In football — in general — the free safety is the centerfielder of a defense. He is the deepest guy on the field because he is tasked with covering so much ground. The strong safety then plays closer to the line of scrimmage to help out with the run game if needed. Over the last five years or so, that’s been the opposite of OSU’s safety duties.
There aren’t any defensive line coaches in college football more well-regarded than Ohio State’s Larry Johnson. The performances of his players speak for themselves, be they at Penn State or Ohio State.The All-Americans, the NFL draft picks, these are the legacies seen by those on the outside. Those on the inside, however, see a coach who is…
When Ohio State is rolling in a rotation at a particular position, it is the position coach who sends those players in. It was Tony Alford last year who determined when the offense was going to go with JK Dobbins and when they were going to go with Mike Weber. It was defensive line coach Larry Johnson sending wave after wave of Rushmen onto the field.
Junior running back JK Dobbins is expected to be a workhorse for the Buckeyes this season. After exploding onto the college football season as a true freshman in 2017 and rushing for 1,403 yards, Dobbins took a step back last season, rushing for 1,053 yards. This year, there has been talk about getting Dobbins…
When Ryan Day was named Ohio State’s head coach, he had to go out and find his replacement as one of the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinators and the quarterback coach. He didn’t have to look too hard to find Mike Yurcich at Oklahoma State. Yurcich is one of the most respected offensive coaches in the nation and has been able to produce…
The number one goal of every defense is to stop the run. If you can stop the run, the opposing offense becomes one-dimensional, and when an offense is one-dimensional, it is usually easier to stop. While Ohio State has undergone a philosophical change at linebacker this offseason, nothing has changed in terms of the goals of those…
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.
One year ago, Chris Olave was in high school.Now a sophomore wide receiver at Ohio State, Olave didn’t arrive on campus until last summer. Despite his “late” arrival, his teammates started talking him up during fall camp last year. Olave then stayed in the shadows a bit, stuck behind Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon on the depth chart.
When college football coaches are out recruiting, they generally know what position they are looking at. Sometimes a cornerback may be a safety, or a linebacker could be a defensive end, or maybe a defensive end will grow into a defensive tackle. But for the most part, coaches know when a linebacker is going to be a linebacker, a running back…
Perhaps lost in freshman wide receiver Garrett Wilson’s performance this winter and spring for the Buckeyes is the fact that he won’t be the only rookie receiver on the Ohio State football team this season. While Wilson brought with him his 5-star accolades and a January enrollment date, fellow wide receiver Jameson Williams is still…
The Ohio State defense has gone through massive schematic changes at both linebacker and in the secondary thanks to a new defensive staff. The one holdover on that side of the ball from Urban Meyer’s staff is defensive line coach Larry Johnson, but there are also schematic changes happeing there.Johnson and defensive coordinators…
