Kourt Williams’ Ohio State football career is over.
On the eve of Ohio State’s 2024 preseason camp, Williams announced his retirement from football on Instagram, revealing in his post that he has undergone four knee surgeries and three shoulder surgeries over the past five years.
A four-star recruit in the 2020 class, Williams came to Ohio State with high expectations of becoming an impact player for the Buckeyes’ defense but was bitten by the injury bug early, suffering a torn ACL during preseason camp before his freshman season.
He contributed as a backup safety in 2021, recording 28 total tackles with four tackles for loss, one sack and one pass deflection, and was named a team captain before the 2022 season. That season, however, was cut short by a shoulder injury. He moved to linebacker last offseason with hopes of contributing at the second level of the Buckeyes’ defense, but suffered another torn ACL during preseason camp.
Williams did not participate in this year‘s spring practices while continuing to recover from that injury and was not expected to play a substantial role for this season’s defense.
In an interview session last August before his most recent season-ending injury, Williams said he still felt the effects of his earlier injuries but was not ready to leave football behind. One year and another major injury later, however, Williams – who graduated from Ohio State in 2023 with a degree in communications – decided it was time to move on to the next chapter of his life.
His retirement leaves Ohio State with only 80 known scholarship players for the 2024 season. It is expected that the other five scholarships will be awarded to walk-ons, though Ohio State has not publicized which walk-ons will receive those scholarships.
The Buckeyes now have seven linebackers on scholarship for 2024: Cody Simon, Sonny Styles, C.J. Hicks, Gabe Powers, Arvell Reese, Payton Pierce and Garrett Stover.
