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Over the past two seasons, when things haven’t gone well for Ohio State, the head coach Ryan day Often comes down to evaluating three things: the coaching, the staff or the system. In the first three weeks of 2021, Day brought up those three points when discussing how the Buckeyes need to fix what has been a disappointing defense.
On Saturday, a week after Scarlet and Gray gave up 505 yards of total offense in a loss to Oregon, Day made changes that indicated he was unhappy with the three coaches, staff and shot when he turned on the tape. in a win over Tulsa. Tuesday, Day confirmed it.
“If that was a thing in one area, I would say yes,” Day replied when asked if any of those three stood out in his assessment of the team’s defense. “I think it’s a bit of all three. It’s about finding the right guys in the right places, and I think we’ve come a long way. I think the program has been good at times, but I also think it could be better. And then the same with coaching. I think there are times when we can do a better job of coaching, that’s for sure. And so we have to tighten up in all of these areas.
While Day didn’t make any drastic changes to his staff during the season, the Buckeyes changed coaching roles, at least on game day. Defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs rose from his usual place in the game on the Scarlet and Gray sideline to the press box, while secondary coach Matt barnes replaced him in the field. Barnes also took over by calling the defense, something Coombs had done since returning to Ohio state before last year.
While many coaches prefer to have a bird’s eye view of the pitch when calling a game, this isn’t the case for everyone. Day himself used to call Buckeye’s offense from the sideline when he was the team’s offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer and Coombs did the same with the defense before Saturday.
It seems Barnes has a similar approach.
“When you’re in the box you can see things that you might not be able to see on the pitch, especially the other side of the pitch,” Day said. “So it’s a bit of a give and take. Some guys like to be in the box and see the whole picture. Some guys really like to be in the field. When you’re on the pitch, you also feel the players, the look in the eye, that sort of thing.
Day was quick to point out that despite the changes, it wasn’t just Barnes who made defensive decisions. Combes, Larry johnson and Al Washington are still all involved in formulating the game plan and giving their feedback on game day.
From a staff perspective, the Scarlet and Gray have also made a few adjustments when it comes to defense. After not having played the first two games of the year, the rookie redshirt Cameron Martinez entered the field at Cover Safety for the State of Ohio with the majority of his shots coming when the Buckeyes were in nickel. Likewise, freshman Tyleik williams played by far the most snaps of his young career in defensive tackle against the Golden Hurricane.
These two were part of a scarlet and gray youth movement that seems to be happening in defense.
“It’s exciting to start hearing these names,” Day said. “Like walking in, it’s like who were the guys we were going to be counting on?” And you start to see Ronnie (Hickman) doing plays. You start to see him with several games where he has 10 or more tackles. You see Cam getting a SEB. You see Denzel (Burke) getting an interception. It was knocked down, but it was a very good play. And then Cam Martinez with the interception. You saw Tyleik with the bag. Some guys do plays. And I think it’s going to go a long way as they make their way to Calendar Meat because now they know they can and they’ve done it.
While Hickman and Burke each emerged as starters for Ohio State to open the season, their continued growth is a sign of progress for Buckeye’s defense. The addition of Martinez – who had two tackles, three break-ups and the interception he returned 61 yards for a touchdown – and Williams – three tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, sack, quarterback -back in a hurry – on the defensive rotation shows Scarlet and Grey’s willingness to accompany different players when others aren’t doing the job.
As for the changes to the schedule, Ohio State fans have also seen it against Tulsa. The Buckeyes spent less time in the look at high safety, sometimes going with more traditional two-safety training. There was more of Cover 2 called and Barnes also made up different blitzes.
The scarlet and gray defense was far from perfect on Saturday, still allowing more than 500 yards of total attack and failing to secure a steady pass, but Day warned that not all issues would be resolved within three training that the state of Ohio had before facing the Golden Hurricane. This is something that is going to take a long time to get right.
“I think we’ve changed the look a bit and we’ll continue to build on that and figure out which of these games puts our guys in the best position to be successful,” said the head coach. “Because it’s our job as coaches, to put your players in the best position to be successful. And if we don’t, we have to fix it and change it. So I thought we had done a little better. We must continue. “
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After struggling for more than a season, it’s fair to wonder why Buckeye’s defense just made changes. But since it’s impossible to change the past, Day can only focus on how Scarlet and Gray can improve at this point.
It was only one game against an inferior opponent, but Day was happy with how the changes worked and Ohio State will look to build on that defensively and continue to improve.
“I thought we stopped the race better,” Day said of Tulsa from 73 yards on the ground. “We mixed up some looks. We’ve had a lot of conversations this week and been involved in different things. But I thought we had changed some things, the way we did things structurally on match day… But I thought that for the most part they were playing with good energy, they prepared well during the week, all the time. world was some in-game adjustments were much better and more effective than the previous week.
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