Healthy Omari Abor ‘starting to turn a corner’ for Buckeyes defensive line

The summer offseason is in full swing, and Lettermen Row is trying to survive it with our annual Position Week breakdowns. By the time all nine units and coaching staff at Ohio State have been covered, training camp and media days will nearly have arrived, and the return of football in the Horseshoe will be just around the corner. We’re continuing with our sixth positional week — and first on the defensive side — with a unit primed for a breakout season: the Buckeyes defensive line.

COLUMBUS — Omari Abor didn’t have the freshman year that he — or Ohio State — expected.

The former top-80 overall player from the class of 2022 missed most of last season with a knee injury. That slowed his development down in a pivotal stretch most freshmen make the most of.

Abor hasn’t let that lack of time on the field last fall slow him down. No, he entered this offseason needing to make up ground in the defensive line room.

By all accounts, he has done just that due to a strong winter and impressive stretch of spring practice.

“I like Omari. I think Omari is really starting to move forward,” Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson said this spring. “He’s 265 [pounds] now. … He missed a lot of football. It’s the fundamental part and the technique stuff that you miss. And the conditioning part because he wasn’t doing the football stuff. So he’s playing catch-up.”

That’s not to say, or even insinuate, that Abor is behind the other defensive ends from the class of 2022. All three of Omari Abor, Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson struggled to find ways onto the field last fall. All three needed a nice showing in spring to set themselves up for playing time heading into this season.

For Abor, that meant showing that he was able to stay apace with the rest of his classmates despite missing time. He needed to showcase that he wasn’t too far behind to be in the conversation for a role.

He did that in spring ball, breaking for summer after wowing his teammates.

“It’s always been on,” junior All-American candidate J.T. Tuimoloau said about when Abor’s light turned on this spring. “We’re around him and he always has that fire. He’s a smart kid. He has that drive and that never left him. He still has it, and that’s what I love about him. He’s never stopped, never quit.”

Whether that translates into major playing time for the Buckeyes this fall remains to be seen for now. Omari Abor has an uphill climb, especially with the return of Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer as the leaders while Jackson and Curry also impressed in spring practice.

His career may not have gotten off to the best start. And he would have probably liked to have last year to develop on the field rather than from the training table.

But Omari Abor didn’t fall too far behind. Even if he did, he did a great job of playing catch-up after recovering from his injury.

Now he has to make the move up the depth chart for playing time.

“I like where he’s at right now,” Johnson said. “He’s starting to really turn a corner.”

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