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Dawand Jones returning for senior season at Ohio State

Austin-Wardby:Austin Ward•01/17/22•

AWardSports

Dawand Jones by Birm -- Lettermen Row
Ohio State offensive tackle Dawand Jones is returning for his senior season. (Birm/Lettermen Row)

COLUMBUS — The development plan has always been ahead of schedule for Dawand Jones.

But it’s not over yet at Ohio State.

Despite impressing in his first season in the starting lineup for the Buckeyes, the right tackle still has more work to accomplish with the program. And as he had been hinting for more than a month, the massive offensive lineman confirmed his intentions to return to Ohio State by breaking his own news on his social-media account on Monday night.

“My mindset is that I’ll be back next year, but I’m weighing all options,” Jones said before the Rose Bowl last month. “I’m just looking at film and just seeing like: What could I correct?

Dawand Jones-Ohio State-Buckeyes-Ohio State football
Dawand Jones will return to Ohio State next season. (Birm/Lettermen Row)

“And then seeing that, asking: Is that good enough to go to the NFL or if I need to come back. … I just go back to trusting the process. I feel like I’ve been doing it my whole life, whether it’ was at my high school or here in college. Trust the process. …”

It’s not complete yet at Ohio State. And that decision was really not a surprise for the Buckeyes, particularly since Jones has only been in the first-team unit with the program for a year despite finding a couple different ways to help off the bench as both a freshman and sophomore.

Jones was widely projected as a long-term project when he arrived at Ohio State. There was an expectation it would take a bit of time to work on slimming down and strengthening his supersized frame while also teaching him the finer points of playing on the edge of the offensive line after spending most of his life preferring basketball to football.

But Dawand Jones proved to be a fast study, and he surprising had his redshirt pulled during his first year on campus.

Now he’s suddenly heading into his fourth at Ohio State. And he’s not planning to skip it.

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