Ohio State is finalizing a deal to make veteran NFL coach Matt Patricia the school’s new defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

The move to bring in Patricia comes with the corresponding internal promotion of secondary coach Tim Walton to the co-defensive coordinator role, sources said. Ohio State will also be promoting safeties coach Matt Guerrieri to pass-game coordinator, per sources.

Patricia comes to Ohio State to replace Jim Knowles, who left for Penn State‘s defensive coordinator job in the wake of the Buckeyes’ 2024 national title.

In Patricia, the Buckeyes get a veteran defensive playcaller who worked as the New England Patriots‘ defensive coordinator for six seasons from 2012 to 2017. He began calling defensive plays without the official title in 2010, which was a device Bill Belichick used to break in new coordinators and keep pressure off them.

He was the defensive coordinator for two of New England’s Super Bowl wins and was on staff as an offensive assistant for the Patriots’ 2004 Super Bowl title.

Patricia spent three seasons as the head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2018 to 2020, getting fired with a 13-29-1 record in his third season there.

Walton’s promotion comes after coming to Ohio State in 2022 from the NFL, where he coached for four teams from 2009 to 2021. That included a job as the Rams‘ defensive coordinator in 2013.

His new title is a nod to the strong secondary play at Ohio State under his watch, as the Buckeyes finished No. 3 in the country in passing yards allowed in 2024 and No. 1 in that category in 2023.

Guerrieri is a former co-defensive coordinator at Duke from 2018 to 2021 and was the co-defensive coordinator at Indiana in 2023.

They will all be charged with taking over an Ohio State defense that returns just three starters from a unit that finished No. 1 nationally in total defense and scoring defense. The eight departing starters, including the entire defensive line, project to get picked in the NFL draft this spring.

Ohio State does return high-end talent, including safety Caleb Downs, who projects as one of the top players in college football next year. Junior linebacker Sonny Styles will be another top prospect, and senior cornerback Davison Igbinosun earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio State Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressel was confirmed Wednesday as Ohio’s next lieutenant governor.

State senators and representatives affirmed Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s Monday nomination of Tressel in separate floor votes Wednesday: 31-1 in the Senate, 68-27 in the House.

Tressel, 72, succeeds Republican Jon Husted, who was appointed last month to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance.

Tressel retired in 2023 as president of Youngstown State University, a position he had held since 2014. He previously spent nearly a decade as head coach of Ohio State University’s football team, leading the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2002 and six Big Ten championships.

He was pressured to resign in May 2011 after a memorabilia-for-cash scandal rocked the team.

After Tressel left Ohio State, he served as executive vice president for student success at the University of Akron before returning to Youngstown State as president.

DeWine has said that Tressel will remain involved in education and workforce development as lieutenant governor.

LAS VEGAS — UNLV senior offensive lineman Ben Christman, who transferred after last season from Kentucky, has died, the university announced. He was 21.

Christman was found dead in an off-campus apartment Tuesday morning. The university said it didn’t have other details and that a cause of death would be determined by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

UNLV said Christman’s family and the team have been informed and that counseling services would be provided.

“Our team’s heart is broken to hear of Ben’s passing,” UNLV coach Dan Mullen said in a statement. “Since the day Ben set foot on our campus a month ago, he made the Rebels a better program.

“Ben was an easy choice for our leadership committee as he had earned the immediate respect, admiration and friendship of all his teammates. Our prayers go out to his family and all who knew him. Ben made the world a better place and he will be missed.”

Christman began his college career at Ohio State as a highly ranked prospect in the 2021 recruiting class. He redshirted that season and played in one game in 2022 before transferring to Kentucky. Christman did not play in 2023 because of a knee injury, but he appeared in all 12 games last season on special teams before transferring to UNLV.

“There is little that can be said to lessen the pain of suddenly losing a member of our university family at such a young age, and my heart breaks for all who knew and loved him,” UNLV president Keith Whitfield said in a statement.