Fully embracing a new position is difficult enough. But injury setbacks made it especially hard for Eddrick Houston in his sophomore season.
Houston slid in from defensive end, where he played all his life and was a five-star high school prospect, to defensive tackle during his freshman year. He entered his sophomore year with expectations of being a starter at three-technique defensive tackle. Then, on the first day of preseason camp, he sustained a knee injury that cost him crucial camp development time.
Three games into Ohio State’s season, Houston lost his starting job to redshirt senior defensive tackle Tywone Malone Jr. Houston was back on the field and held onto a rotational role, but still, the injury held him back.
“It was hard, especially, like I said, mentally, it was pretty hard,” Houston said. “Because physically, I felt great. I came back from my injury, I took some time instead of just rushing back into it. So basically, I had to get over that mental part of just, like, being down on myself. I don't know, kind of blaming myself that it was my fault I got hurt. But at the same time, I can't do that.”
Houston closed the campaign with a better stretch of play than he began with. But now the challenge is to emerge as the star that everyone expected him to be when he signed with the Buckeyes. He’ll battle for reps among what is anticipated as a primary three-man rotation with him, Alabama transfer James Smith and UCF transfer John Walker.
“I think he grew a little bit (last year),” defensive line coach Larry Johnson said. "He had a setback, lots of pressure on him, gotta get it done. And I think that now that he's in the best position possible. He's healthy. Now he's got a chance to play a lot of football for us. And so I think last year was a learning experience for him. ... You saw some bright moments. I think now he's gotta have all the moments going into the fall. So I'm really excited about that.”
Houston finished his sophomore season with 21 tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks. Malone overtook him with a decent stretch as Houston struggled against Texas and disappointed against FCS Grambling State.
The reason his preseason camp time was a critical portion to miss stemmed from the position change. It took time to adjust to the move from the edge to the interior. He might have even underestimated how long it would take. As Johnson pointed out, defensive tackles deal with less space than defensive ends. They have to take on double teams. They have to deal with more pulling offensive linemen.
“It's going to take a minute because I can't just switch positions, especially like that, from defensive end where I'm dropping in coverage or setting the edge, or I got time to think what I'm doing in my move,” Houston said. “Inside, it's like everything happening right away. You got stuff moving across your face and stuff like that. So it's going to take a minute. I couldn't tell you the exact time it took me, but it took a minute for me to just adapt to that because I played D in my whole life, and then last second kind of switched in.”
Houston added that, now that he finally feels acclimated to defensive tackle, he enjoys the position, perhaps even more than he enjoyed defensive end. He feels like he’s in a better place from a physical and mental perspective. Especially mentally.
“Football is like 90% mental,” Houston said. “10% is what do we do on the field. But you got to think about film and how you analyze it. You got to take coaching, hard coaching, because they're going to tell you the truth regardless of how you feel or think about them. They're going to let you know what you need to improve on, and you got to get it done.”
“Football is like 90% mental.”– Eddrick Houston
The rough start to last year has fueled Houston this offseason. He wants to hold himself to a higher standard.
“I don't think I played the best I could,” Houston said. “At Ohio State, we really teach to be the best version of yourself. I would say last year was not my best version. ... How I started with the injury and how that affected the course of the start of the season. I feel as though I started off very slow. I feel like I let down the fans, my coaches and my teammates as well. But that's why I picked it up towards the end, just thinking about that.”
Houston said that after the Illinois game – which he missed for an undisclosed reason – things clicked for him. Many of his metrics back that up. That was Ohio State’s sixth game of the season, and 16 of his 21 tackles plus three of his four sacks came in the eight that followed. His Pro Football Focus grades also ticked up, for however much stock one wishes to put in those. He had a career-high five tackles against Miami in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, though Ohio State’s run defense suffered more than it had all year against the Hurricanes.
A lot of work through the winter and spring for Houston has been on his body. He’s slimmed down while maintaining his ever-impressive strength, but adding more stamina in preparation to contribute meaningfully for all four quarters of a game.
“I got my body fat percentage down, and offseason, I was doing a lot of cardio just to get my stamina up there, because I felt as though I was not at my best last year,” Houston said. “Especially when I was tired. So just being able to get that, my stamina up, and I've been feeling a lot better, moving better.”
Ohio State is replacing three of its four starting defensive linemen from its No. 1-ranked 2025 defense, including both defensive tackles. But Houston feels there’s plenty of meat on the bone from himself, Kenyatta Jackson Jr., Beau Atkinson, Zion Grady and the Buckeyes’ three portal pickups (Smith, Walker and former Alabama defensive end Qua Russaw). Johnson agrees about the good state of his position room.
“I feel pretty good,” Johnson said. “We've got some guys on the inside that have played now. We have guys coming in from the transfer portal, played 300-something plays. So that's a bonus, the guys that have some experience. Now we take what we have and put those guys together, I think it gives a little more depth on the inside, a little bit stronger on the inside than we want to be, because we have guys who have played football. And I think that's important.”
Houston is a junior now, the optimum time to tap into his potential. But he adores Ohio State. This year, he intends to give fans more reason to adore him.
“I feel old,” Houston said. “I got here early as well, so really it’s like year four. But it feels great. I wouldn't want to be nowhere else. I made the right decision. I love being here. I love the fans, everybody that's tied to Ohio State. So I would make this choice again.”
