James Laurinaitis has been promoted to a full-time coaching position for the Ohio State Buckeyes, just one year after returning home to Columbus to serve as a graduate assistant for the same school where he once captained the team.
The former Buckeye has been named Ohio State’s linebacker coach, a position previously overseen by defensive coordinator Jim Knowles last season.
However, after coach Ryan Day decided to change his staff this offseason, firing special teams coordinator Parker Fleming and safeties coach Perry Eliano, the linebackers will be coached by a former Butkus Award winner.
Following his seven-year NFL playing career, Laurinaitis has remained involved in football as a coach. The former second-round pick began coaching at Notre Dame in 2022, serving as an assistant linebackers coach and graduate assistant under new coach Marcus Freeman.
From there, he returned to Columbus, where he served in the same capacity for the Buckeyes this season.
This will come as no surprise to some, as Laurinaitis was recently on the recruiting trail for the Buckeyes, who had a staffing vacancy that allowed him to be one of the ten coaches permitted to leave campus.
After a playing career in which he became one of the most decorated defensive players in Ohio State history, he will look to lead a linebacker room that lost both starters from last season, Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers.
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