Getting thrown into the fire as a freshman can be scalding at first, but it can forge you quickly.
That was the experience of John Mobley Jr.’s first season at Ohio State. He didn’t come in projected as a starter and was thrust into that role via attrition, but he emerged from the furnace a more refined player.
It’s why, as just a sophomore, Mobley wants to step forward as a leader in his locker room.
“Having a little voice this year,” Mobley said Monday of where he’s looking to improve this year. “I had experience last year. (I’ve) got more respect (from my teammates) than I did last year, so just having more of a voice.”
There were always plans to involve Mobley in the Buckeyes’ offense from year one after he signed as the No. 49 overall prospect in the 247Sports composite rankings for the class of 2024. But a season-ending injury to then-second-year guard Taison Chatman last summer made that evermore apparent entering Mobley’s freshman campaign.
Mobley had standout performances off the bench early on, collecting 14 points and shooting 4-of-4 from 3 against Texas in his debut. He posted double figures in each of Ohio State’s first six games, including a 23-point outing against Campbell.
Then, after the Buckeyes’ 10th game, starting guard Meechie Johnson Jr. left the team to address a personal matter – he later told The Columbus Dispatch that he was struggling with his mental health – and never returned. Suddenly, the freshman Mobley was starting alongside mainstay Bruce Thornton in the backcourt.
Mobley emerged as one of Ohio State’s go-to scorers, finishing the season with 13 points per game and a 38.5% mark from 3-point range. He added 2.2 assists, rolling in at point guard to give Thornton chances to create off the ball. It wore him down a bit, however, as he shot just 5-of-21 in the Buckeyes’ final two games of the season.
“Physically, it was definitely a shock,” Mobley said. “Honestly, I never played a long season like that before. So just coming into next year, knowing what to expect, knowing what to do for my body, eating the right foods.”
Still, as a touted talent with a good freshman year, there were opportunities for Mobley to test the open market should he have wanted to enter the transfer portal. But the Reynoldsburg native never wavered.
“This is home,” Mobley said. “I've got no plans on leaving Ohio State. Ohio State is home. I grew up watching Ohio State. It’s my dream school. There’s nothing else you could ask for.”
In returning, Mobley helped establish a core of three stars for Jake Diebler to build around in his second season as the Buckeyes’ head coach. Thornton is back for his fourth and final season, a lock to be the program’s first-ever four-time captain, and Devin Royal scored 13.7 points per game as a sophomore last year.
“We know there's a foundation of what Bruce, Juni, and Devin can do,” Diebler said. “We know what they can do, and by all accounts of what we've seen so far, they're all going to continue to make a make a jump. As we tried to add to that, we felt like experience was important in the front court, increasing our size.”
Diebler and that trio have been at the forefront of Ohio State’s new “winning over everything” mantra. Mobley, Thornton and Royal all wore black shirts that displayed the slogan during their media interviews on Monday.
What will help with putting winning first, Mobley said, is the better level of accountability on this year’s roster. He feels the 2025-26 squad is a “lot more coachable” and more player-led than the Buckeyes were in 2024-25.
“Eliminate everything else besides winning,” Mobley said. “Distractions. Just hanging out. Just putting everything into winning. Dieb has been big on that. So that’s really just how, for us, we have to be.”
As Mobley finds his voice and takes charge, he’ll be working with an intriguing mix of faces at guard for Ohio State. There’s Thornton, of course. Chatman returns from his injury while the Buckeyes added Indiana transfer Gabe Cupps and incoming freshman Mathieu Grujicic, who will provide support both on the wing and in the backcourt after moving stateside from his native Germany.
“We’re gonna fit together because there’s no egos,” Thornton said. “When you have no egos, it makes the job way easier. So we don’t care who scores, how we score, we just want the job to get done at the end of the day. Because if we’re all winning, everybody eats.”
Alongside finding his voice, Mobley is also making sure to build camaraderie with his teammates. The Buckeyes believe off-court bonds will bear on-court results.
“All we want to do is be around each other,” Mobley said. “You don't see that too much on a team. A lot of people want to be separated, everybody at their own aparments. We always find ways to be with each other. Even one time, we were on a game playing COD (Call of Duty) with Dieb.”
Mobley will get a chance to use his voice and take another leap in his play when Ohio State’s season gets underway in November.
