College Football

Ohio State defensive line could be special after 2021 recruiting dominance

Updated Jul. 29, 2021 9:45 p.m. ET

By RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Writer

When five-star defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau announced his decision to attend Ohio State on the Fourth of July, it could hardly be called a commitment. Not in the traditional sense of the word anyway.

A commitment from a top recruit to a college football program is nothing more than a publicly acknowledged promise. That type of commitment is not unlike the announcement of an engagement between two people who promise to one day get married.

In Tuimoloau’s case, though, he had promises in hand from the five suitors still vying for his services when the NCAA began to allow in-person visits for rising seniors — let alone high school graduates like him — to campuses across the country this summer.

As many 2022 recruits began taking advantage of the ability to travel and meet face-to-face with coaches and staff, Tuimoloau was the last of the blue-chip recruits in the 2021 class who had not made a decision. Normally, he’d have committed and signed during December 2020’s early signing period or around February’s National Signing Day.

But Tuimoloau wanted to wait so he and his family could take physical visits to the five schools he was still entertaining: Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, USC and Washington. And he’s one of the few players who might exercise the privilege of not having to sign a letter of intent if they don’t want to.

As I wrote in February, a letter of intent binds the player to the university for a period of one year, at which point the university has the option to renew it. A financial aid agreement doesn’t bind the player to the school at all.

However, it binds the university to uphold its financial obligation if the player chooses to enroll. A player can sign an NLI with only one university. A player can sign a financial aid agreement with an unlimited number of universities and colleges.

"That’s where your college football free agency is," a college administrator told me. "We’ve effectively signed a contract saying we’ll pay you this amount while watching you shop around. It’s a win for [the players]."

Not only did Tuimoloau take advantage of this, he famously canceled an official visit to Tuscaloosa days before making his decision to attend Ohio State. In doing so, he has paired himself with fellow five-star defensive end Jack Sawyer.

When the 2021 composite recruiting rankings were finalized, Tuimoloau ranked No. 3 and Sawyer ranked No. 4 in the country. Seven of the top 50 players and five of the 25 in the country signed with the Buckeyes in 2021.

In 2018, Buckeye and college football fans were robbed of the chance to see Nick Bosa opposite Chase Young for a full season due to Bosa’s injury and subsequent decision to enter the NFL Draft early. Both Bosa and Young turned out to be No. 2 overall selections in their respective NFL Drafts.

Bosa ranked eighth overall in the 2016 recruiting class. Young ranked seventh overall in the 2017 class.

If Tuimoloau and Sawyer live up to their rankings, they could be the most formidable bookends in Ohio State history – if not the first two players off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft.

No doubt the Columbus faithful will be eager to see Tuimoloau and Sawyer on the field when Ohio State hosts Oregon on September 11 in one of the most highly-anticipated non-conference games of the year, showing once more how Tuimoloau’s decision influenced the sport.

Had he chosen Oregon, Tuimoloau would’ve paired with the Pac-12’s best player, Ducks defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux. That tandem likely would have been the most talented set of bookends in the sport, let alone the Pac-12, because Tuimoloau is that good.

At 6-foot-5, 280 pounds, the Sammamish, Washington-product is not only a generational defensive talent on the field but received offers from Power 5 programs to play basketball. He could be just as dynamic at tight end for the Buckeyes as he is likely to be on the edge.

It’s one more reason the Huskies would’ve loved to have kept Tuimoloau in the state, especially after losing Steilacoom, Washington-native and the nation’s No. 1 wide receiver, Emeka Egbuka, to the Buckeyes, too.

And while Trojans fans might feel the sting of watching another West Coast blue-chip escape their grasp, they’re buoyed by knowing USC landed the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, Korey Foreman.

Foreman decommitted from Clemson to join USC. With that move, he and NFL Draft first-round hopeful Drake Jackson will head into the season as the conference’s best set of defensive ends in 2021.

Foreman signing with USC is why it’s difficult to say the Pac-12 needed Tuimoloau to commit to one of its member schools. But, like a quarterback with a sub-4.5 40-yard-dash time, it wouldn’t have hurt either.

What Tuimoloau’s decision concludes for fans, though, is simple: Even given five months extra time to think it over and take official visits, he chose to play not at a school where he can win championships or where he can earn a spot in the first round of the NFL Draft or where he win a College Football Playoff national championship – but where he can accomplish all three at once.

To date, there are only four schools that have demonstrated they can provide all three: Ohio State, Clemson, LSU and Alabama.

Only one of them was on Tuimoloau’s list at the end.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The No. 1 Ranked Show with RJ Young." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube. He is not on a StepMill.