Ohio State Football: Top 5 defensive ends in Buckeye history

4. Vernon Gholston

One of the more forgotten players in Buckeye history, Vernon Gholston was a menace at the end of the defensive line during his tenure in Columbus from 2004 to 2007.

While he was an enrolled student for four years at the university, he only really started making an impact on the field during his junior season in 2006. But when he started making an impact, it was a gargantuan one.

In 2006, Gholston was great, totaling 8 sacks on the season to go with 15 tackles for loss. He was named second-team All-Big Ten for his efforts, but he was even better in his senior season. Smith was a huge factor on the 2006 team that went undefeated throughout the regular season and eventually fell to Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators in the national championship.

In 2007, Gholston had relatively the same success in getting tackles for loss totaling 15.5 on the season, but he was able to get to the quarterback much more often. He totaled a massive 14 sacks on the season which still holds as the all-time record single-season sack record for a Buckeye.

This time though, he was named first-team All-Big Ten and the Defensive Lineman of the Year in the conference. Again, he was a huge factor on a Buckeye team that went to the national championship for the second season in a row but fell to the LSU Tigers.

For his career, Gholston definitely made a big impact on the Buckeyes in just two seasons. He totaled 87 tackles, 30.5 tackles for loss, and 22.5 sacks in his career. The 22.5 sacks still hold as the seventh-most by any Buckeye player, and he is also tied for fourth with five other players in sacks in a single game with 4 against Wisconsin in 2007.

Gholston no doubt proved his worth of being on this list.