That came two days after defensive end Noah Potter did the same, and a school spokesman confirmed both moves.
Turrentine was a four-star recruit in the class of 2021. The 5-11, 195-pounder from Nashville, Tenn., played in three games for the Buckeyes.
He did not record a stat last season but saw extensive time in the spring game and appeared to be in the mix for the two-deep this fall.
Instead, he is the sixth defensive back and 10th defensive player overall to leave the program since December.
Reasons vary, though some of the attrition is no doubt a result of extensive changes to the coaching staff.
Jim Knowles replaced Kerry Coombs at defensive coordinator while Perry Eliano and Tim Walton replaced secondary coach Matt Barnes. Linebackers coach Al Washington is also gone, and that position will be coached by Knowles.
The new scheme is a 4-2-5 with fewer opportunities for linebackers and more need for a variety of types of safeties, so some shaking out of the roster was expected after Knowles arrived — especially with the other coaches who recruited much of the defensive roster leaving.
A four-star member of the 2019 recruiting class from Mentor, Potter was Ohio’s No. 9 prospect as a senior.
He played in four games as a true freshman and four games in 2020 but saw his third season wiped out by a pair of injuries.
After missing the beginning of the season with a foot issue, he developed an eye problem that required surgery to correct a detached retina, something he did not speak in-depth about with reporters until spring practice.
Potter was back in action this spring, but he found himself part of a crowded room.
Ohio State has 14 scholarship defensive linemen with three more on the way this summer, and multiple members of the 2021 class appear primed to be part of the two-deep, if not starters.
He will have two years of eligibility left at his new school while Turrentine has four.
One of the previous players to announce he was leaving revealed Monday his next destination.
CorMantae Hamilton, a junior defensive lineman, is headed to Memphis, where he will play for his hometown school.
Others to transfer since early December are quarterbacks Quinn Ewers (Texas) and Jack Miller III (Florida), defensive backs Turrentine, Craig Young (Kansas), Ryan Watts (Texas), Sevyn Banks (LSU), Bryson Shaw (USC) and Lejond Cavazos, defensive linemen Hamilton (Memphis), Potter, Darrion Henry-Young (Cincinnati) and Jacolbe Cowan.
A year ago, seven scholarship players transferred out.
Turrentine’s exit puts Ohio State at the scholarship limit of 85 in must reach before the start of preseason practice.
Ohio State still has 10 scholarship safeties with five-star talent Sonny Styles set to join the program this summer after starring at Pickerington Central.
True freshman Kye Stokes was also one of the standouts in the spring game.
Turrentine is the second player from last year’s recruiting class to leave, joining Ewers, a five-star quarterback recruit who actually was supposed to be part of the 2022 class but graduated early and joined the team last August.
Seven of the 17 players who signed in Feb. 2019 (or Dec. 2018) after Ryan Day replaced Urban Meyer as head coach have transferred.
That rate of 41 percent is the highest for any OSU class since at least 2000.
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