How Ohio State will reload after churning out another group of NFL defenders

The Ohio State Buckeyes were facing a serious rebuild on defense heading into the 2016 season. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash had moved on to take the head coach job at Rutgers. Graduation and the NFL draft had claimed a combined seven starters from the year before, giving the Buckeyes a new look all the way around.

Perhaps the most grievous losses were the guys leaving eligibility on the table to turn pro: safeties Tyvis Powell and Vonn Bell, cornerback Eli Apple, linebacker Darron Lee, and defensive end Joey Bosa. On a macro perspective, this only helps the Buckeyes to be a destination for more NFL-caliber talent. But it makes it tricky to consistently field experienced and skilled defenses that work well together in team concepts.

When Ash left, Urban Meyer replaced him with former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano. The Buckeyes filled out their defensive backfield with another wave of talented recruits. They then went on to finish No. 5 in the country in Defensive S&P+ while surrendering 15.5 points per game, which was third.

For the 2017 season they’ll retain Schiano and the entire starting line, while facing another reload situation on the back end. Middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan, safety Malik Hooker, and cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley have all departed for the NFL. An ability to maintain a strong team defense with so much overhaul is a must in order for the Buckeyes to reclaim control of a Big Ten East with fresh competition emerging from State College and Ann Arbor.

With this degree of frequent turnover, Meyer’s Ohio State defense is operating in a way that’s similar to how John Calipari manages the Kentucky basketball program. It’s so far worked well for both teams, and Ohio State will likely stick with it.

One of the hallmarks of the Calipari Wildcats is a focus on defense and transition. If you’re consistently reloading your squad with top athletes destined for the NBA, it’s pretty difficult to arrange your strategy around the execution of team concepts.

Consequently, the Wildcats tend to focus on playing great man defense and then getting easy buckets in transition as a result of their defense and overall team athleticism. Probably their best team, the one in 2012, leaned on Anthony Davis owning the paint and blocking nearly five shots per game, combined with pressure and transition offense from forwards Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. This team won the national title on the strength of some dominant, big players.

The Buckeyes have a similar philosophy to their defense, with a heavy emphasis on man coverage on the outside in all of their schemes. They like to play press-quarters (a cover 4 scheme), with MEG (man everywhere he goes) rules for their cornerbacks. That helps keep things simple, as long as the corners can handle the job.

The Buckeyes still have to nail down pattern reading on the inside between the safeties and linebackers, but that becomes much simpler if you know the outside receivers are going to be locked up by the cornerbacks in press-man.

Schiano also likes to play straight-up man coverage with a single deep safety. The Buckeyes use that as change of pace sometimes, or as a way to bring pressure.

This approach is one that says: “We have the athletes, and we’re going to turn this game into a contest of athleticism.” When you have a safety like the Indianapolis Colts-bound Hooker, who has elite range on the back end, this can work out pretty well for you. It takes a lot of pressure off your cornerbacks, certainly.

Anyways, the Buckeyes do have to train up their linebackers and safeties to learn how to work together in a few different fashions. But there’s a great deal of overlap from scheme to scheme, in that the Buckeyes often play tight man outside without deep help and usually involve the safeties to allow the linebackers to load the box.

Kentucky is usually loaded with some of the best bigs in the next NBA draft. The Wildcats typically like to have some of the biggest athletes on the floor in the paint, sometimes still playing three bigs at the same time — like in 2015, when they’d put seven-footer Willie Cauley-Stein, seven-footer Karl Anthony-Towns, and 6’10 Trey Lyles on the floor together.

The Buckeyes also like to play big, so to speak. They have remained a base 4-3 defense that doesn’t regularly substitute a nickel corner, even while playing elite spread teams. This works because of OSU’s use of coverage safeties who can play some man, and it makes the run defense and blitz packages formidable.

In 2014 and 2015, Ohio State thrived with Darron Lee playing as its field or “Sam” outside linebacker. In 2016, that role went to Chris Worley, and in 2017, it’s going to the 6’3, 230-pound Dante Booker as Worley moves inside to middle linebacker.

That has some interesting effects on their defense overall, particularly in terms of its coverage in the middle of the field. Last year, the Buckeyes were never hurt much by teams throwing the ball. They regularly beat even the better passing teams on the schedule, usually at least containing the throwing game. But they were vulnerable.

Jim Harbaugh’s game plan against Ohio State revolved largely around attacking middle linebacker McMillan in coverage with tight end Jake Butt.

With Worley (No. 35) on the field this is less of an issue. A spring game example:

There are some problems here in how weak-side linebacker Jerome Baker (No. 17) handles the route distribution on his side of the field. But the way Worley is able to get depth and deny QB J.T. Barrett the sit route behind the shallow crosses underneath is a big positive indicator for the Buckeyes’ pass defense come the fall.

The assumption would be that this will cost Ohio State in terms of run defense, but not only is Worley a good size at about 6’2, 225. He’s also excellent at scraping and moving laterally to handle run fits. Anyways, the Buckeyes return a bevy of really strong defensive tackles so it’s not as though he won’t be well-situated to run to the football.

While man coverage and athleticism from the guys they field at linebacker helps the Buckeyes mitigate some of the risks with this approach, they benefit in a major way in terms of run defense and blitzing from getting so many big athletes on the field and near the line of scrimmage.

In 2014 their three starting linebackers combined for 29.5 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks, in 2015 they put up 22.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks, then in 2017 it dipped some to 21 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. Worley was less disruptive coming off the edge than Darron Lee but now he moves inside to help serve as an eraser and clears room for Dante Booker to try and be the force off the edge.

With all these guys moving around up front, it doesn’t leave much room for opponents to breath and invites them to try and ease up the pressure by trying to take shots to beat their NFL coverage. This is the next phase in evolution after Michigan State’s dominant defensive scheme that came up short on answers for spread passing attacks.

It’s hard to see Ohio State playing bad defense with Worley, fellow linebacker Baker, and essentially the entire DL back from 2016’s excellent unit. However, all that turnover on the back end can be very difficult to survive from year to year.

It’d be frankly amazing if the Buckeyes were able to pull off a trick like in 2016, when they replaced the stalwart Tyvis Powell a year earlier than expected and did so with a first round-talent in Malik Hooker. It’s hard to churn out multiple first-year starters every year who then become immediate NFL first-round picks.

The other key figure is whoever takes over Hooker’s job as the new boundary safety, that’s looking like either sophomore Jordan Fuller or senior Erick Smith. The Buckeyes don’t really need another Hooker back there, but the boundary safety is positioned by scheme to have a chance to be an enforcer in the run game and a guy who gets to make plays on the ball as a robber or deep safety in coverage.

Hooker had seven INTs last year, but the less rangy Powell also had three picks in 2015 and four picks in 2014. Whoever proves up to the task of maximizing the opportunities from that position will undoubtedly win the job. It’s a good opportunity for somebody.

The Buckeye defense will have its work cut out for it going up against a loaded East, with returning QBs at Michigan and Penn State and also in their rematch with Oklahoma and Baker Mayfield. It’s tough to cycle in new athletes every year and keep up this kind of pace, but at least the Buckeyes have a plan.