An Up-Tempo Defense?
On the field following Ohio State’s 2010 Rose Bowl win over the up-tempo Oregon Ducks, Jim Tressel was asked how his defense was able to keep up with the blistering pace set by the Duck offense.
“Well, we have an up-tempo defense. And they run, and they hit, and they prepare,” he said at the time.
The preparation was key, because it’s not like that Buckeye defense was used to seeing that kind of tempo in practice. Fast-forward seven years now, however, and this Ohio State defense is going to walk into every single game this season prepared to face an up-tempo attack because that’s what they train against each day in practice.
“We do up-tempo, but what I love is we do it when we want to do it,” defensive coordinator Greg Schiano said of the OSU offense. “We don’t do it just to do it. And as a defensive coach, if they do it sometime, you’ve got to believe they’re going to do it every time. Now if they don’t, fine, but you have to play like they’re going to do it, so it does create a little stress for you defensively, and that’s good. It’s great work for us, so when we go up against a team that isn’t tempo it will be comforting.”
Unchartable Levels of Swag
With the influx of analytics in football, everything in the game is charted now. Success rates on downs, heat maps for throwing tendencies, pressure percentages, and much, much more.
Despite thousands of nerds spending thousands of hours staring at their laptops, there is still one thing that their slightly-oversized brains have been unable to successfully chart: swag.
If they would like to study it, however, it looks like they may want to check in on the Ohio State coaching staff. Particularly new Buckeye offensive coordinators Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day.
“From day one they came in with so much swag, like swagger off the charts,” said receiver Parris Campbell. “When someone walks on the field you can sense swagger. I don’t know how to explain it, but they come on the field with a different mindset and different attitude. Both of those guys push everything we do. It’s fast, it’s up tempo, they just have so much swagger.”
Big Man Tate?
Ohio State held their first scrimmage of fall camp last Saturday and a number of freshmen played well on the day. Running back J.K. Dobbins, defensive end Chase Young, and safety Isaiah Pryor were among them. Another name that received mention was quarterback Tate Martell, all 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds of him.
Martell had a long run on the day and proved a difficult man to bring down in the open field.
“He’s definitely a run threat, so we do the option and he’s really good at that, and he’s really shifty,” said safety Damon Webb. “You can’t really tackle him in just open space, so he’s gonna be really good.”
“I like little Tate,” safety Erick Smith agreed. “With the ball in his hands he bangs us. Yeah, little Tate, I like little Tate when he’s got the ball in his hands. He’s one of the more elusive players on the team, I could say that.”
Martell is the only scholarship quarterback in OSU’s camp who isn’t wearing a black no-contact jersey. This means he is live and able to be hit. The problem, however, is that hitting him is proving to be pretty difficult.
“No, nobody’s got a good hit on him,” Webb said. “He’s definitely a playmaker. Can’t deny that, he’s definitely a playmaker.”
