Alex Williams, who spent the past two seasons as a reserve defensive end for the Buckeyes, will continue his college career at Vanderbilt. Williams announced on Instagram that he would transfer to play for the Commodores.
Alex Williams came to Ohio State from nearby Pickerington North High School. He was ranked the No. 34 weakside defensive end in the 2018 recruiting class and the No. 615 player overall. Williams was also ranked the No. 26 player in the state of Ohio. He signed with the Buckeyes over offers from West Virginia, Iowa State…
Freshman quarterback Matthew Baldwin and freshman defensive end Alex Williams are officially Buckeyes as both had their Black Stripes removed following practice early Wednesday evening. Both players have dealt with injuries this year, which is part of the reason why their stripe removal is taking place so late in the season.
Six months ago, it was looking like Ohio State would be bringing in a defensive end haul for the ages. The Buckeyes were heavily involved with 5-star prospects Micah Parsons and Brenton Cox, as well as 4-star athletes Tyreke Smith and Jayson Oweh. Finding room for all four was possibly going to be a problem, but a problem…
On the field, Williams is a defensive lineman with tremendous burst and initial quickness. He plays inside and out and uses his quickness to knife between blockers. He is also very strong and able to use a bull rush. When he is not able to get to the quarterback, he is very good about getting his hands up and knocking passes down.
Ohio State will be replacing two-year starter Damon Webb at free/field/falcon safety this season, and they will have to do it with a player who possesses superb coverage skills. Junior Jordan Fuller returns for his second year of starting at strong/boundary/deep/post safety, and the Buckeyes look to be in pretty good hands there.
Redshirt sophomore A.J. Alexander’s Ohio State football career is over due to the knee injury that he suffered in the spring, which also cost him the entire 2017 season. He played in every game as a redshirt freshman in 2016 and was a valuable second tight end on running plays. According to Ohio State, he will be placed on medical scholarship.
Ohio State signed seven defensive linemen in the 2018 recruiting class. Four defensive ends and three defensive tackles. Four of the seven — ends Tyreke Smith and Tyler Friday and tackles Tommy Togiai and Taron Vincent — played decent minutes as freshmen last year. Ends Javontae Jean-Baptiste and Alex Williams redshirted, while tackle…
Ohio State sent three defensive ends off to the NFL last month, and they’ll be sending at least one more there next year in Nick Bosa. As such, the Buckeyes hit the position hard in the 2018 recruiting cycle. Ohio State signed four defensive ends — Tyreke Smith, Tyler Friday, Javontae Jean-Baptiste, and Alex Williams — this past winter.
There were several top players who were still considered possible additions to Ohio State’s class as recently as January, but none of them panned out.
