Ohio State star defensive lineman accepts Senior Bowl invitation

Ohio State defensive end Haskell Garrett is heading to the 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl. The Buckeyes senior star will have a shot to show off for NFL scouts while surrounded by the best in his class.

Haskell Garrett is currently in the top 15 defensive tackle prospects in the draft, according to ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper. In 2021, Garrett posted 22 tackles with 5.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries for 10-2 Ohio State. He suffered a leg injury in November that hobbled him as the Buckeyes made a push towards the CFP.

As a member of the 2017 signing class, Garrett’s been in Columbus for five seasons but he became a dominating presence over the last two years. The 6-foot-2, Las Vegas, Nevada native, was a top-100 prospect coming out of High School at Bishop Gorman.

Prior to the 2020 season, Garrett survived a shooting, in which he was shot in the face. The bullet went through and through his cheek.

Garrett joins Tyreke Smith, Jeremy Ruckert

Defensive lineman Haskell Garrett is the third Buckeye senior to accept a senior bowl invitation. He joins defensive end Tyreke Smith and tight end Jeremy Ruckert.

Tyreke Smith opted to return to Columbus for one more season after the NCAA granted all seniors an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19. That decision has paid off in a major way for the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native.

This season was Tyreke Smith’s best year yet. At the end of the regular season, he had a career-best 25 tackles (12 solo) and three sacks. The 6-foot-3, 260-pound defensive end was a key part of Ohio State’s top 25 scoring defense.

Tight end Jeremy Ruckert accepted his invite at the end of November. Ruckert had 284 yards on 23 receptions this season.

Buckeyes prep for Rose Bowl

Ohio State fell short of its ultimate goal of winning a national championship this season. However, Buckeyes’ head coach Ryan Day said that his team has regrouped ahead of their matchup with Utah in the Rose Bowl.

“I think a lot of our guys have a lot of pride in themselves and a lot of pride in this team,” Day said. “There’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of progress that was made all year from when we started this thing. We want to finish this thing the right way. We have a really good opponent in Utah, great bowl in the Rose Bowl, and so we want to have a great month.”

Day said that the team took a break from practices and allowed injured or sick guys to get healthy. With many of them back now, the Buckeyes are beginning to follow a specific preparation timeline.

“We worked out a little bit last week, we’re going to do that again this week and then start our practice,” Day said. “It’s really in three phases – we’re going to start on fundamentals, then we’ll get into game-planning and then we’ll get to the bowl site and have game week there. That’s really what the focus is on right now.”

Ohio State and Utah will kick off at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. ESPN will be carrying the national broadcast.

On3’s Tyler Mansfield contributed to this report.