Around this time last summer, defensive tackle Will Smith Jr. was fighting tooth and nail at Ohio State’s recruiting camps to earn an offer.
Weighing in at around 250 pounds, OSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson told Smith Jr., the son of the late great OSU legend Will Smith, that he’d need to get up to 260 pounds by his senior year if he wanted an offer from the Buckeyes.
Smith Jr. put in the work and was rewarded with an OSU offer in January, then committed to the Buckeyes nine days later. And the 6-foot-3, now 268-pound defensive lineman is still working as hard as ever.