Ohio State football: Laurinaitis aims to be Hartline of the defense

The Ohio State football team is making changes to its coaching staff for the 2023 season. James Laurinaitis might have a big impact.

The Ohio State football team and head coach Ryan Day is hoping that the addition of James Laurinaitis to its coaching staff makes the same kind of impact that Brian Hartline’s hiring did a few years ago.

Laurinaitis comes back to Columbus following a season as a grad assistant at Notre Dame where he helped Marcus Freeman coach the linebacker unit. But home is where the heart is and once Ryan Day offered him the same opportunity to come back to Ohio State, the answer was easy.

"“There’s only one place that’s home,” Laurinaitis said via Eleven Warriors. “So having an opportunity to coach back where you were living, in a place where you played and your alma mater, it’s just so easy and natural to sell it to people who are coming in and to pour your energy into it.”"

Laurinaitis’ hiring should come as no surprise as he has said multiple times on his radio show on 97.1 The Fan in Columbus that he wanted to coach at Ohio State. It sounded like Ryan Day just needed to know that Laurinaitis could actually do it. And after great reviews from multiple people within the South Bend program, hiring Laurinaitis was a no-brainer for Day.

Laurinaitis will indeed be the de-facto linebackers coach for the Silver Bullets. With Jim Knowles’ title being linebackers coach/defensive coordinator, he needed someone he could trust to take more of a hands-on role coaching the linebackers with the departure of Koy McFarland. McFarland was helping Knowles last season coach the linebackers, but he followed Kevin Wilson to Tulsa.

The impact of Laurinaitis’ hiring comes in two folds. For one, he might be the most decorated defensive player in Ohio State history. The current linebackers can look at Laurinaitis and know that he absolutely knows what he’s talking about.

And two, Laurinaitis should be a major factor in Ohio State recruiting for years to come. The guy bleeds Scarlet and Grey and by all accounts, he was doing a terrific job at Notre Dame on the recruiting front.

He comes in as a G.A. but I believe that this will quickly translate into a full-time gig for Laurinaitis once an opening on staff occurs. We should see immediate returns on this hiring not only on the field but with the 2024 recruiting class as the Buckeyes are in on a number of top linebackers.

There is no doubt that this hiring has a chance to look a lot like Brian Hartline’s. And if it’s anywhere close to that, Ryan Day and the Buckeyes just hit a home run.