Offensive Linemen Enokk Vimahi, Dawand Jones Lose Black Stripes

One week into the regular season, two of the biggest recruits in Ohio State’s 2019 class have now officially joined the team.

Wednesday evening, the program announced that freshman offensive linemen Dawand Jones and Enokk Vimahi had lost their black stripes.

Jones and Vimahi have put in a lot of hard work since arriving in Columbus this summer, one to lose weight while the other is gaining it.

During fall camp, head coach Ryan Day told reporters that Jones, who arrived at OSU weighing 380 lbs had already dropped to 360.

Meanwhile, Vimahi, who showed up undersized at 257 lbs., was already close to 300.

Neither player is expected to contribute much on the field this fall. Jones was primarily a basketball player in high school and was an extremely raw football prospect.

Vimahi was simply not big enough to play on the line in the Big Ten until recently.

However, both could be significant contributors on the line in coming years.

The black helmet stripe signifies that a new player has not yet done enough, both on and off the field, to be considered an official member of the team. Having it removed is considered a major milestone for young Buckeyes.

A total of 14 members of the team have lost their black stripes since fall camp opened. There is a complete list of 2018 stripe changes at the bottom of this post.

You can watch the videos announcing the news below.

?▪️ STRIPE ALERT‼️ Congratulations to @enokkvimahi on getting your stripe off‼️#GoBucks #ToughLove pic.twitter.com/gkzTLDr5jp
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) September 5, 2019

?▪️ Getting tougher every day. Getting better every day. @dawand_jones now has his stripe off‼️#GoBucks #ToughLove pic.twitter.com/MIbZ9vmpRe
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) September 5, 2019