Ohio State freshman J.T. Tuimoloau expected to have increased workload moving forward

Buckeyes freshman J.T. Tuimoloau is going to have more playing time moving forward.

Defensive line coach Larry Johnson spoke to the media on Tuesday after practice and said he’s going to be logging quite a few snaps at defensive end on Saturday.

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Expect to see more of J.T. Tuimoloau at DE, Larry Johnson said Tuesday:

"Last week was his biggest week, he played 45 plays. We'll continue to increase that probably up to 50, 55, depends on the game. We'd like to see more from him as we start to go forward."

— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) September 21, 2021

So far this season, Tuimoloau has 3 total tackles (1 solo) and 1 pass defended in 3 games. He committed super late to the Buckeyes because he wanted to keep taking visits and because of that, he didn’t get to Columbus till around fall camp.

That’s the main reason why he hasn’t had a lot of playing time yet, but that’s about to change as they want to see what they have in him. Tuimoloau was a top 5 overall recruit in the 2021 class as per his 247Sports Composite ranking and was also considered the No. 2 defensive lineman recruit in the country.

The Buckeyes take on Akron this Saturday so this may be the perfect game for Tuimoloau to rack up some stats. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.