Ryan Day announced on Wednesday the hiring of T.J. Rushing and Roc Bellantoni to his on-field staff. Rushing will coach safeties while Bellantoni will be in charge of outside linebackers at Ohio State.
Both coaches have previous ties to the Buckeyes. Rushing was on Ohio State’s support staff in 2024 as a special assistant to the head coach. Bellantoni previously coached at Ohio State from 2021-22. More recently, Bellantoni spent the last 2 seasons as Florida Atlantic’s defensive coordinator.
“We’re excited to move T.J. back into an on-field role as well as welcome Roc back to Ohio State,” Day said in a press release. “T.J. has a Super Bowl champion pedigree and is an outstanding coach who relates very well with our players. Roc has a wealth of knowledge and experienced a lot of success in three decades of coaching at various levels during his career.”
Ohio State will be looking to take a big step forward defensively next season against the pass. Ohio State’s pass defense efficiency rating ranked 8th in the Big Ten last season and 45th nationally. An improved pass rush would help significantly — the Buckeyes ranked tied for 13th amongst Big Ten teams in 2024 with just 68 tackles for loss this season.