There were some new faces in the OSU lineup last Saturday on both sides of the ball. One of those players, safety Marcus Hooker, told reporters on Wednesday that jitters was definitely a part of his day.
“I talked to Malik (his brother and former Buckeyes and current NFL safety) after the game and he told me he could tell I was nervous,” said Hooker.
For Hooker the jitters revolved around his desire to play an error-free game, something he now understands is probably not going to happen ever.
“I came into the game trying not to mess up,” said Hooker.
His first big error came early in the game when he let himself get out of position and opened the door for Husker quarterback Luke McCaffrey to scramble 47 yards. The play set up Nebraska’s first touchdown. It is also the kind of play that can shake the confidence of a young, first-time starter, but Hooker had the right kind of support on the OSU sideline to not allow that to happen.
“I beat myself up a little over it,” said Hooker. “Coaches told me that no matter what happens you’re going to have a bad play. I had to let it go and not let it lead to more mistakes.”
Hooker was able to do just that and finished the game with four solo tackles while sharing time at the free safety position with Josh Proctor. He was able to put his early-game mistake behind him and went on to make the plays that he had to make and knew he could make.
“At first I wondered if I could do it, but as the game went on I saw that I could. I calmed down and that helped me make plays and not make mistakes,” said Hooker.
Hooker will enter this week’s game at Penn State with a game under his belt. It won’t mean he won’t be nervous, but it will mean that he has newly acquired confidence.
“I’ll be nervous because I care, because I want to win a game,” said Hooker. “I’ll be nervous, but I won’t be anxious. I see now that I can do it. I just have to not worry about being perfect and worry more about making the plays that I know I can make.”
Hooker plays free safety in OSU’s one-high defensive alignment which makes him the last line of defense against big plays by the opposing offense. It’s a position that Jordan Fuller manned so well last season. One of Fuller’s greatest attributes is that he is a great tackler as well as pass defender. The OSU coaching staff seems to have been grooming Hooker to emulate that role by practicing him at a position last season that definitely required tackling skills.
“I was a hybrid linebacker,” said Hooker. “I played a lot down in the box.”
After a year of a lot of tackling at practice the OSU coaching staff has moved him back to free safety where they feel he has the skill set to replace Fuller. He doesn’t have the position to himself, he rotated with Proctor, but that is something he has absolutely no problem with.
“We do it at practice,” said Hooker when asked if the rotation disrupted his playing rhythm. “I have no problem with it.”
For the record, it isn’t exactly like Hooker stunk up the place against Nebraska. In fact, his performance was good enough that the coaches graded it as a Champion caliber performance. He was the only safety to have graded out to that standard.
I was actually surprised that Hooker started. I thought the job was Protor’s, and he’s had the inside track due to experience and getting some good ink so far. Hooker only had some special teams play in ’18, and ST & 82 snaps last year. But we don’t get to see (or even hear) much about practice…he must be impressing SOMEONE.
The linebackers in my opinion continue to be the weakest part of the Buck’s defense.
Their safeties and linebackers will get exposed against any good team. If you go back and watch that run by McCaffery, look at all 3 linebackers and it was pathetic. I will admit that McCafferey is good and is going to be really good.