Arkansas
Ohio State assistant coach plucked by Arkansas after loss in Big Ten title game
The Ohio State Buckeyes are losing a key member of head coach Ryan Days’s staff to an SEC program, according to several reports.
Marcus Johnson, assistant offensive line coach for Ohio State in 2025, is set to move to Arkansas after only one year in Columbus.
In Fayetteville, Johnson will be reunited with newly appointed Razorbacks’ head coach Ryan Silverfield, for whom Johnson played with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings in the 2008 season.
BREAKING: Arkansas is hiring Ohio State assistant coach Marcus Johnson as one of their offensive line coaches according to multiple reports. pic.twitter.com/FB2NCzuLP6
— The Scarlet and Gray Podcast (@TheSG_Podcast) December 8, 2025
Johnson’s departure is the second significant blow to Day’s offensive coaching staff, just a few days after former Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline was tabbed as the next head coach for the University of South Florida Bulls.
Johnson reported directly to Buckeye’s offensive line coach Tyler Bowen during his lone season at Columbus. He also worked closely with assistant O-line coach Charlie Dickey and Football QC/offense Austin Fields on Coach Day’s staff.
Johnson has previous SEC ties, as he was a second-team all-conference O-lineman for the Ole Miss Rebels from 2001 to 2004 before being selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by Minnesota in ‘05. He also had a brief stint playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Hartford Colonials of the UFL.
Silverfield is also hiring Memphis Tigers’ assistant coach/offensive line Jeff Myers to team up with Johnson in taking command of the Razorbacks offensive line, after the previous offensive line coach — Eric Mateos — was informed that he was being let go by the new regime.
Before landing with the Buckeyes, Johnson spent two seasons coaching Purdue’s offensive line. His previous stops as a football coach include Duke (2016-2017), Mississippi State (2018-2019) and Missouri (2020-2022).
Now Johnson and Myers will take the reins of arguably Arkansas’ best unit, as the O-line for Arkansas was graded as the second best in the country by Pro Football Network.
News of Johnson’s departure comes off the heels of the Buckeyes’ first loss of the season, a tight 13-10 affair in the Big Ten Championship Game against Indiana. Despite falling to the still undefeated Hoosiers, Ohio State is ranked No. 2 in the College Football Playoff bracket, meaning they still receive a bye in the first round. Hartline will continue to call offensive plays for the still defending National Champions Buckeyes in the CFP tournament, despite pulling double duty as he makes his first moves as the new man in charge at USF.
Rex Nelson
Rex Nelson has been senior editor and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2017, and he has a biweekly podcast called “Southern Fried.”
After graduating from Ouachita Baptist University in 1981, he was a sportswriter for the Arkansas Democrat for a year before becoming editor of Arkadelphia’s Daily Siftings Herald. He was the youngest editor of a daily in Arkansas at age 23. Rex was then news and sports director at KVRC-KDEL from 1983-1985.
He returned to the Democrat as assistant sports editor in 1985. From 1986-1989, he was its Washington correspondent. He left to be Jackson T. Stephens’ consultant.
Rex became the Democrat-Gazette’s first political editor in 1992, but left in 1996 to join then-Gov. Mike Huckabee’s office. He also served from 2005-09 in the administration of President George W. Bush.
From 2009-2018, he worked stints at the Communications Group, Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities, and Simmons First National Corp.
Dylan Sherman
Dylan Sherman is a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He is based in Northwest Arkansas and focuses on Tyson Foods Inc. and the transportation industry. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he has been with the newspaper since 2023.
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