In-season roster addition Puff Johnson has arrived on Ohio State’s campus, but the sixth-year transfer won’t be in uniform for the Jan. 20 home game against Minnesota.

That was the message from coach Jake Diebler on Jan. 19, just three days removed from Johnson having a temporary restraining order approved by a Franklin County judge granting him immediate eligibility to join the Buckeyes during the 2025-26 season. He’s on campus, listed in the official game notes and is on the roster, but seeing him in action against the Golden Gophers would be too much, too soon according to Diebler.

“Gotten a chance to work him out a couple times,” the coach said. “It’s a daily evaluation as to when he’s going to be ready to play in a game … (but) no, do not anticipate him being on the court (against Minnesota).”

Johnson was granted eligibility on Jan. 16 and, logistically, couldn’t make it to campus on time for the 1 p.m. tip against UCLA. After the 86-74 win for the Buckeyes, Diebler said the next steps would involve physically getting Johnson in the building and starting to assess where he was physically while assimilating him with his new teammates. Although he had been taking classes, Johnson had not been on campus for months while hoping to be granted eligibility.

Suddenly, he’s a Buckeye, and now the 25-year-old wing is getting a crash course on this year’s team.

“There’s two things: there’s him physically being ready to play in a game and then there’s him within how we play and learning what we’re doing and things, being ready to play in a game,” Diebler said. “He’s working really hard at both to be ready as quickly as possible. I don’t know when that’s going to be quite yet, but we’ve at least gotten started and started working on it.”

Johnson was seeking this sixth year of eligibility in part because injuries limited him to 14 games as a freshman at North Carolina in 2020-21 and 17 games last year at Penn State. After the UCLA game, Diebler said Johnson had told him that he was in good shape, but the coach said exactly what that meant would remain to be seen.

On Jan. 19, Diebler said early impressions are positive.

“The thing we’ve got to check is game shape,” he said. “When you’re playing up and down multiple possessions against live bodies, that’s a different impact than just running up and down against no defense. That’s what we’re in the process of evaluating, but he’s a guy who’s wanted this and been preparing for this, but there’s a different type of game shape.”

As far as a baseline level of fitness, Diebler said, “I feel good about where he’s at.”

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Johnson will wear No. 6 for the Buckeyes. He is listed at 6-foot-8, 200 pounds on the team’s updated official roster and is expected to slot into Ohio State’s rotation on the wing when he’s up to speed. In 111 career games, Johnson has averaged 5.3 points and 2.6 assists but is expected to help Ohio State on the defensive end.

“He’s got an ability to guard multiple positions,” Diebler said. “He’s got good positional size. He has familiarity with this conference. He’s shown an ability to rebound. All those things are really good. He’s been a guy who’s had some decent steal numbers in the last two years as well, which is an area we’ve got to continue to get better in. Defensively, that’s where it starts.”

Johnson averaged 1.4 steals per game for Penn State last season and averaged nearly one steal per game during his two years with the Nittany Lions. In 2024-25, he also averaged a career-best 10.2 points per game.

“He can play multiple positions,” Diebler said. “And, because of his experience and basketball IQ, we anticipate him being a guy who is a blender on the court, a guy who adds to what already is a really good chemistry this team has. He’s got to play to his strengths: cutting, rebounding, catch and shoot 3s, driving, scoring, but also within what we’re doing.”