James Laurinaitis

James Richard Laurinaitis (born December 3, 1986) is an American football coach and former player.

He is the current linebackers coach for Ohio State.

He played as a linebacker for the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL).

He played college football at Ohio State, where he was a three-time consensus All-American and won numerous awards.

He was named Defensive Mr. Football in Minnesota in 2004.

That season, he helped lead his high school football team to the state championship game in Class 5A with 193 tackles, including 28 for loss and five sacks.

Laurinaitis attended Ohio State University, where he played for coach Jim Tressel's Ohio State Buckeyes football team from 2005 to 2008.

As a true freshman in 2005, he played in all 12 games eventually reaching No. 2 on the depth chart at strong-side linebacker behind Bobby Carpenter.

After Carpenter broke a leg on the first play from scrimmage in their rivalry game against Michigan, Laurinaitis played the rest of that game, and also started in their Fiesta Bowl victory over Notre Dame.

At the end of the 2006 regular season, Laurinaitis led the team in tackles (115) and interceptions (5), and also had 8.5 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks.

In 2006 Laurinaitis won the Nagurski Award as the nation's best defensive player, and was also named a finalist for the Butkus and Bednarik awards.

He was a first-team All-Big Ten selection, and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.

Laurinaitis won the Butkus Award for most outstanding college linebacker in 2007.

He was also recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American in 2007, having been named to the first-teams of multiple selectors including the Associated Press (AP), the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), FWAA, Sporting News, the Walter Camp Foundation, and Rivals.com.

He was honored as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

In 2008, he was named one of four finalists for the 2008 Rotary Lombardi Award (only Big Ten player in consideration for that award) and the winner of the Lott Trophy for The Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year and the recipient of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American for the third consecutive year.

He was also a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, presented to the nation's top defender by the Maxwell Club of Philadelphia and one of five defensive players among fifteen finalists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year award.

He was drafted by the Rams in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

Laurinaitis was born in Wayzata, Minnesota.

He was raised in a family of athletes; his father Joe, a WWE Hall of Famer also known as "Road Warrior Animal", and two uncles (John and Marcus) were professional wrestlers.

He attended Wayzata High School, and played high school football and ice hockey.

He was touted as a potential second or third-round National Hockey League (NHL) draft pick, but teams did not draft him because it was thought that he was more likely to pursue a football career.

While he was a successful ice hockey player, having been named a team captain as a senior, football was arguably his best sport.

On March 19, 2009, he participated at Ohio State's Pro day and improved his 40-yard dash (4.72s), 20-yard dash (2.72s), 10-yard dash (1.59s), short shuttle (4.18s), and three-cone drill (6.81s).

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Laurinaitis was projected to be a first or second round pick by NFL draft experts or scouts.

He was ranked as the second best inside linebacker prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com and NFL analyst Mike Mayock.

The St. Louis Rams selected Laurinaitis in the second round (35th overall) of the 2009 NFL Draft.

Laurinaitis was the fourth linebacker drafted in 2009, behind Aaron Curry, Brian Cushing, and Clay Matthews III.

On July 29, 2009, the Rams signed Laurinaitis to a four-year, $5.1 million contract that included $3.3 million guaranteed.

Laurinaitis entered training camp slated as the starting middle linebacker, replacing Will Witherspoon.

Head coach Steve Spagnuolo named Laurinaitis the starting middle linebacker to begin the regular season.

He made his professional regular season debut and his first career start in the St. Louis Rams' season-opener at the Seattle Seahawks and recorded 14 combined tackles (ten solo) in their 28–0 loss.

On October 9, 2009, Laurinaitis recorded six solo tackles, a pass deflection, and made his first career interception during a 38–10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5.

Laurinaitis made his first career interception off a pass by Vikings' quarterback Brett Favre, that was originally intended for wide receiver Bernard Berrian, and returned it for a seven-yard gain in the second quarter.

In Week 12, he collected nine solo tackles and made his first career sack during a 27–17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

He started all thirteen games, becoming the fourth player in school history to lead the team in tackles three times in a career, as he ranked second in the Big Ten and 14th nationally with an average of 10.0 tackles per game.

He recorded a career-high 130 tackles (52 solos) that included four sacks, seven stops for losses and one quarterback pressure, caused a fumble, deflected four passes and picked off two others.

Laurinaitis is the only player to ever win two Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year awards (in both coaches and media).

Laurinaitis attended the NFL Scouting Combine and performed all of the combine and positional drills.