The Ohio State basketball program was very active in the transfer portal market in the offseason. A big reason for that is the Buckeyes had a large number of players leave once Chris Holtmann was fired. The Buckeyes had to figure out a way to replace those players.
That's why Jake Diebler decided to grab a lot of players from the transfer portal. The Buckeyes added Aaron Bradshaw, Sean Stewart, and Ques Glover as just some of the pieces from the transfer portal. They also brought a former Buckeye basketball player back using the transfer portal.
That player is Meechie Johnson. Johnson played his first two years of college basketball with the Ohio State Buckeyes. He then decided to transfer to South Carolina, where he spent each of the last two seasons. Johnson came back and was given some NIL money to do so.
Meechie Johnson has not earn his NIL money from the Ohio State basketball team
Unfortunately, that NIL money has gone to waste. Johnson has been away from the program since December and clearly isn't coming back. It's not like he was exactly lighting it up while he was with the Buckeyes. He was shooting under 36% from the field in the ten games he did play.
That NIL money could have been used to fill other needs and bring in other players. Ohio State needs a big man who can protect the rim at a high rate. They didn't need another guard. Subtracting Johnson from the roster would have been a good move for the interior defense and rebounding of the team.
Johnson hasn't played in a game since December 14th, when the Buckeyes got whipped by Auburn. He has been out due to personal reasons, but no one knows what the reasons are. There are rumors that he was mad he was losing playing time to Juni Mobley, but no one knows for sure.
Johnson's return to the Ohio State basketball program has been a disaster. It's a shame because he was well-liked by fans and showed promise in his first two Buckeye seasons. He also scored 14 points per game with the Gamecocks a year ago.