COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The comparisons came quickly, perhaps from a genuine assessment of Paris Johnson Jr.’s potential, perhaps from wishful thinking from the Ohio State football fan base.
Comparisons to Orlando Pace were thrown around almost as casually as Johnson, the nation’s top-ranked offensive lineman in the 2020 class, threw defenders around at Princeton High School.
How fair is it to compare Johnson to a Heisman Trophy finalist who ranks among the greatest college players in history at any position? Johnson does not mind. He wants that comparison — but not right now, while his Buckeye career has consisted mostly of mat drills and weight room workouts.
Johnson wants those Pace comparisons on the way out.
“A lot of people will say in high school I was looking like Orlando Pace was in college,” Johnson said. "I want to be able to do what Orlando Pace did in college.
“He was throwing people around like he was at Princeton High School, you know what I mean? Grown men in college. That’s everybody’s goal. I would like to be able to do that here.”
The Buckeyes believe he can. While a true freshman starting on the offensive line is a rarity in Power 5 conference football — of which Johnson is well aware — the opportunity may exist this fall.
Starting right tackle Branden Bowen graduated. While Johnson profiles as a natural fit at left tackle long-term, Thayer Munford is a returning starter there. Johnson could eventually compete with another former five-star recruit, Nicholas Petit-Frere, for the right tackle job.
Ryan Day said decisions on whether Johnson is a candidate to play both tackle spots will wait until March. Any position battles won’t truly intensify until August. For now he wants the 6-6, 290-pound star-in-the-making worrying about figuring out his best routes to class and laying a foundation with the OSU playbook.
Whether Johnson can start right away — and certainly whether he ever approaches a career anywhere near Pace’s — will largely depend on Johnson’s mindset, grit and perspective. Day already recognizes those intangibles.
“He’s very detail-oriented,” Day said. “He wants to do it right. He’s very determined. And we have high hopes for him.”
In the recruiting rankings, Johnson was a blue-chip, no-doubt, top-ranked offensive tackle on the fast track to stardom. He bulldozed defenders through the whistle. He broke opponents’ wills at times, and enjoyed it.
Since Jan. 5, however, he has been merely another freshman among the early enrollees. Well, maybe not merely. But a prospect with a national profile for on and off-field success has earned a reputation for humility and hard work from his new teammates in his first month as a Buckeye.
Fellow freshman offensive lineman Trey Leroux — ranked 1,128 spots behind Johnson in the 247 Sports national composite — made a quick connection.
“He’s an amazing player,” Leroux said. “I can’t thank him enough because we work together a lot. Him pushing me and me pushing him — it’s a great bond that we’ve got.
"Every drill that we do we work together. If I have something to fix, he’ll tell me and vice versa. If he’s better that means I’m going to get better.”
Freshman defensive lineman Jacolbe Cowan shares a quad with Johnson, along with defensive lineman Darrion Henry-Young and offensive lineman Luke Wypler. He said he and Johnson have clicked well as roommates since they are both “clean bigs” who like to keep things neat in their room.
That five-star pedigree makes Johnson an occasional target for ribbing from his teammates. Cowan has not noticed any other evidence of the lofty expectations Johnson brought with him to Columbus.
“He’s came in and gave it his all,” Cowan said. “Some guys tend to be five stars who have an ego about themselves or they carry themselves in a certain manner, but so far he’s handled it well.”
Wypler and Johnson met on a visit to Stanford early in the recruiting process. They maintained a relationship from that point on, chatting almost weekly on FaceTime, keeping tabs on each other’s progress.
Sharing a home and a weight room with Johnson over the past month, Wypler’s main impression of Johnson is a simple one: “Hard worker.”
That title happened to sync up with Johnson’s immediate goal as he begins his Ohio State tenure. Freshman starter? Sure, maybe. Eventual All-American? If all goes according to plan.
None of that is possible without the correct perspective, like the one Johnson recently expressed in a phone conversation with his mother, Monica.
“I was telling her, coming out of high school a lot of people said I was the toughest tackle in the country,” Johnson said. "But I want to come in here and I want to be seen as one as one of the hardest workers, because a lot of times people with a lot of talent aren’t.
"They don’t have to work hard, you know, so I try to prove to coach Mick (Marotti) and I want to prove to the older guys and prove to guys in my class that I could be one of the hardest workers.”
If that reputation keeps building, those Hall of Fame comparisons may stand up.
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