Ohio State Buckeyes: Defensive linemen looking to impress beyond numbers at NFL Combine

He had six tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in the first seven games but only one sack the rest of the season.

That was against Michigan State in late November, a game he said team medical staff advised he not play.

“I wanted to be there for my teammates and be there for the last two games,” he said. “They told me to rest, but we were chasing something bigger at the time. When we lost that game I had to change my focus to my family and do what’s best for me.”

Michigan’s win over Ohio State sent the Wolverines to the Big Ten Championship Game and ultimately led to the Buckeyes getting a Rose Bowl bid.

“The doctors told me to rest and you need to heal, but I had a sense of urgency and I needed to be there for my teammates,” Garrett said. “I made that promise at the beginning of the season that we were going to make this run and I want to be there and help as best as possible.”

The end of Ohio State’s national championship hopes and need to get healthy for NFL Draft prep led him to opt out of the Rose Bowl, but he said that was a tough decision.

“It was really hard,” Garrett said. “I was torn. I really wanted to finish the season and and be with my brothers in that bowl game and say farewell in a good way, but I had to really take care of my health and get ready for the next step.”

He had three tackles in the Senior Bowl last month and overcame an injury scare when he landed hard on his right shoulder in practice.

“It was a dream of mine to play in that Senior Bowl,” he said. “You talk about guys who get tweaks and injuries and they leave or get ready for this moment at the combine. I wanted to finish. It was a goal of mine from when I was a kid.”

This week his goal is to show NFL teams his athleticism and football IQ.

“I want them to know that I’m a highly motivated guy,” he said. “I’m a very experienced player I played in big-time games throughout my career and that I’ll definitely bring value and depth to a team.”

Fellow defensive lineman Tyreke Smith also came to the combine looking to prove to teams he can be an impact player in the NFL despite not having the most productive college career.

Specifically, he struggled to turn pressure on the passer into sacks.

The former four-star recruit from Cleveland had five tackles for loss, including three sacks, as a senior and finished his career with 12 tackles for loss and eight sacks.

According to Pro Football Focus, Smith ranked 36th among edge defenders last season in pass rush win rate (20.2 percent) but 78th in total quarterback pressures (36) and tied for 222nd in sacks.

“Definitely a little frustrating,” he said. “Just to know you had a good rush, beat the man and either he threw it or something like that or I just didn’t get the sack, but I don’t really harp on the past. I don’t really have regrets — nothing like that. Everything that happened, I take it as a lesson. So it’s just a lesson for me just to get better, improve on myself, and it’s just another area I can improve on and get better.”

Smith, who registered a sack in the Senior Bowl, feels the sky is the limit for him as a player.

“I feel like I haven’t really scratched the surface of what I could really be,” he said. “The NFL plays like a unique type of way. I got a taste of it at the Senior Bowl, just being coached by the Jets, the way they play, just kind of like real fast-paced and really just demolishing your guy, just getting after the ball. So I feel like I’m gonna translate to the NFL great.”