Buckeyes terrific Laurinaitis joins Ohio State personnel

Ohio State is adding James Laurinaitis, one of the most decorated protective players in program history, to its coaching personnel as a protective graduate assistant for the 2023 college football season.Laurinaitis, a former Buckeyes linebacker, is one of only 8 players in team history to earn All-America honors three times. A two-time captain, he won the Bronko Nagurski Award as the country’s top protective player and the Butkus Award as the top linebacker in college football. Laurinaitis spent the 2022 season as a graduate assistant at Notre Dame, working under his previous Ohio State colleague Marcus Freeman.The 36-year-old will work mainly with Ohio State’s linebackers. He two times earned Big 10 Protective Gamer of the Year honors and was a second-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Laurinaitis became the then-St. Louis Rams’all-time leading tackler with 852 stops in 7 years. He retired from the NFL after the 2016 season with New Orleans.”I am thrilled for our program and specifically for our present and future Buckeyes who will benefit a lot from having James on staff, “coach Ryan Day said in a statement.”James is an excellent boy with wisdom as a Buckeye and experience as an eight-year NFL veteran. He is going to be a really vital part of our program moving forward.” Laurinaitis dipped into Ohio State along with Brian Hartline, whom Day recently promoted to offending coordinator