Archives for January 2014

The last of the 4 major recruiting sites to release their final rankings for the 2014 class is Rivals and of course the Rivals guys will do it over a 3 or 4 day process. Yesterday we saw the Top 100 players and here is how the OSU commits and targets fared. Today saw the releasing of the top 250 players. Wednesday we will see the new 4 stars. Thursday will show final Class rankings. Here are how OSU commits and targets faired in today’s top 250…

COMMITS

Raekwon McMillan- 5 star and 19th overall

Damon Webb- 4 star and 40th overall

Demetrius Knox- 4 star and 45th overall

Curtis Samuel- 4 star and 49th overall

Erick Smith- 4 star and 51st overall

Jalyn Holmes- 4 star and 55th overall

Dante Booker- 4 star and 63rd overall

Jamarco Jones- 4 stars and 94th overall

Johnnie Dixon- 4 star and 117th overall

Marshon Lattimore- 4 star and 134th overall

Kyle Trout- 4 star and 197th overall

Noah brown- 4 star and 218th overall

TARGETS

JuJu Smith- 5 star and 24th overall

Malik McDowell- 5 star and 26th overall

Derrick Nnadi- 4 star and 81st overall

Michael Sawyers- 4 star and 238th overall

Tomorrow we will post the updated New 4 stars not in the Top 250 from rivals when it is released.

The last of the 4 major recruiting sites to release their final rankings for the 2014 class is Rivals and of course the Rivals guys will do it over a 3 or 4 day process. Today saw the releasing of the top 100 targets. Tomorrow we will see the Top 250. Wednesday we will see the new 4 star. Thursday will show final Class rankings. Here are how OSU commits and targets faired in today’s top 100…

COMMITS

Raekwon McMillan- 5 star and 19th overall

Damon Webb- 4 star and 40th overall

Demetrius Knox- 4 star and 45th overall

Curtis Samuel- 4 star and 49th overall

Erick Smith- 4 star and 51st overall

Jalyn Holmes- 4 star and 55th overall

Dante Booker- 4 star and 63rd overall

Jamarco Jones- 4 stars and 94th overall

TARGETS

JuJu Smith- 5 star and 24th overall

Malik McDowell- 5 star and 26th overall

Derrick Nnadi- 4 star and 81st overall

Tomorrow we will post the updated top 250 from rivals when it is released.

Urban Meyer added number 22 to the Dream 14 Class. Brady Taylor committed to Ohio State after d committing to Virginia Tech. Brady is an impressive Offensive Tackle. Taylor is a 6-5 280 pound lineman that lives in Columbus. He visited OSU on the 17th and knew where he wanted to go after his visit.

Brady Taylor committed via his twitter feed…

https://twitter.com/beTaylor56/status/425279928566042624

Taylor is now Urban Meyer’s fifth offensive lineman commit. He is joining Marcelys Jones, Kyle Trout, Jamarco Jones and Demetrius Knox. These are five solid commits for the Buckeyes. Taylor is a 3 Star with a rating of 75 per ESPN. He is from Bishop Ready High School which is not far from Ohio State. It will be interesting to see where Taylor lines up next year in the depth chart with the Buckeyes losing 4 starters on the offensive line. Yet again, Urban flips another prospect to Ohio State.

Here are his highlights: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1273317/brady-taylor

We are 3 weeks away from National Signing Day and OSU still is chasing a few recruits on the recruiting trail. The class of 21 players as of today is already a top 2 class overall and has room for 2-4 more players depending on how things go with transfers and medical hardships. So lets take a look at some of the targets left on the board that OSU is pursuing the most.

Brady Taylor– A 6’5″ 280 lbs 3 star OT from Columbus, Ohio. Brady is currently committed to Va Tech but is scheduled to visit OSU this weekend after getting an OSU offer this week. He is a local kid who loves OSU and has been trying to get the offer of his dreams for a long time. He will visit Va Tech next weekend and will make a final decision after visiting both. If OSU will accept his commitment I expect him to join the class very soon.

Derrick Nnadi– A 6’1″ 305 lbs 4 star DT from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Derrick has been on OSUs radar for months but has been thought to be a Va Tech lean most of the time. He really blew up recently with a great effort in one of the HS All Star games. He has risen into the top 100 players in the country and will visit OSU this weekend. Look for Penn State to try and get in the mix as well now that they lost Thomas Holley.

Solomon Thomas– A 6’3″ 260 lbs 5 star DE from Coppell, Texas. Solomon is a beast of a player and has offers from everywhere. He is most likely down to 2 schools OSU and Stanford. He was recently accepted formally into Stanford and most feel he will end up there. Don’t count out Urban Meyer and OSU though as they are scheduled to get the last visit from him the weekend before signing day.

Malik McDowell– A 6’7″ 290 lbs 4 star DE from Detroit, Michigan. Malik was once thought to be a TTUN lock. Though he never said they were and always kept OSU in his top 3 schools. Many believe he is now a MSU lean but he will visit OSU the last weekend before NSD and with Urban Meyers ability to close you never know and I fully believe OSU has a solid chance of landing him.

