This is cool: ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that the Ohio State Buckeyes have added former New Orleans Saints linebacker James Laurinaitis to their coaching staff as a graduate assistant. Laurinaitis spent the 2022 college football season in that same role with Notre Dame under head coach Marcus Freeman, an old college teammate. Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline was also teammates with Laurinaitis for the Buckeyes way back when.
Laurinaitis finished his playing career with the Saints; he was a widely respected linebacker in his heyday and was named a starter to open the 2016 season. He opted to retire in 2017 after a midseason quadriceps injury ended his streak of 115 consecutive starts stretching back with the Rams, and he’s since returned to continue his studies and pursue a coaching career after working for the Big Ten Network for several years..
Good for him. The Saints obviously have a lot of Ohio State connections given all of the players they’ve picked up from the Buckeyes, ranging from Chris Olave and Pete Werner to Michael Thomas and Bradley Roby. Laurinaitis will soon be joined by the son of a former Saint — Will Smith Jr. is following his father’s footsteps by committing to the university as a high school recruit. The New Orleans-to-Columbus pipeline remains active.