2021 tOSU Defense

[RugbyBuck]

I'm still on the fence with Coombs. No one doubts his energy and heart, but I just don't know about his competence as a DC. That said, tackling is critical, obviously, and it's difficult to simulate and/or practice. Guys, even the uber-athletic ones, need real bullet-flying reps. I'm glad to see that we rotated as many defenders as we did last night to get everyone blooded for what's to come. By the time we get to State Penn and thereafter, I'm hoping Coombs has them where we want them.

 

[RugbyBuck]

My thing is if they are committed to a 4-2-5 run a 4-2-5 don't run a 4-3 and put a safety in a LB spot. That hurts us against the run and doesn't really help all that much in the pass.

Agreed. Just because we hyped the Bullet incessantly all offseason doesn't mean that we should've run it against a conference opponent with a great line and great RB. Yes, I get that our guys should be talented enough to handle whatever, but why not use the right tools for a particular job. We can easily deploy three runstoppers and should've.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

Proctor and Ransom can definitely tackle and I saw Hickman stick his nose in there and one of Watts or Burke a few times as I recall.

Saw Gant miss a few but he hasn’t had a ton of reps has he die to injuries? Simon flashed.

Agreed with an earlier observation that it was like an NFL preseason game with tons of rotations.

I’m concerned about Coombs calling a D…..absolutely but I also am a bit cautious still because of just how many new and moving pieces there are.

Offenses always start quicker than defenses and I’m just in a wait and see mode.

 

[buchtelgrad04]

Agreed. Just because we hyped the Bullet incessantly all offseason doesn't mean that we should've run it against a conference opponent with a great line and great RB. Yes, I get that our guys should be talented enough to handle whatever, but why not use the right tools for a particular job. We can easily deploy three runstoppers and should've.

I assume that’s why Tommy E got the start. We saw how that went.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

I agree with most that has been said. I too am still on the fence.

but

From the moment he was promoted, for me, the needle has been pegged on “prove it”. He just strikes me as the kind of guy who, while a great recruiter, does not flourish when promoted above position-coach. While there continue to be the thinnest of excuses to continue to extend his already long-running string of mulligans, he has yet to do anything that has caused that needle to even vibrate, much less move in the direction of “Ohio-State-Level-DC”.

I agree that it is still too early to pass judgement. I admit that I started out biased against him in this role based only on intuition from decades of watching this game. But I’ve seen nothing encouraging to date.

No one would be happier than I if the players start doing things that evince that Coombs belongs in this role.

 

[Buckeye86]

I agree with most that has been said. I too am still on the fence.

but

From the moment he was promoted, for me, the needle has been pegged on “prove it”. He just strikes me as the kind of guy who, while a great recruiter, does not flourish when promoted above position-coach. While their continue to be the thinnest of excuses to continue to extend his already long-running string of mulligans, he has yet to do anything that has caused that needle to even vibrate, much less move in the direction of “Ohio-State-Level-DC”.

I agree that it is still too early to pass judgement. I admit that I started out biased against him in this role based only on intuition from decades of watching this game. But I’ve seen nothing encouraging to date.

No one would be happier than I if the players start doing things that evince that Coombs belongs in this role.

Do we know for sure who is actually calling the defenses on each snap since Coombs is on the sidelines?

That in itself might be a problem if he’s calling plays from the sidelines and not the booth. I feel like not many DCs call from the sidelines, and the ones who do have a ton of experience.

 

[1926Buckeyes]

My thing is if they are committed to a 4-2-5 run a 4-2-5 don't run a 4-3 and put a safety in a LB spot. That hurts us against the run and doesn't really help all that much in the pass.

Have to imagine they are just really thin at LB is they're playing that look last night.

Overall though, I think the the move to a 4-2-5 is a good sign. Nothing special, but you're putting more adaptable players on the field that will eventually be able to run with high-powered offenses and hopefully change looks up.

This doesn't have to be a lockdown unit, but if not it does need to create confusion and chaos. I think they can eventually get there. It'll be dependent on the DL taking a step. Harrison will be a problem for teams. It's up to Smith and crew to speed up the clock for the QB and make them uncomfortable.

 

[dragurd]

Have to imagine they are just really thin at LB is they're playing that look last night.

Overall though, I think the the move to a 4-2-5 is a good sign. Nothing special, but you're putting more adaptable players on the field that will eventually be able to run with high-powered offenses and hopefully change looks up.

This doesn't have to be a lockdown unit, but if not it does need to create confusion and chaos. I think they can eventually get there. It'll be dependent on the DL taking a step. Harrison will be a problem for teams. It's up to Smith and crew to speed up the clock for the QB and make them uncomfortable.

