Former Ohio State face-off man and current PLL pro, Justin Inacio, coaches the Ohio State face-off middies during No. 11 Ohio State’s 15-7 win over Air Force in Columbus on Feb. 4. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
Six months and one blown-out knee later, Justin Inacio found his way back to Ohio State.
For five seasons, Inacio played at faceoff for the Buckeye men’s lacrosse team and had dreams of becoming a surgeon or an entrepreneur. He soon realized he had a different dream: coaching.
That knee injury provided him with the opportunity to return to Ohio State and pursue just that.
With the help of head coach Nick Myers, Inacio said he was offered a graduate assistant position on the men’s lacrosse coaching staff this season while he rehabbed his knee and worked towards a master’s degree.
“I realized I wanted to stay a part of the game,” Inacio said. “The best way to do that was either coaching or going back to school and being a grad assistant.”
Inacio was on the sidelines working with his past teammates, friends and faceoff specialists that played behind him. He said it wasn’t what he had anticipated after graduation in May 2022.
In August 2021, after his fourth season as a Buckeye, Inacio was selected in the National Lacrosse League Draft by the Calgary Roughnecks. Because of the additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Inacio said he decided to play a fifth year for the Buckeyes in spring 2022 instead of going straight to the NLL.
After his final season, Inacio became Ohio State’s ground-ball leader with 357 over his career, and his 60.7 percent faceoff win percentage is the second all-time in program history.
“Justin’s a Buckeye,” Myers said. “He’s one of the all-time greats.”
A week before Ohio State’s 15-8 first round NCAA Tournament loss against seventh-seeded Cornell May 15, 2022, Inacio said he was watching the Premier Lacrosse League draft with some teammates when his name got called.
Inacio was picked No. 18 overall in the third round by Archers Lacrosse Club.
“I didn’t think when I was younger I was going to be playing professional lacrosse. It just wasn’t in my cards,” Inacio said. “I definitely realized how much the game means to me and how much I do want to pursue it.”
In summer 2022, Inacio played the full season with Archers LC. He led with a 42.6 faceoff percentage and picked up 33 ground balls.
Inacio returned to Columbus to train on his own between the PLL season’s conclusion in September 2022 and the start of the NLL season that December.
At least that was the plan.
“I was getting ready for training camp and I ended up tearing my ACL, meniscus, MCL — blew up the whole thing,” Inacio said.
Inacio said he was injured in mid-October and underwent surgery Nov. 23, 2022.
Because Inacio’s first season with the Roughnecks was set to kick off a few weeks following his surgery, he said he was unable to play and unsure what his future held.
This was until Myers offered him the graduate assistant position, Inacio said.
“There was no doubt — I definitely recruited him,” Myers said. “Because he’s a student you’re able to have him on staff, so there were just a few things that lined up and it seemed like it made a lot of sense.”
Prior to the start of this season, Inacio said he was officially brought on in his new role.
“Coach called me and let me know that he was coming back,” graduate faceoff specialist Drew Blanchard said. “I immediately called him, and I was excited, where it’s like, he knows my style — facing off — from us going against each other.”
Inacio said coaching the faceoff unit has been an “adjustment” because the team includes friends of his, but he doesn’t let that deter him from doing his job: putting the best faceoff on the field come game day.
For most of the season, that faceoff specialist was Blanchard, however he’s been out with a lower-body injury of his own since March.
“[Inacio] does a good job of balancing that relationship where a lot of coaches struggle,” Blanchard said. “Us being friends for years and then having to go into an authority role.”
After practice, Inacio said he drives 30 seconds down the road to the Ohio State Jameson Crane Sports Medicine Institute for physical therapy.
“I’ll go there for an hour, come back, cut film. It works out,” Inacio said. “Probably the best situation to be in being injured. Being able to use the resources at Ohio State to come back as quick as possible.”
Inacio said after the season is over he doesn’t know what the future holds for himself and Ohio State men’s lacrosse.
However, he said he hopes to finish out the season healthy enough to practice, and he plans on graduating in December with a master’s degree in sports coaching.
Inacio said his goal was to be cleared and training by June 2, but he is on track to be ready sooner.
“It’s very cool to be part of the team again. That was the biggest thing I missed graduating and moving on,” Inacio said. “So, to be back in that locker room and have that feeling again, it’s really, really cool.”
