The photo above is of Malik Hooker, who arguably had the greatest single season for an Ohio State safety in school history. As a redshirt sophomore in 2016, Hooker finished third on the team with 74 tackles and seventh on the team with three touchdowns. He also happened to lead the Big Ten with seven interceptions, and…
Ohio State must replace two-year starter Damon Webb at free safety this season, and they may be doing it with junior Jordan Fuller, who was the starter at strong safety last year. That may solve one problem, but it opens up another. Five Buckeyes spent time this spring trying to fill Fuller’s open strong safety spot, but…
The Ohio State football team must replace two departed safeties from last season in starter Damon Webb and reserve Erick Smith. One starter does return in the form of junior Jordan Fuller, but he has moved over to Webb’s vacated field safety spot. The spring was spent trying to find a replacement for Fuller at boundary safety.
Robert Lawrence Stine, better known in literary circles as R.L. Stine, is a native Ohioan from Columbus, and a proud graduate of The Ohio State University. While Stine is a novelist with a focus on children’s literature, one might apply the quote above as we move onto the next position group to review, the 2018 Ohio State defensive backs.
Ohio State will be replacing two-year starter Damon Webb at free/field/falcon safety this season, and they will have to do it with a player who possesses superb coverage skills. Junior Jordan Fuller returns for his second year of starting at strong/boundary/deep/post safety, and the Buckeyes look to be in pretty good hands there.
New Ohio State cornerbacks coach Taver Johnson is back with the Buckeyes after a six-year hiatus, and while OSU is not new to him, plenty has changed since he’s been gone. Names, faces, defensive coordinators, they have all changed since Johnson left for Arkansas in January of 2012. What has continued, however, is…
In his second season as a starter in 2017, free safety Damon Webb proved to be one of the Buckeyes’ most consistent defenders. He led a secondary that had to replace three starters, each of whom was a first-round draft pick. The Ohio State defense dropped from third in the nation in pass efficiency defense in 2016 to 13th in 2017.
Denzel Ward was arguably the best cornerback in college football this past season. Per most NFL draftniks, the League views him as the best draft-eligible cornerback in in the nation, and for good reason. Ward finished third in the Big Ten this past season with 17 passes defended. He intercepted two passes and ended up…
The best thing about bowl games isn’t getting to see your team play one more time, it’s getting young players another month of practices to help them grow and get better in anticipation of helping out the following season. During the season, the practices are about implementing game plans and playing against the scout team…
Following practice on Monday, two more Ohio State Buckeyes were officially welcomed to the team by having the black stripes removed. Freshman cornerback Amir Riep and freshman wide receiver Ellijah Gardiner became the 15th and 16th freshmen to be de-striped this year. Amir Riep came to Ohio State as a four-year…
When a person is part of something special, they don’t ever really leave. Even when they move on, their legacy remains in place, providing a time-release reinforcement of what they helped to build. The legacy of cornerbacks at Ohio State goes back a long way, but it really picked up in the mid-1990s. In 1996, the Buckeyes…