Jermaine Roberts– A 5’9″ 175 lbs 4 star Cornerback from New Orleans, Louisiana. Jermaine is currently committed to Texas but due to coaching changes he is now going to take an official visit to OSU the weekend of the 24th. Jermaine is small but makes up for it with speed and technique. He is a longshot to land at OSU with so many DBs already committed but with an OV scheduled you have to think OSU will take him if he wants to join.

Daniel Cage– A 6’3″ 295 lbs 4 star DT from Cincinnati, Ohio. Daniel is a long shot at this point but OSU has reached out to the home state player recently and may be trying to get him to visit soon. Coach Meyer will be contacting him this week and if an offer is made look for a visit to happen. If not he most likely will end up at MSU or Louisville.

Mike Rogers– A 6’0″ 185 lbs 4 star Safety from Smyrna, Georgia. Mike is a UCF commit currently but is a longtime Buckeye fan and has dreamed of playing for OSU but his family wants him to play closer to home. At this point it is a long shot for OSU to land him but if he does make a visit in the next 3 weeks he will end up at OSU IMO. Just wonder if OSU still wants him to visit after landing Erick Smith last week.

David Njoku– A 6’4″ 215 lbs 3 star athlete/wide receiver from Cedar Grove, New Jersey. David is a Big WR who could play TE as well. A relatively unknown prospect to most of Buckeye fans he is coming on strong here at the end and named OSU in his top 4 teams. Coach Meyer will be at his school today visiting him so clearly their is mutual interest.

Mike Gesicki– A 6’5″ 235 lbs 4 star TE from Manahawkin, New Jersey. Mike is currently committed to Penn State but has always been in Urban Meyers eyesight and news is Coach Meyer will be at his basketball game tonight and may be in his home for a visit on Saturday. With the new coaching staff named at PSU recently Gesicki may be primed to be flipped to OSU where he was close to picking OSU when he ultimately chose PSU a few months ago. This is one to watch the next few days.

While these are the guys you will hear about the most over the next just over 2 weeks left until NSD. Urban Meyer almost always has a surprise commit late in the process that seemed to come out of no where. I am not sure if he still has to do that though in year 3 of his recruiting classes as he has built long relationships with recruits and hence will do much less scrambling at the end. But you never know with Coach Meyer so don’t be overly surprised if you see a name pop up that you didn’t expect.

Yesterday we had the final 247Sports and ESPN300 rankings and today we get the Scout 300 rankings. Based on this overview it is pretty clear Scout and 247sports are really high on OSU commits. Here is the list of Buckeye Commits and targets…

COMMITS

Sam Hubbard- 5 star and 29th overall

Damon Webb- 4 star and 42nd overall

Erick Smith- 4 Star and 43rd overall

Raekwon McMillan- 4 star and 50th overall

Marshon Lattimore- 4 star and 51st overall

Curtis Samuel- 4 star and 60th overall

Jamarco Jones- 4 star and 63rd overall

Kyle Berger- 4 star and 67th overall

Dante Booker- 4 star and 76th overall

Parris Campbell- 4 star and 85th overall

Demetrius Knox- 4 star and 107th overall

Jalyn Holmes- 4 star and 108th overall

Noah Brown- 4 star and 123rd overall

Johnnie Dixon- 4 star and 151st overall

Terry Mclaurin- 4 star and 230th overall

Malik Hooker- 4 star and 258th overall

Kyle Trout- 4 star and 285th overall

For those counting at home that is 10 in the top 100 and 17 in the top 300. Here are how the rest of the commits fared.

Marcelys Jones- 3 star

Stephen Collier- 3 star

Sean Neuenberger- 3 star

Dylan Thompson- 3 star

TARGETS

Solomon Thomas- 5 star and 20th overall

Malik McDowell- 5 star and 36th overall

Damian Prince- 4 star and 59th overall

Derrick Nnadi- 4 star and 77th overall

Daniel Cage- 4 star and 165th overall

The hiring of Chris Ash as the new defensive backs coach, and also co-defensive coordinator, was done in stealth like fashion. There was little buzz, and by the time it arose the hire was made, all in about 48 hours. But the lingering question on every member of Buckeye Nation is this… When are the “Silver Bullets” making their come back? And is this Chris Ash the guy to help bring them back?

Background
Ash is a relatively young coach who hails from a small town in Iowa. He is only 40 years old, but is viewed as one of the smartest minds in the college game right now. Ash got his first break at Iowa State as the defensive backs coach, where he worked with Tom Herman for a couple of years. He then moved on to San Diego State before joining Bret Bielema in Wisconsin for 3 years, and then followed Bielema to Arkansas.

In his last year at Wisconsin, and this past season at Arkansas, Ash was named the co-defensive coordinator. Ash has always coached defensive backs since his graduate assistant days, so there should not be any unfamiliarity with the position he will be taking over at Ohio State.

Statistics
Ash has statistically improved every single pass defense he has taken over. This past season Ohio State ranked 112th in pass defense which was bad enough for second to last in the Big Ten, only to be out done by the Hoosiers. Ash inherited an Arkansas pass defense that was 113th in 2012, and got it up to 73rd in 2013. He also had Wisconsin’s pass defense up to 4th in country in 2011, and 18th in the country in 2012 respectively. Ash will be a welcomed remedy for this Buckeye pass defense that looked lost and confused by the concepts they were asked to run and execute.

