He may have taken an unconventional route, but senior defensive tackle John Walker eventually ended up becoming a Buckeye.
Walker, a top-100 recruit out of Kissimmee, Fla., was recruited by defensive line coach Larry Johnson and other members of the Buckeye coaching staff out of high school. If it wasn’t for the distance between his hometown and Columbus, he very well may have joined Ohio State as a freshman rather than UCF.
“At that time, I just wasn’t ready to leave my family. I wanted to stay home in Florida, and because I knew I probably wasn’t going to be right mentally if I came out here,” Walker said when asked why he initially chose UCF over Ohio State.
Walker had a solid career as a Knight. In two seasons, he had 59 total tackles, 1.5 sacks and forced a fumble. He was a starter during the 2025 season, but during this offseason felt he had the maturity to move out of Florida and find a new opportunity.
When he hit the transfer portal, Johnson immediately showed interest in bringing him on board.
“The past relationship I had with Coach Johnson coming out of high school,” Walker said when asked what attracted him to Ohio State, “and he’s still family to me, even though I didn’t go to him at first. I hit the portal, and he was the first guy to reach out to me. And I came up here for a visit, and everything worked out.”
Walker said Johnson continued to have a relationship with him and his family even after he committed elsewhere out of high school. He said Johnson had high hopes for him when he entered the transfer portal.
“He really loves me, and he wants to see me grow as a person and a player, and he just wants me to be great,” Walker said.
Walker hasn’t been in Columbus for very long, but he says that Johnson has already helped with some of the more subtle aspects of the interior defensive line position.
“Now he’s really focused on the little details, and that’s where I’m here for, just to work on the little details and just (improving) my pass rush and just continuing to work on my run game,” Walker said.
Walker is only one of a deep Buckeye interior defensive line group and will have to compete with talented options, such as Eddrick Houston, James Smith and many others for playing time. He took his first step toward earning playing time on April 8 when he had his black stripe removed to become an “official” member of the team.
“It’s a blessing,” Walker said when it meant having his black stripe removed. “I’m here to work now. I’m here to compete, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
