The Ohio State football team deals with change every year. That’s why recruiting and development is so important. Both processes exist constantly, but there are specific times throughout the year when business picks up. The Buckeyes are now a month and a half past one of those busy times, as spring ball is now well behind them. Almost closer on the horizon is the beginning of fall camp, which is now roughly two months away.
There is nothing as effective as practices to get a team ready for the games to come. That’s what makes bowl practices and spring practices so important. There are 30-odd practices spread out over those two months or so, and yet only one game is played. Coaches can get a lot done, and that’s what happened this spring for the Ohio State defense.
The Buckeyes entered spring football missing six starters from last season, which meant that improvement needed to happen at each level. Part of that development simply comes from another year of understanding the goals and mannerisms of the Ohio State defense.
When asked where the defense improved the most this spring, that’s where defensive coordinator Greg Schiano focused his answer.
“I think just being in the system another year and the familiarity and the cumulative repetitions that now they’ve had with the defense we’re running, the different things we’re doing, the concepts, I think that as a unit we’ve gotten better,” he said. “We understand it better. And I think every bit you understand it better, you’re going to play faster. And I feel like that’s what’s happened.”
A faster defense is an ideal defense, but new starters generally slow everyone down.
Ohio State has recruited very well over the years, but replacing upwards of 10 guys from last year’s defense who spent time in NFL rookie mini-camps a few weeks ago is a daunting task.
Options were plenty for the Buckeyes’ defensive staff, but the results were mixed. Ohio State still doesn’t know who their starting linebackers are going to be, nor do they know who will be starting at safety opposite Jordan Fuller. And who knows, Fuller’s position may be up in the air based on the safety options.
If the second-best safety on the team is a free safety, then does Fuller move back to the strong safety spot he played last season?
Those are just a couple of the questions they hoped to have answered this spring, but it didn’t happen. It’s no surprise, then, that Schiano’s two biggest concerns on defense are those same unanswered questions.
“I think the position opposite Jordan Fuller’s is probably the biggest [question] on defense,” he said. “I think we have to figure out who the linebackers will be and where. But I feel very confident that there’s plenty of talent there and guys that can do it. We’ve just got to figure out the best positions are for each guy.”