Urban Meyer ranks historic performance of JT Tuimoloau vs Penn State

Ohio State defensive end JT Tuimoloau had one of the most dominant defensive performances to date for the Buckeyes this weekend in their 44-31 victory over Penn State. Tuimoloau ended the day with six tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, a forced and recovered fumble, two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), and a deflected pass that led to an interception. Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke about Tuimoloau’s recent heroics on the latest episode of Urban’s Take with Tim May, and how they stack up against those of other Buckeye defensive greats.

“That’s the greatest performance, and start checking a box on Chase Young, Joe Bosa, Nick Bosa, Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis, you know the defensive ends that roll through Ohio State, and that’s a stronger performance at any position I’ve ever seen,” Meyer said.

On paper Tuimoloau’s performance speaks for itself, but Meyer also spoke on other factors that contributed to his day that made it the best he’s seen before in Ohio State defense history.

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“And I was there, once again it was at State College, it’s against a six-year quarterback, it’s against a good team, and you add those things up and I don’t think it’s any close,” Meyer said. “That’s the greatest performance on defense I’ve ever seen.”

Tuimoloau was a 5-star recruit out of high school and the No. 1 player in the state of Washington in his 2021 class according to On3 Consensus. He arrived to Columbus in July of 2021 and had a solid freshman season, but his breakout game against the Nittany Lions was a true reflection of the culmination of his development and talent on display.

“You can and I’m very biased towards the Polynesian culture, and I don’t know this player personally but I know people around him very well. A wonderful guy, just the skillset that’s very hard to find now, very hard to find ever,” Meyer said.

Meyer also gave some credit to the Nittany Lions, for not accounting for Tuimoloau in their game plan, a mistake that surely the rest of Ohio State’s opponents won’t make for the remainder of the season.

“But yeah, when you see a player that comes that far away from home, is about all the right stuff, has a great family, and performs like that, and everything kind of went his way too. He had to make the plays, but they put him in the position, Penn State I’m talking about, to do that,” Meyer said.