Ryan Day: Mix of experience, new scheme makes for plenty of excitement on defense

The Ohio State Buckeyes and head coach Ryan Day just wrapped up their 2022 spring game on Saturday afternoon. The Buckeyes brought in a new defensive coordinator during the offseason from Oklahoma State, Jim Knowles. He has been busy installing his defense this spring and has taken what some have described as a “firehose” approach to teaching his scheme. Knowles has been giving the players more than they can handle, so that he has plenty of teaching points in the fall.

The Buckeyes’ defenders have responded and in a good way to the regime change and the defense looked impressive in the spring game on Saturday. In his press conference following the game, Ryan Day said there are a number of reasons he’s excited about his returning defensive unit.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day on the excitement surrounding the Buckeyes’ defense for 2022-2023

“There’s two things here. One, there’s a bunch of guys that played a lot of football. I mean, you just take two guys you just explained and you also have Tyler Friday coming back. You have Zach Harrison….Javontae’s [Jean-Baptiste] played inside. You have Taron [Vincent], Jerron [Cage] have both played. Tyleik [Williams] and Mike [Michael Hall, Jr.] hasn’t as much but certainly Ty Hamilton has. He’s had a very good camp. These guys have played a lot of football. Tommy Eichenberg has now played a lot of football, Josh Proctor. They played a bunch. And so, that’s exciting. Which we didn’t have last year,” Day said.

“And the second thing I think is just that combined with the new scheme and some of the stuff that we’re doing on defense. It comes at ya fast. And it’s exciting to watch. It’s exciting to see these guys have energy. Be decisive. Be physical. So, I think when you combine the two of those things, it’s exciting over there right now. And going against them everyday, offense and defense, it’s been a good back and forth. And it’s been a lot of fun.”

One quick glance at the names above and it’s easy to see why Day would be so excited about the amount of talent he returns on the defensive side of the football. If the Buckeyes’ defense can dominate the way their offense dominated throughout the 2021-2022 season, Ohio State is going to be once again, among the nation’s elite college football teams.

One young performer who flashed in Saturday’s spring game was freshman safety Kye Stokes, a four-star safety prospect out of the prestigious high school football program of Armwood (Seffner, Florida). According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2022 class, he was rated as the No. 30 overall safety prospect in America. Stokes put together an impressive spring and looks like he could be hard to keep off the field this fall. He posted nine tackles and two pass breakups in the spring game, making him a name to remember.

Ohio State begins their 2022-2023 campaign against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday, Sept. 3.