The Ohio State football program was ecstatic when they were able to land J.T. Tuimoloau last summer. Tuimoloau was the number four overall recruit in the country and had some good moments as a freshman. He started to make an impact right away.
Tuimoloau had 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks in his freshman season. He was out there for the majority of the games Ohio State played as well, suiting up for 11 of the 13 they played. But he could have been even more effective had he decided on his college sooner.
Tuimoloau didn’t really get a full offseason to train with his new teammates. He also had to deal with some limits in his snap count due to that. As the year went on, he got more and more time on the field. Expect that time to ramp up in a major way this season.
With the departure of Tyreke Smith in the starting lineup, Tuimoloau will be getting more snaps. He still has to fight Jack Sawyer for some more snaps at defensive end or the new LEO position. Zach Harrison will still be the starter at one of those d-end spots.
This will be the second year for Tuimoloau. After one full year in the strength and conditioning program, he should be more ready physically for the grinds of a college football season in 2022. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t on the field for the majority of the snaps on defense.
I’d expect JTT to have at least 8 sacks as a sophomore. The only reason I don’t say double-digits is because it’s unclear how many snaps he’s actually going to play ahead of Sawyer. Obviously, double-digit sacks would be even better.