Yeah I just don't like the 4-2-5. While playing a 4-3 it doesn't allow you to do what you notmall would in coverage with that and weakens you against the run. Watching the Minnesota game made me wish we had the 4-4 we tried to pull out against Bama

 

[Bestbuck36]

With this group, I'd run a 5-2-4 zone scheme with one Dlineman essentially an OLB up on the line with zone cover duties or blitz options. They had a wall of humanity up front last night getting to the second level which ate our LBs up. With those guys I'd rotate Mitchell, Simon and Steele freaking Chambers or, novel idea, Chambers in that "Bullet" spot and bring him up. Kid flashed like lightning in the few snaps he got on defense and I think he might be the diamond in the rough the D needs.

Secondary needs healthy immediately. If Banks and Brown play like they should we probably found the next man up in Burke, who I'd play at Nickel against pass heavy teams. I dont believe at all that there isnt enough talent on this Defensive roster to have a top 10 level defense. They just all appear to be out of position way too damn much which tells me the scheme isnt pulling out the talent that is there.

 

[bukIpower]

Yeah I have to say I'm concerned for what Kerry can do as well coordinator. Just too many times where offenses have his number right now.

One thing I stated during the game and I've seen it pointed out a lot post game is we need to stop rotating players so much. I get the DL rotation but we have to stop rotating the LBS and the secondary so much. Figure out who our best is and let them play.

While Coombs didn't have our starting DBs yesterday that wouldn't have really helped stop the run. Eventually in the second half though we added a 5th DL and that really slowed them down. That was a good adjustment that we probably were a few drives too slow.

Let's see how we do though going forward because we won't have another team like that where they bring in literally 7 OL at the same time. Very unique team but to be honest shouldve been easier to stop since we are traditionally good at stopping the run.

 

[NorthCoastKid]

That in itself might be a problem if he’s calling plays from the sidelines and not the booth. I feel like not many DCs call from the sidelines, and the ones who do have a ton of experience

Only one worth a shit that I can think of is Venables.

 

[kanton]

I can understand why they did/do that. Running it against 7 OL probably isn’t the best idea, but it has its benefits.

And that is what has me most concerned about this D. Minnesota just showed everyone the blueprint for having success against the 4-2-5. Run 6 or 7 OLs out there & just overwhelm the LB/Bullet level. Thank goodness that we don’t have to play Wisky or Iowa in the regular season this year.

What’s even more concerning is how this defensive roster is constructed. We’re basically married to the 4-2-5 because of our lack of depth at LB. If we decided to try & switch to a 4-3, I don’t think we have 3 national championship caliber LBs. I thought Simon & Mitchell played well enough. As others have said Chambers flashed but I need to see more from a converted RB before I can say he’s going to work out. That’s it. Thought for sure Kourt Williams was going to have a big year but I don’t think he even saw the field (I know he’s a bullet.) Really need to get Gaoteote eligible.

Need to add some quantity in LB recruiting. We’ve taken 1 or 2 true LBs in the last couple classes. If Coombs ends up not working out the new DC is going to need more players at LB.

 

[pnuts34]

Yeah I have to say I'm concerned for what Kerry can do as well coordinator. Just too many times where offenses have his number right now.

One thing I stated during the game and I've seen it pointed out a lot post game is we need to stop rotating players so much. I get the DL rotation but we have to stop rotating the LBS and the secondary so much. Figure out who our best is and let them play.

While Coombs didn't have our starting DBs yesterday that wouldn't have really helped stop the run. Eventually in the second half though we added a 5th DL and that really slowed them down. That was a good adjustment that we probably were a few drives too slow.

Let's see how we do though going forward because we won't have another team like that where they bring in literally 7 OL at the same time. Very unique team but to be honest shouldve been easier to stop since we are traditionally good at stopping the run.

Haven't we been rotating back 7 guys for years now, and had success? I also think that possibly they used this game like a preseason game and played all the guys they could to see what they were made of. A lot of young pups got some good reps(Cavazos, Burke, Watts, Hickman, Ransom and *McCall).

*young for the position

And that is what has me most concerned about this D. Minnesota just showed everyone the blueprint for having success against the 4-2-5. Run 6 or 7 OLs out there & just overwhelm the LB/Bullet level. Thank goodness that we don’t have to play Wisky or Iowa in the regular season this year.

