How Javontae Jean-Baptiste developed into leader for Buckeyes, Rushmen unit

COLUMBUS — Javontae Jean-Baptiste has never considered himself a vocal leader.

The fourth-year defensive end doesn’t speak up in front of the team often or regularly choose to make his voice heard in the locker room.

So when the Buckeyes opened up one of their training camp practices last week and Jean-Baptiste was called upon to speak in front of the entire team, he was put in an uncomfortable spot. It turns out it was a perfect one for him, though.

Being uncomfortable has helped Jean-Baptiste morph into an underrated X-factor for the defense.

“I’m not really like a vocal leader,” Jean-Baptiste said. “I’m more of a lead-by-example guy. But what happens when you come to Ohio State is you get put in uncomfortable situations. And when you’re put into those uncomfortable situations, they sometimes become comfortable. That was the kind of range I wasn’t really used to — but the more I do it, the more comfortable I’ll get.”

“So that leadership part is very important. Because if a guy’s having a bad day, you pick them up. If some things are going good, you keep telling them, ‘All right, you’re doing this well. You have to fix this so we can get better, even better.’ You just want to make sure that everyone is on a trending path. You don’t want any man to fall behind. If they kind of dip down, you pick them back up.”

Jean-Baptiste has developed in his now-four-year career at Ohio State from a soft-spoken 210-pound freshman trying to add weight to a 255-pound senior who is becoming one of the core rotational defensive ends.

It hasn’t been a quick 180-degree turn for Jean-Baptiste. It certainly took time. It’s a process that has been two years in the making.

“I probably started that transition my sophomore year, as in starting taking things more serious,” Jean-Baptiste told Lettermen Row. “But when you work with Coach [Mickey Marotti], it’s not going to come easy. It’s going to be long. But over time, that’s kind of what we’ve done with my body. And then as it came to this year, I just started seeing more growth and more improvements in what I was doing.”

Jean-Baptiste may have started emerging as a sophomore when he played in all 14 games. But he began to see a true role in the defensive rotation last season, a sign that he was on the right path for the Buckeyes. He only has 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in his career so far, but his production will almost certainly increase with his role this fall.

“At the end of spring football, you saw him trying to step up,” Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson said. “He spent more time in the video room studying the game. And that’s a sign of a guy who really understands what he’s got to do to get to the next level. And so I kind of like where Javontae is right now.

“He’s going to be a good player for us.”

The physical, on-the-field maturation is evident by just looking at Jean-Baptiste. But what’s harder to see is the overall maturation, something he needed before he could break out and become a leader for the Rushmen unit.

Now that he’s gone through all of it, Jean-Baptiste can see a clear picture of what he can become for the Buckeyes.

“I wouldn’t say I was immature,” he told Lettermen Row. “But I had to tighten up a few screws to make sure that I was going in the right direction and try and go on a positive path, get one percent better every day.”

Jean-Baptiste has improved both physically and in his maturity, but he still doesn’t have the production just yet to match it all. With a loaded defensive end room, he’s one of the potential stars alongside Jack Sawyer, Zach Harrison, J.T. Tuimoloau and Tyreke Smith.

His transformation from soft-spoken skinny defender with potential into a dominant defensive end is nearly complete.

“The next step for me is consistency,” Jean-Baptiste said. “Just maintaining what I’m doing and bettering those other things that I could do a little better at to show that I’m here.”

He has arrived as a leader for the Buckeyes. It was evident on the practice field during training camp.

Javontae Jean-Baptiste is gearing up to take yet another step for Ohio State, and he might just be vocal about it.