Javontae Jean-Baptiste wants to end his college football career outside of Columbus.
Fresh off a career-best campaign in a Buckeye uniform, Ohio State’s fifth-year senior defensive end entered the transfer portal on Monday.
After joining the program in 2018 as a four-star recruit from Oradell, New Jersey, Jean-Baptiste worked his way up the ranks to have the most productive season of his career in 2022. The 6-foot-5, 249-pound lineman had career-high totals with 19 tackles, four sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss. Jean-Baptiste was even credited with a half sack in the second half of Saturday’s college football playoff semifinal loss to Georgia.
Jean-Baptiste has totaled 51 tackles, eight sacks and 10 tackles for loss over the past four seasons after ending his true freshman year as a redshirt in 2018.
Jean-Baptiste’s sack total was second among all Buckeye defensive ends this season and third overall on the team, but he only earned the fourth most snaps among OSU DEs in the regular season (240) than five-star talent Zach Harrison, JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer all got more playing time.
With both Tuimoloau and Sawyer still only true juniors as the 2023 season begins, Jean-Baptiste could find a bigger role in another program for his final year of college eligibility.