James Laurinaitis to join Ohio State football coaching staff

A Buckeye legend is coming home.

According to an announcement from the Ohio State football program on Friday, former three-time All-American linebacker James Laurinaitis is joining the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. Ryan Day announced the news through an OSU spokesman.

"I am thrilled for our program and especially for our current and future Buckeyes who will benefit so much from having James on staff," Day said in a statement. "James is a terrific young man with wisdom as a Buckeye and experience as an eight-year NFL veteran. He is going to be a very important part of our program going forward."

Laurinaitis played for Ohio State from 2005 to 2008 and left as one of the most decorated linebackers in school history. He was a two-time team captain and is one of only eight three-time All-Americans in Ohio State history. Laurinaitis played on four Big Ten championship teams in Columbus, twice helped the team to the BCS national championship game, and went 4-0 in games against Michigan.

In addition to that, Laurinaitis took home some individual hardware. He won the Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation's outstanding defensive player as a sophomore, took home the Butkus Award as America's top linebacker as a junior, and became Ohio State's first-ever winner of both the Lott IMPACT Trophy and the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award as a senior.

Not bad.

After graduating from Ohio State, Laurinaitis was selected in the 2009 NFL draft by the Rams as the 35th overall pick in the second round. He played for the Rams from 2009 to 2015 and ended his career in 2016 as a member of the New Orleans Saints.

He then spent time in central Ohio on radio before joining Marcus Freeman on Notre Dame's staff as a graduate assistant last season. There's no doubt that coming back to OSU and wearing the scarlet and gray again was a pull he couldn't say no to.

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Ohio State football position-by-position scholarship breakdown for 2023

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