Ohio State adds former Notre Dame kicker Marcello Diomede
COLUMBUS — Ohio State is adding to its special teams operation yet again: the Buckeyes landed a commitment from former Notre Dame kicker Marcello Diomede on Tuesday afternoon.
Diomede has 17 kickoffs and 11 touchbacks in his kicking career, which spans 10 career games. He has not attempted a field goal for the Fighting Irish and is expected to bring competition to the kickoff duties, which new kicker Conner Hawkins did not handle while at Baylor last season.
Diomede will be at Ohio State as a walk-on.
Marcello Diomede is the first special teams addition for the Buckeyes since they hired Robby Discher to be the new special teams coordinator.
Discher was previously the special teams coordinator at Tulane. Before that, Discher spent time as a special teams quality control coach at Georgia, Louisiana, Toledo, Oklahoma State and Sam Houston State. He has worked almost exclusively with special teams for his entire career.
Under Discher’s leadership, the Fighting Illini special teams units have ranked 16th and 30th in the nation by ESPN’s special teams efficiency metric in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Discher’s kicker at Illinois, David Alano, was an All-Big Ten selection this past season before hitting the transfer portal. Alano nearly came to Ohio State, but he chose Texas A&M instead.
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Ohio State has made special teams a priority this offseason, starting with but not limited to Discher. The Buckeyes added former Baylor kicker Conner Hawkins to help finally heal the special teams woes from previous seasons. Hawkins, a Liberty Hill, Texas, native, was the starter for the Bears this season, connecting on 81.8 percent of his kicks. He connected on 18 of his 22 field goal attempts with a long of 54 yards on the season. He was 8 of 12 on field goals longer than 40 yards, including five made field goals out of eight tries between 40 and 49 yards, becoming one of the premier kickers in the Big 12 during his first season as a starter.
The Buckeyes have also added former UCF long-snapper Dalton Riggs and former Houston Christian punter Brady Young.
Now former Notre Dame kicker Marcello Diomede is the latest addition to the new-look special teams operation.