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Buckeyes reportedly add Billy Yates to coaching staff

Spencer-Holbrookby:Spencer Holbrook•about 18 hours•

SpencerHolbrook

Ohio State Helmet by Mick Walker -- Lettermen Row --
Ohio State Helment (Mick Walker/Lettermen Row)

COLUMBUS — Ohio State has reportedly added to its defensive coaching staff, and it’s a former NFL player and coach.

The Buckeyes have added Billy Yates to their coaching staff in a quality control role, according to Eleven Warriors. Yates played in the NFL from 2003 to 2010 and was an offensive line assistant coach for the New England Patriots and Detroit Lions alongside former Patriots defensive coordinator and Lions head coach Matt Patricia.

Patricia, of course, is the new defensive coordinator at Ohio State. Yates has experience working with him.

Yates joins the staff that has also added Marcus Johnson (offensive line), Charlie Dickey (offensive line), Tony Washington (defensive ends/linebackers), Nate Ebner (defense/special teams), Miguel Patrick (defensive line) and Taver Johnson (cornerbacks) since winning the national championship game two months ago. It’s shaping up to be a strong staff for Ryan Day and the Buckeyes.

Yates played at Texas A&M before suiting up for the Miami Dolphins as a rookie. He played five seasons with the Patriots and then two seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He was a strength coach at Texas A&M for four seasons, from 2013-2016 before he was the head strength coach at Bowling Green for three seasons.

That’s when he teamed up with Patricia in Detroit, where he served as an an assistant coach working with the Lions offensive line under Patricia. When Patricia was fired from that job, Yates followed him to New England, where he was an assistant offensive line coach for New England for three seasons.

Ohio State added Taver Johnson last week

Taver Johnson has already been at Ohio State twice during his long, winding career as a defensive backs coach. First, he was the defensive backs coach for Jim Tressel from 2007 to 2011. Then he was the defensive backs coach for the Buckeyes under Urban Meyer in 2018, Meyer’s final season as head coach.

Now Johnson is returning to the Buckeyes sideline for the third time, this time as a defensive backs assistant under Tim Walton and head coach Ryan Day. The 52-year-old Johnson, who was the assistant defensive backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023 and spent last season on staff at Tennessee, has rejoined the Ohio State staff, multiple sources told Lettermen Row last week

Johnson is now working with Walton and the rest of the defensive backs room.

After leaving Ohio State following the 2018 season, Johnson became an assistant defensive backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2019-2020. He then became an offensive assistant for the Raiders in 2021 before joining the Eastern Michigan staff for the 2022 season as a defensive pass game coordinator and safeties coach. He was, as stated above, most recently the assistant defensive backs coach for the Eagles in the NFL and was most recently a defensive secondary analyst for the University of Tennessee.

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