FILM STUDY: WHY DRE'MONT JONES WILL BE THE NEXT GREAT BUCKEYE DEFENSIVE LINEMAN
What did all four teams in this year's College Football Playoff have in common?
While Alabama and Clemson may have featured the two most talented defensive lines in the nation and Washington's defensive front proved to be the most difficult to run the ball against in the Pac-12, Ohio State's down linemen put up quite a formidable effort themselves in 2016. Such success could've been expected in advance of last season, though, as talented ends Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard, and Jalyn Holmes anchored one of the few position groups on the entire team with any returning experience.
But although Lewis won the Smith-Brown award as the Big Ten's Defensive Lineman of the year, neither he or any other talented edge player lead the unit in tackles. Instead, that honor fell to a highly unexpected recipient, one whose role on the team was in question just one year ago.
After only cracking the starting lineup as a junior at Cleveland's St. Ignatius high school, Dre'Mont Jones was largely an afterthought in Ohio State's decorated 2015 recruiting class. Initially expected to play strongside defensive end, the former basketball player followed a route similar to that of his predecessor at the 3-technique tackle position, Adolphus Washington.
Though Washington had been one of the most highly sought after talents in the nation, he was forced to rebuild his body and learn how to play on the interior of the line after arriving in Columbus, eventually starting 31 games in his career as a Buckeye. Though he played the nose tackle position alongside Michael Bennett during the 2014 championship campaign, the Cincinnati native eventually settled in as a dominant force at the other tackle spot in his senior year and heard his name called in the third round of the NFL draft last spring.
Despite the wealth of blue-chip defensive end prospects, many fans expected a drop off at Washington's position after his departure, with Tracy Sprinkle expected to fill the void. However, Sprinkle suffered a serious knee injury during the opening game of the season, forcing Jones into action.
Jones was coming off a serious knee injury of his own, though, suffered during his senior year of high school which forced him to redshirt his first season as a Buckeye. But throughout his rehab and time away from the field, Jones dropped 30 lbs of bad weight before adding 25 lbs of muscle in Mickey Marotti's strength and conditioning program.
Yet although the Buckeyes' newest starter certainly looked the part at 6-foot-4 and 280 pounds when he hit the field for the first time, questions remained about whether he was ready to contribute so soon. But after a slow start, recording only three tackles in as many games, Jones turned the corner once Big Ten play began.
When watching the Buckeye defense after that point in the year, #86 always seems to pop off the screen. Few players along the interior seem to always be near the ball as often as he is, even though he's just learning to play the position.
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