There might not be many years left for Larry Johnson to coach the defensive line for the Ohio State football program. He is 73 years old and has been coaching for five decades. There is much more for him to prove at this point. Despite that, he decided to return for 2025.
Ohio State has to eventually figure out who his replacement will be, but that's a future problem. Right now, they are still relying on him to recruit and develop players. That's exactly what they are doing as spring turns into summer. Johnson has a chance to land another elite edge player.
When Johnson was in his heyday, he would land top prospects on the edge almost every year. That has slowed down a bit, but he has a chance to land one after Luke Wafle, a four-star recruit, placed the Buckeyes in his final list of schools.
Larry Johnson could develop one, final elite edge prospect if the Ohio State football program can get Luke Waffle
The Ohio State Buckeyes are one of the final five schools on Wafle's list. Waffle has Texas, Florida, Penn State, and USC as the other schools on his list. That means that Ohio State will have to beat out three other Big Ten schools for Wafle's services.
Wafle stands at 6'5 and 245 pounds. He's from Princeton, New Jersey, so he would add another great player to Ohio State from that state. In order to do that, Johnson is going to need to rekindle some of that great recruiting juice that he used to land players like Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau.
There's no indication when Wafle will make his final college decision. He will be in Columbus in a couple of weeks for an official visit, so Johnson will have a chance to really show why he should be a Buckeye. He will visit Penn State and Texas after that.