When the Ohio State coordinators spoke with reporters recently, one of the more popular topics was recruiting, particularly on defense. At the time, the Buckeyes’ lone defensive commitment was Florida defensive back Lejond Cavazos. Since then, they have added Pickerington defensive lineman Ty Hamilton. With a large batch of official visits taking…
With five new assistant coaches on Ryan Day’s Ohio State staff, there was some unfamiliarity that had to be resolved. When they new coaches were brought on, however, the staff was out recruiting for the first month that they were all “together.” Eventually, things settled down for a few weeks before spring ball began and they’ve settled again since…
Prior to the 2018 season, the NCAA allowed football programs to hire a 10th assistant coach. Ohio State made that 10th coach Alex Grinch from Washington State. Grinch took over the safeties from defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, who was then left without a position to coach. Instead of now having a position…
Ohio State recruits linebackers as well as any school in the country. Last season, they had five linebackers who had all been ranked as 5-star prospects in high school — and none of them won starting jobs. Despite the lofty rankings throughout the room, the Buckeye linebackers didn’t play up to their expectations.
The Ohio State football team has gone through a number of changes from January until now. A new head coach. New defensive staff. New quarterback room. But perhaps no single Buckeye has gone through more changes than junior Brendon White. After spending a second or two at linebacker prior to his freshman season, and then a stint at wide…
If speed kills, then that means the slower party is the victim. Last season, the Ohio State defense was victimized for more points per game than any other Buckeye team before it. Now, that number gets a bit skewed because of OSU’s pace on offense and the need for the opponent to keep up, but any time a record is set, it has some meaning.
Ohio State’s new defense isn’t all that new, even to Buckeye fans. Part of the newness stems from the new Bullet position brought in by co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison and linebackers coach Al Washington, but a decade ago at Ohio State the position was called the Star and it was talked about almost daily. The Bullet isn’t…
When Ryan Day went out and hired one of the best defensive line coaches in the nation in Greg Mattison this winter, it was a surprising decision considering Ohio State already had a tremendous defensive line coach in Larry Johnson on the staff. But Mattison brings more than just defensive line experience to the Buckeyes.
The Ohio State defense has featured rotations for years. In 2016 and 2017, four NFL defensive ends rotated, keeping each other fresh. The thought being that if you’ve got talent, why not play it? Some positions don’t allow for a rotation, but playing defense at the pace that the Buckeyes want, makes rotation paramount. You can see…
There can be some uncomfortable conversations between coaches and recruits when a coach leaves one job for another and then ends up recruiting that same player for his new school. Some of those conversations have taken place with new Ohio State defensive assistants Greg Mattison and Al Washington. Six months ago at this time, they were…
