Senior defensive end Kenyatta Jackson Jr. (97) runs down the sideline prior to a play during the Buckeyes’ Student Appreciation Day practice Saturday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Credit: Carly Damon | Asst. Photo Editor
Develop, gain valuable reps, rise through the depth chart and repeat.
That’s how Ohio State reloads its ever-talented defensive line units season after season.
After all four of its starting defensive linemen departed for the 2025 NFL Draft, Ohio State has replaced its front four with a group that’s untested, yet brings valuable experience as it attempts to uphold its predecessors’ standard of dominance.
Last season, defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau, as well as defensive tackles Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton, led the charge not only in the trenches, but also as team leaders.
Now, defensive linemen Caden Curry, Eddrick Houston, Kayden McDonald and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. — all of whom saw significant time backing up Ohio State’s dominant starting defensive line in the 2024-25 season — are the frontrunners to return as the Buckeyes’ top group.
Jackson said it’s vital for the newest group of rushers to follow in the footsteps of Ohio State’s former, always-stout defensive line groups, using the lessons they have learned in seasons past to make an impact.
“We lost four good leaders and four good players,” Jackson said. “I’m just trying to take them piece by piece by piece by piece, you know, continuing that tradition of what the rushmen are.”
Not only will the line look vastly different, but the Buckeyes also brought in a new defensive coordinator in Matt Patricia, after former coordinator Jim Knowles left for Penn State in January.
Curry said Patricia has already made an immediate impression, citing his NFL experience with the New England Patriots and Detroit Lions as a factor that will help the line develop on and off the field.
“He’s definitely just helping us play better, faster, stronger,” Curry said. “I mean, it definitely helps us kind of push ourselves, and it helps us get better day by day.”
Though Ohio State’s starting defensive line group will likely include the four rotational linemen from last season, Patricia still emphasized the importance of having depth.
“I do think that depth is critical, finding out exactly what roles those guys can play within the defensive line to have some flexibility to be able to move guys around,” Patricia said.
Patricia said the beauty of spring camp is having the ability to move players around on the line. In addition, he believes the Buckeyes have done a great job of adjusting throughout practices thus far.
“The guys have done a really good job with the multiplicity of some of the things that we’re doing right now, and moving around and kind of being in some different spots to get an evaluation of it,” Patricia said. “We want to see if we can have some of that depth to put them in those alignments. That’s been pretty impressive.”
Despite the fact depth in the trenches is important and can wear down opposing teams, starting experience and playing time in big moments is certainly invaluable.
The Buckeyes’ revamped defensive line lacks that starting experience, but coming off a national championship victory, the unit is hungry for more and eager to build on the flashes of potential it showed last season.
Houston praised the starting defensive line’s leadership from last year, saying he hopes to instill many of that front line’s traits within this season’s group.
“Jack [Sawyer], JT [Tuimoloau], Tyleik [Williams] and Ty [Hamilton] were great leaders on and off the field,” Houston said. “They helped me with just simple stuff. If I didn’t know where to go get something, they’d tell me or just [hang] out with the group, getting them closer. There are a lot of different small things that got brought up last year that I need to start doing this year.”
Jackson agreed that adding members of the new defensive line group must establish consistency in their work and routine, just like their forebears.
“We just got to take on what the guys left for us,” Jackson said. “Specifically, the defensive line, the same mindset that we had last year, to stay consistent in our toolbox.”
