• Bailey said “it’s been awesome” working with new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. “It’s been great for the tight ends. I’ll leave it at that not to get too much into scheme, but we’ve definitely benefited, and me personally learning every day.”
• Bailey described the six tight ends currently going through spring practice – Scott, Kacmarek, Christian, Jelani Thurman, Patrick Gurd and Jace Middleton – as “six of the toughest dudes on the team.” He hopes all of them can earn playing time this year.
• “We’re working quite a few guys back there,” Bailey said when asked if Caleb Downs was taking practice reps at punt returner, a position he is now coaching along with Brian Hartline.
• On the kick and punt return units: “If there’s not tight ends all over those units, then they’re not going to play tight end at Ohio State. And I bet you Hartline feels the same way about the receivers.”
• Bailey said his goal is to be the best punt return coach in the country. He said he, Hartline and support staffers Rob Keys, Sean Binckes and Gunner Daniel spent an entire week before spring practice focused on studying the return game and preparing to coach that role this year.
• Bailey said he’s had FaceTime calls with incoming freshmen Max LeBlanc and Damarion Witten to help them prepare for their first season even though they aren’t enrolling until summer.