What’s even more concerning is how this defensive roster is constructed. We’re basically married to the 4-2-5 because of our lack of depth at LB. If we decided to try & switch to a 4-3, I don’t think we have 3 national championship caliber LBs. I thought Simon & Mitchell played well enough. As others have said Chambers flashed but I need to see more from a converted RB before I can say he’s going to work out. That’s it. Thought for sure Kourt Williams was going to have a big year but I don’t think he even saw the field (I know he’s a bullet.) Really need to get Gaoteote eligible.

Need to add some quantity in LB recruiting. We’ve taken 1 or 2 true LBs in the last couple classes. If Coombs ends up not working out the new DC is going to need more players at LB.

If you look at the schedule, that blueprint doesn't exist with the teams on the schedule. More teams are spread-ish offenses and not power running oriented. It's 1 game, and our real big game on Sept 11 is against a spread offense where that 4-2-5 should be at our advantage. And we don't need 3 great LBs for an NC, we need 2 and a great Bullet, which is what we seem to have in Hickman. Our 4-3 and the 4-2-5 are still quite the same, as the 5 in the 4-2-5 is the LB/S, and that player will benefit us greatly when teams are passing to the RB/TE or even a big slot more.
Hicks and Powers are great additions that will arrive next season, and the way that offenses are designed true LBs aren't needed to solely be run stoppers now, you better be able to cover in space. So only 2-3 LBs are needed in a class and then adding a big S or 2 for the bullet. Getting a kid like Nwakpa would be that guy.

 

[bukIpower]

Haven't we been rotating back 7 guys for years now, and had success? I also think that possibly they used this game like a preseason game and played all the guys they could to see what they were made of. A lot of young pups got some good reps(Cavazos, Burke, Watts, Hickman, Ransom and *McCall).

*young for the position



If you look at the schedule, that blueprint doesn't exist with the teams on the schedule. More teams are spread-ish offenses and not power running oriented. It's 1 game, and our real big game on Sept 11 is against a spread offense where that 4-2-5 should be at our advantage. And we don't need 3 great LBs for an NC, we need 2 and a great Bullet, which is what we seem to have in Hickman. Our 4-3 and the 4-2-5 are still quite the same, as the 5 in the 4-2-5 is the LB/S, and that player will benefit us greatly when teams are passing to the RB/TE or even a big slot more.
Hicks and Powers are great additions that will arrive next season, and the way that offenses are designed true LBs aren't needed to solely be run stoppers now, you better be able to cover in space. So only 2-3 LBs are needed in a class and then adding a big S or 2 for the bullet. Getting a kid like Nwakpa would be that guy.

Well we shouldn't have treated this as a preseason game. That was a top 5 opponent we will play all season.

As for subbing out past few years? Not that I can recall. The front 4 yeah but not so much the back 7.

One thing I'm wondering is did we attempt to match their personnel too much? Minny did a ton of 7 OL stuff and then 3 WR. Maybe we tried too hard to match up. IMO should've played a 4-3 with our best 3 LBS and stopped running players in and out.

Being at the game I can't tell you how many times we ran 5 subs into the game extremely late. Just dumb and frankly it's what caused some of their success. Hard to get your assignments right when literally you've been on the field for 5 seconds before the ball is snapped.

 

[pnuts34]

Well we shouldn't have treated this as a preseason game. That was a top 5 opponent we will play all season.

As for subbing out past few years? Not that I can recall. The front 4 yeah but not so much the back 7.

One thing I'm wondering is did we attempt to match their personnel too much? Minny did a ton of 7 OL stuff and then 3 WR. Maybe we tried too hard to match up. IMO should've played a 4-3 with our best 3 LBS and stopped running players in and out.

Being at the game I can't tell you how many times we ran 5 subs into the game extremely late. Just dumb and frankly it's what caused some of their success. Hard to get your assignments right when literally you've been on the field for 5 seconds before the ball is snapped.

I guess preseason is poor term for me to use, as I was more trying to say that they were trying to see what they had from a bunch of young unproven players. Especially with Banks and Brown not playing. I wonder if you see a solid 3-4 man rotation at CB going forward, and 2-3 from the LBs.

And I can see what you're saying about personnel matchups, and trying to get guys who are better in coverage on clear passing downs and bigger guys when they knew it was a run. But it was easy to tell that the late subs were confused and out of sorts at times. But I chalked some of that up to that almost all of the guys were so young and/or inexperienced. So they're subbing an inexperienced Eichenburg for a young and inexperienced Simon, or they're subbing a young and inexperienced Burke for a young and inexperienced Watts.

But this was a team and defense that we all kind of knew wouldn't hit their stride until mid season.