Philosophy

What to expect against the run: Ash likes to have a very aggressive run defense which will not be much different from the Buckeyes current philosophy. Ash puts a great amount of pressure for his interior lineman to occupy blockers and allow his linebackers to flow immediately down hill. He also likes to drop his strong safety down in to the box to either cut off the back side cutback, or fill the alley on stretch plays. Ash’s concept in run defense is very basic and effective. He explains exactly what he expects in the video below.

What to expect against pass: This is where Ash will leave his mark at Ohio State. Ash is known for his use of the Tampa 2 defense. The Tampa 2 defense is a form of Cover 2 in which each man in his zone has a specific landmark to get to in his drop. In Ash’s Tampa Cover 2 he likes to align his corners 5 yards off of the receivers and jam or re-route the #1 receiver on both sides of the field, and then release the receiver in to the next zone. So throw a small celebration Buckeye fans, it will be rare to see the corners lined up 7-10 yards off of the receiver any more.

However, just because the corners are jamming the receivers does not mean they are playing man. They are jamming to re-route the number one either inside or outside, not turn and run with the receivers like they would in man coverage. If they re-route the receiver inside then the corner, after the receiver takes three steps in, will pass off the receiver to the Will linebacker’s zone. If they re-route the receiver outside, it is vital for the corner to flatten out the receivers route and push him as far towards the sideline as possible.

The corner will then ride the receiver 7-10 yards up the field, watching the quarterback the whole time, to protect the weak spot in cover 2 – the sidelines between the corner and safety. Once the corner has escorted the receiver in to the safeties zone he will direct his attention to the flats. This is where Ash wants to direct all of the aerial traffic. Ash’s philosophy states that he is more wiling to give up a 0-5 yard gain in the flat rather than a 25 yard gain down the sidelines. In order for that to happen effectively the Buckeyes will need to sure up their open field tackling, and more importantly improve their pursuit angles, which Ash spends a lot of detail on.

The linebackers in Ash’s scheme must be athletic and fundamentally sound in their drops. The mike linebacker will be asked to create depth in his drop to fill the space left above the linebackers and below the two high safeties. The Mike will then follow the quarterbacks eyes and shoulders and break on the ball as the quarterback makes his decision to throw. The Will and Sam linebackers will be responsible for covering the seam for 7-10 yards, in a back peddle, and then sitting down to cover the curl and hook areas in the zone. Therefore, the outside linebackers will have to be very fluid in space. If the quarterback throws to his check down in the middle of the field or the flats the Sam and Will backers will need to get out of their drops and drive on the ball.

Tendencies
Ash’s Tampa Cover 2 will only be seen in passing situations such as 3rd and medium to 3rd and long. Since Ash did spend several years in the Big 12 he has adopted sub packages to combat the spread attacks and read option game as well. In fact, Tom Herman was quoted in 2012, after the 21-14 overtime win at Camp Randall, as saying that Ash “out-coached” him from a preparation and player execution standpoint. Herman stated that Ash barely blitzed on 1st and 2nd down and had a shift for everything the Buckeyes wanted to do, just out of Wisconsin’s base defense.

Even though Ash likes to keep things simple with his base 4-3, he will not be a coordinator who stays in it against teams like Indiana. Ash is a very smart and flexible coach that keeps things extremely simple for his players. In my opinion, Withers and Fickell tried to get too fancy with asking players to pattern match the wide receivers and read their routes. Ash simply asks his players to get to their drops, read the quarterback, and make the tackle.

Another thing that I noticed with the coverage last year was the 8 player drops. That is rare in Ash’s coverage. In his dime package you will only see 3 down lineman, but expect the nickel, dime, or strong safety to be blitzing. Ash generally plays only 6 or 7 in coverage which allows for consistent 4 and 5 man pressures. Ash also coaches to play the ball, not the man, so I expect the face guarding techniques against deep balls to disappear, which in my opinion led to the Buckeyes losing a lot of one on one deep balls.

Here are a couple of tapes of Ash fulling explaining his pass defense concepts. WARNING: These tapes are over an hour long and do contain a lot of advanced vernacular, but Ash does a good job of explaining what he means.

http://brophyfootball.blogspot.com/2013/01/chris-ash-packaging-pressures-against.html

http://brophyfootball.blogspot.com/search/label/Chris%20Ash

Summary
I believe Ash will prove to be a greater hire than Larry Johnson Sr. Ash is one of the brightest young defensive minds in college football. His defenses have always been sound, aggressive, and have always improved throughout the year. Ash may not wow many kids on the recruiting trail, but it was important for Meyer to get a fundamentals oriented coach in to the defensive meeting rooms to begin to patch up the flood works that was the Buckeye defense last season. If Ash succeeds, do not expect him to be around long, he is already on a lot of other programs radar as a head coach candidate. The Buckeyes got a good one in Chris Ash, hopefully he can help to begin the return of the Silver Bullets.