Could Mitchell Melton be the answer to Ohio State football's search for a 'jack?'

The feeling was too familiar.

As Mitchell Melton went down in Ohio State’s spring game last year, he recognized the pain in his knee.

“I felt the injury,” Melton said. “I felt the pop.”

For as much as he braced for the worst, he sought to remain optimistic.

“Coming off the field, I was hopeful that maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Melton said, “but it was.”

He had again suffered a significant knee injury, tearing an anterior cruciate ligament that would sideline him for all of 2022.

Despite the string of setbacks, Melton has returned to full strength and adds an intriguing piece to the Buckeyes’ defense for this season, a leading candidate to fill the role as the “jack,” the hybrid defensive end-linebacker position in coordinator Jim Knowles’ intricate scheme.

“If the ‘jack’ becomes a part of what he does, I think he can handle it very well,” defensive line coach Larry Johnson said.

That's partly because of Melton's background.

Melton was a linebacker at Our Lady of Good Counsel, his high school just outside of Washington D.C., but also lined up along the line of scrimmage as a situational pass rusher, mirroring some of the responsibilities as the “jack.”

“I definitely succeeded at that kind of position,” Melton said. “There are some similarities. I can be successful.”

In practices during preseason training camp, Melton said his reps have been evenly split between defensive end and the hybrid spot.

He switched to defensive end last year prior to his ACL injury. This was after having spent his first two seasons with the Buckeyes as a linebacker.

The experience at both spots made him a fit for the “jack” in Knowles’ eyes. He sees the potential despite the fact that the 6-foot-3, 253-pound defender’s only appearance at Ohio State has been on special teams in 2020 when he covered a kickoff against Nebraska.

Melton said the direction from the staff has been to be as aggressive as possible when he is positioned as the “jack.”

“Going as hard as I can off the snap to disrupt as much as I can,” Melton said.

When Knowles was the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, the hybrid position, previously branded as the “LEO,” resulted in plenty of production.

Collin Oliver and Brock Martin, who split time there in Knowles' last season in Stillwater, combined for 19.5 sacks. Only Alabama had finished with more sacks in 2021 than the Cowboys.

The position can move around a bit up front to cause havoc.

“It’s kind of what I see on the field,” Melton said. “I’m trying to confuse the offense as much as possible. Once I get more comfortable with it, I can figure out the role.”

In the meantime, Melton said he feels grateful to be a full participant in preseason practices and preparing for a role on defense.

“I feel great,” he said. “This is the best I’ve felt since I’ve been here, really.”

Melton had been limited to non-contact drills in spring practice as a precaution after he recovered from last year’s knee injury.

“I was held back just to get ready for this time,” Melton said, “so I wanted to prepare as best as possible to get my body as healthy as I can. It was a preparing stage.”

Without Melton available for team periods in March and April, and Jack Sawyer returning to defensive end on a full-time basis, Knowles shelved the “jack,” prioritizing fundamentals and other elements of his system.

Now it’s back, reintroduced in camp, and Melton could be the one to fill it.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mitchell Melton a candidate to fill Ohio State's hybrid jack position