WATCH: Taking closer look at state of Buckeyes safeties room
The summer offseason is in full swing, and Lettermen Row is trying to survive it with our annual Position Week breakdowns. By the time all nine units and coaching staff at Ohio State have been covered, training camp and media days will nearly have arrived, and the return of football in the Horseshoe will be just around the corner. We’re continuing with our eighth positional week with the Buckeyes safeties unit.
COLUMBUS — Ohio State was far from satisfied with the way last season ended, especially inside the safeties room.
The Buckeyes safeties, the backbone of a Jim Knowles defense, gave up big plays in each of the last two contests of the year, both losses to Michigan and Georgia.
So the Buckeyes went to work on making sure those defensive lapses don’t happen again. They’re a year older in Knowles’ system, as is safeties coach Perry Eliano. This spring, they used 15 practices to settle in, rotate talented players and find the best spots for the best fits. But they also made sure to find continuity with the core of their secondary.
“To get a true valuation, you have to let guys get comfortable in certain situations, in order to know what you want to do moving forward in the future,” Eliano said. “We want to definitely play fast, and you definitely want to play confident and see what guys can do, what type of playmaking ability they do have. So it remains to be seen.”
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With all of that in mind, the safeties are due to take a big step forward this fall. Don’t be surprised if its one of the better units on the field for Ohio State come September.
Lettermen Row’s Spencer Holbrook, Andy Backstrom and Tim May are back for another breakdown, this time about the Buckeyes safeties room as part of Safeties Week at Lettermen Row. The crew breaks down the Ohio State depth chart, the candidates for playing time, potential sleeper picks and more in the latest Lettermen Row video presented by Byers Auto! Watch here or on the Lettermen Row Youtube channel, and make sure to subscribe to that channel for more Buckeyes breakdown videos.
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Make sure to stick around for Ohio State videos, including our weekly breakdowns of the Buckeyes position groups as the summer rolls along at Lettermen Row.