Buckeyes have talent, depth needed to thrive in 'safety-driven' defense

COLUMBUS — As Ohio State broke a team huddle Wednesday to open spring practice, the defensive backs headed for the sideline to start drills.

The numerous safeties made their way to position coach Perry Eilano for individual work and fundamentals.

There was Bryson Shaw and Ronnie Hickman, veterans who started last year for the Buckeyes. There was a cast of players such as Cameron Martinez and Kourt Williams, who are still working to become mainstays for the Ohio State secondary. Tanner McCalister was there; he joins the roster after four years and an All-Big 12 campaign at Oklahoma State. The Buckeyes also brought in talented freshman they’re excited about. Even with all that talent assembled on the practice field, the two players who opened last year as the starters, Josh Proctor and Lathan Ransom, weren’t around due to their rehab on leg injuries.

Simply put, Ohio State has experienced depth and talent in the back end of its defense. And it’s going to find ways to use it. How? That remains to be seen. But under new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and two new secondary coaches, they’re going to use the spring to feel it out in what Knowles calls a ‘safety-driven defense.’

“You have to figure out: do I have one guy at that position? Then do I have two? And then if I have three, then now I can rotate guys,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Tuesday. “But we’re not just going to do that. It’s not Little League where everybody gets to play. We have to do it because guys deserve it. They’re putting in the work to do that.”

Maybe the depth would have been an issue in the past. Ohio State has traditionally used a defense that featured one deep safety and one hybrid defensive back, often a nickel cornerback, on the field for any given play. But don’t expect that to be the norm moving forward. The Buckeyes are getting more multiple on defense, and three safeties at once isn’t out of the question. It might even become the new normal under Knowles.

It worked at Oklahoma State — with lesser talent than what the Buckeyes have. It certainly can work for the Silver Bullets.

“The good news is there’s three safeties out there a lot of times,” Day said. “So there’s another guy on the field doing that, where a few years ago, there were three linebackers in the game and two safeties. So there’s one more position in that personnel grouping that guys can get on the field. So they’re just competing.

“I think Jim and Perry and Tim, they’re still trying to figure out how guys fit exactly. Because each one of those three safeties, they have a different skill set and are asked to do different jobs.”

Ohio State asked plenty of safeties to do plenty of jobs last fall. The Buckeyes had a revolving door of secondary contributors after Josh Proctor broke his leg in September. Shaw, Ransom, Martinez and Williams all gained experience in the back end. That will be valuable for them as they try to revitalize a defense that has been trending the wrong direction the last two seasons.

But with that experience, a young defense from last year is now an experienced unit with a chip on its collective shoulder. And help is still on the way — when Ransom, Proctor and even the injured Jantzen Dunn return to action. Ohio State is pleased with the depth it was able to build, which absolutely is cause for excitement when looking ahead.

“Those guys aren’t practicing the spring,” Day said. “The depth looks a little bit different, but those guys who have been out there have a lot of reps under their belt. Tanner comes in with a bunch of reps, Cam played a bunch last year, Bryson Shaw played a bunch last year, Ronnie, and Kourt got some work down the stretch. And so it is good.”

“We were not anywhere near this at this point last year, with the amount of experience that we have, we’ve still got a long way to go. But at least these guys have played in games.”

The talent is on hand. Experience is no longer a limiting factor. And the safety position at Ohio State, which was a major concern at this time last spring, is all of a sudden one of the bright spots in the early phases of camp.