Jim Knowles' Ohio State Defense Impresses In First Public Appearance
September 3rd is going to be here before we know it.
While the 2021 season had some incredible offensive highlights, the lack of physicality on the defensive side of the ball ultimately led to Ohio State's downfall against Oregon and Michigan.
If the Buckeyes are going to be the last team standing in college football this coming season, they absolutely have to be tougher when the Silver Bullets are on the field.
Ryan Day made several changes in the off-season, bringing in Jim Knowles to run the defense after his Oklahoma State Cowboys were one of the top units in the country last year. Knowles and day also brought Perry Eliano and former Buckeye Tim Walton in to fix the back end of the D while he handles coaching the linebackers.
Only Larry Johnson stayed aboard as defensive line coach, a role in which he has flourished for a long time.
Perhaps the biggest story coming into this game is that the Buckeyes said they were going to tackle during most of the Spring Game today. Typically when a head coach brings in a new DC in the offseason, he's probably asking him what he needs to get the group ready. I've never heard a defensive coach say "nah, we don't need to tackle today."
In other words, I expect there is a direct correlation between Ohio State's decision to tackle all the way to the ground in today's game and their tough moments that led to losses last fall.
So what did Ohio State's defense look like on Saturday? Who stood out?
While he was only out there for the first couple series, it was great to see Josh Proctor back on the field after suffering a disastrous leg injury against Oregon.
Denzel Burke made a terrific play, breaking up a would-be touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud to Marvin Harrison Jr.
Freshmen safety Kye Stokes looked fantastic, as did newcomer Tanner McCalister. I also liked the effort from first year linebacker Gabe Powers.
Tommy Eichenberg was all over the field, making 10 tackles before halftime. The linebacker from St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland had that monster 17-tackle performance in Pasadena in January. He's earned a ton of praise from Jim Knowles so far this spring.
Jack Sawyer looked more explosive to me than he did this time a year ago. He and J.T. Tuimoloau should be critical pieces of this year's pass rush. Sawyer registered a late first half sack to force a punt.
Jordan Hancock had an outstanding pass break-up and a rock solid open field tackle-for-loss on back-to-back plays late in the first half. He's got a chance to have a big impact in his second season.
Cameron Kittle also had a nice interception late in the game.
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