Although there was plenty of speculation entering both of this offseason’s transfer portal windows that Kenyatta Jackson Jr. could be a candidate to leave Ohio State, the third-year defensive end remains on the Buckeyes’ roster with the portal now closed for the year.
It wouldn’t have been shocking if Jackson had sought an opportunity to become a starter elsewhere after Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau decided to stay at Ohio State for their senior seasons, blocking Jackson from the top row of the defensive end depth chart for another year. But Jackson said this spring he never even considered entering the portal and that he is excited to play with Tuimoloau and Sawyer for another year.
“There was no doubt in my mind that this is home,” Jackson said in March. “So when those guys told me before they broke the news that they (were) coming back, I was excited. Their class hasn't beaten the team up north and won a natty yet, and my class hasn't either. So just doing that together, that would be the icing on the cake.”
After playing only 176 snaps off the bench in 2023, Jackson admitted this spring he was frustrated he didn’t get more playing time last season. Rather than using that as a reason to leave Ohio State, however, Jackson chose to take the advice of OSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson, who used a phrase made famous by the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers: “Trust the process.”
“Last year, that was a part of my ups and downs, just overthinking like when I'm going to play, I should be playing this and that,” Jackson said. “This year, I'm just taking a different approach to it, just letting God work his plan and whatever God's plan is, that's what I'm doing, that's what I'm following.
“It was a rough patch. Just talking to my family back home, just myself, I personally think that I should have been in the rotation a little bit more. But like I said, God has his plans for me and I'm going to follow his plan.”
Jackson said he talked to Johnson about his frustrations with his playing time after last season, and he has reason to believe he will get more chances to play this year. With the expanded College Football Playoff creating the possibility of playing as many as 17 games, Johnson says he expects to rotate his defensive ends more this year.
“They understand that we have to go into the season, we have to rotate and we have to do it early in the season to have a chance to get to the back end of the season,” Johnson said this spring.
“There was no doubt in my mind that this is home.”– Kenyatta Jackson Jr. on staying at Ohio State
That said, Jackson’s playing time will also depend on whether he proves to his coaches that he deserves more snaps. While Johnson has been known to rotate more frequently in the past, he said this spring that he felt Jackson and fellow second-team defensive end Caden Curry weren’t quite ready to take significant snaps away from Sawyer and Tuimoloau a year ago. But Johnson believes both of them will be this year.
“It's all about being consistent,” Johnson said when asked specifically about Jackson. “He's tough. He has all the skill set. 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. And you can see him coming out of his shell a little bit, kind of trying to be a leader, and I like what's going on. So is Caden Curry. I mean, those guys are right where they need to be.”
Jackson, who recorded seven total tackles with two for loss and 1.5 sacks in 2023, said there were times last season when he was overthinking on the field rather than playing with confidence, which Ryan Day also noticed. But Day says he and his coaches still have a great deal of confidence that Jackson, a top-60 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class who still has three years of eligibility, can become a standout on the Buckeyes’ defensive line.
“We believe in Kenyatta, and when Kenyatta’s believing in himself and he's positive, boy he can be one of the best players on that field,” Day said. “And I think Kenyatta has continually learned to open up and garner things from different people within the building to go reach his goals, because he can be as good as he wants to be. And so the challenge I know Coach J has put up for him is that consistency. And believing in himself.
“One bad play doesn't make it a bad practice. One bad practice doesn’t make you a bad player. You're going to have good plays and bad plays. It's like riding a bike. When you do something for the first time, you're gonna fall off the bike. You gotta get back on that bike and learn, and how quickly you get on that bike and drive is going to separate how long it's going to take you from the next guy to go be great. But he has all the talent in the world. And he's working hard on that discipline and skill.”
Jackson says Day, Johnson, Sawyer, Tuimoloau and Curry all played a part in lifting him up and helping him regain his confidence. Now that he’s entering his third year as a Buckeye, Jackson is trying to be the same kind of motivator for his Ohio State teammates while he works on continuing to improve himself.
“I'm not a talkative person. I like to keep to myself. But this upcoming junior year, Coach Johnson, he preached to me that I had to be a leader in the room, I had to be more vocal in the room, so that's what I'm doing,” Jackson said.
