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How rest of defensive line feeds off, fuels Chase Young dominance

Spencer-Holbrookby:Spencer Holbrook•10/31/19•

SpencerHolbrook

Robert Landers and Chase Young by Birm-Lettermen Row

COLUMBUS — Chase Young has to be accounted for on every snap against Ohio State.

Sometimes that means sliding an entire offensive line toward him for a double team on the country’s best football player. Or chipping with a tight end. Maybe even throwing a screen pass his way in hopes of Young eliminating himself from the play.

Young’s impact on a game plan and the way he wrecks them has become a weekly staple for Ohio State through eight games. As the Heisman Trophy bandwagon gains passengers with each passing day, Young will continue to get more attention from opposing offensive minds.

Which is fine, especially for the other talented defensive linemen on the field for Ohio State.

“They want to slide everybody over to him, we brought a corner [against Wisconsin], we brought other people away from him — it just sets up a lot of other one on ones that you have,” co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “The rest of the [defensive] linemen are really good, too. So it gives them a lot of one-on-ones.”

Robert Landers-Ohio State-Buckeyes-Ohio State football

Ohio State defensive tackle Robert Landers is one beneficiary of the dominance of Chase Young. (Birm/Lettermen Row)

What those defensive linemen not named Chase Young are doing with those one-on-one matchups in the trenches has been dominant. Young has 15.5 tackles for loss on the season, an impressive number. But he isn’t alone. The other defensive linemen have a combined 26 tackles for loss. Ohio State has 74 tackles for loss as a team.

That starts with the impact Young has.

“I enjoy playing next to Chase, because we’re always tied in together pretty well with one another,” Ohio State defensive tackle Robert Landers said. “Our defense as a whole all plays so well together, to where the back end trusts us up front, and we trust the back end. It allows us to play well together. It allows us to pin our ears back at times and play ball.”

That’s not to say the other guys up front only make plays because Young allows it. Every once in a while, it’s the opposite. In the Buckeyes win over Michigan State, freshman defensive end Zach Harrison had a sack of Spartans quarterback Brian Lewerke, but he slipped away. Young came into the play and was credited with half of the takedown.

Robert Landers missed a sack against Wisconsin, and Badgers quarterback Jack Coan fell right into the lap of Young. The defensive line helps Young — and vice versa.

“We challenged the defensive line [against Wisconsin], just because we knew what kind of game this would be,” Hafley said. “And our D-line was awesome today.”

The front four — any combination of the talented guys Larry Johnson deploys for Ohio State — has been all year. That’s why the Buckeyes lead the country in tackles for loss and are in the top 10 for run defense. They are third in sacks per game. Chase Young can’t do that alone.

But he can certainly alter the way offenses block the defensive line.

“One thing that we try to do as a front four is create a new line of scrimmage,” Landers said. “If you can get knock-back up front, it makes it difficult for running backs to find seems, to create big plays and it kind of throws off the flow of the offense.”

Young has been a one-man wrecking crew for Ohio State up front. His presence alone can make an offense think twice on every play call, burn timeouts when Ohio State moves him around and attempt to draw up plays away from him.

And while offensive coordinators scheme away from Chase Young, Landers and the rest of the defensive line will continue to pile up stats and ruin any hope of moving the ball on the Ohio State defense.

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