On March 10th, Ohio State began spring practice, and had fifteen spring football practices available before the conclusion of spring practice on April 18th in Ohio Stadium. Over the next few weeks, I will rank the top ten questions facing Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer and his coaching staff as the Buckeyes retake the football field after concluding the 2014 season as the national champions.

These articles will be submitted from areas of lowest concern to highest concern. While Ohio State returns the overwhelming majority of its 2014 team, and welcomes in a highly-touted recruiting class, it will be important for Coach Meyer to convey to his team that complacency within the player ranks could derail any hopes of the Buckeyes repeating as national champions in 2015.

Seven practices in, with eight practices remaining, including the April 18th spring game. Opportunities to make positive impressions upon the coaching staff regarding the depth chart are becoming scarce.

Earlier in the series, my questions and focus was upon emerging players at backup positions, a clear testament to Ohio State’s depth across the board. The remaining articles will focus upon position areas where Ohio State has lost a player(s) to graduation or eligibility, which is why I have ranked these position groups higher in terms of importance.

3. Cornerback/Defensive Back

Key Players/Contributors Lost: Doran Grant (eligibility); Armani Reeves (injury); Ron Tanner (injury)

Key Players/Contributors Returning: Marshon Lattimore (Redshirt Freshman), Eli Apple (Redshirt Sophomore), Damon Webb (Sophomore), Gareon Conley (Redshirt Sophomore), Cam Burrows (Junior), Vonn Bell (Junior), Malik Hooker (Redshirt Freshman), Tyvis Powell (Redshirt Junior), Erick Smith (Sophomore), Jamel Dean (Freshman)

Cornerback is a relatively strong position for the Ohio State defense, with so much talent on the roster returning or arriving. Eli Apple emerged as a quality starter during the 2014 season, and should be considered one of the leaders of the secondary. Both Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell return at the safety positions.

Doran Grant leaves after a solid career, as he prepares for a selection in the 2015 NFL Draft. Regrettably, Armani Reeves and Ron Tanner both concluded their careers due to concussion-related issues. Both Reeves and Tanner were dependable special team contributors throughout the 2014 season.

Why the concern over cornerback, you ask?

Think back to last season’s Ohio State/Michigan State game in East Lansing. Apple was battling a hamstring injury, and the coaching staff was resting Apple at the onset of the game. Gareon Conley started in Apple’s place, yet the coaching staff felt compelled to get Apple back into the game after Michigan State repeatedly targeted Conley at the beginning of the game.

With the departure of Doran Grant, there is an open spot at the opposite cornerback position. So far during the spring practices, it appears that Gareon Conley is the leader for the open cornerback position.

Even if Conley is listed as a starter after April 18th, I will not be surprised if this battle continues well throughout the summer and into preseason fall camp. Damon Webb earned playing time as a true freshman last season, and could press Conley for the spot. Marshon Lattimore was redshirted last season due to a recurring hamstring injury. If Lattimore can rebound from his hamstring issues, perhaps he could also press for time; Lattimore was a prize recruit from the 2014 recruiting class.

No matter who wins the spot, Ohio State fans need to be prepared for the likelihood that opposing quarterbacks will likely target that individual when the season begins. After all, Apple has established himself in pass coverage, while Conley, Webb, Lattimore, etc, have not as of yet. Growing pains are customary whenever there are inexperienced players within the defensive secondary.

Will this open cornerback position wind up being an open target for the opposition? Ohio State fans will have to wait and see until the 2015 season commences.

Class of 2017 Emani Mason stands 6’4 and weighs around 270. Coming from Detroit, Michigan, Mason is rated as 5 Offensive Tackle in his class (per 247Sports). He is also rated as a four star with a 94 rating. Currently, Mason has no offers, but has a couple years left in the recruiting process. This early in the process Mason is already receiving interests from many top programs. “It’s been the same schools really, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State.” said Mason.

The ’17 Offensive Tackle has visited Michigan and Michigan State up to today, both instate colleges for Mason. “I want to visit Michigan and Michigan State again. Also some more Big Ten ad MAC schools.”

Ohio State is showing interest in Mason. When asked about the situation with OSU he said “I’m just working on getting more interest from them.”

So early in the process, he has not visited Ohio State, but it is likely the Buckeyes will continue showing hard interest in Mason. He looks for a program that feels like a family, has a good training program and a staff that can develop him for the next level.

“I feel that I am good all around on the offensive line and defense. But I could get better. I’m physical, tough to defend, and a good pass blocker. But I want to work on my run blocking.”

Mason hopes to commit by his junior or senior season. In his off time he likes to play basketball and hangout with his teammates and family. He is a family person and is really relaxed. Mason also keeps busy in the weight room as he already benches 250 and squats 400. Look for Ohio State to keep interest and possibly offering Mason a scholarship in the future!

Highlights

Not really sure how to start this since I am so confused on so many levels here. Let me start off with saying first of I, a man of great insignificance, have scored an exclusive interview. Before I start I will give you the back story leading up to how I landed this exclusive interview with the man, the myth, the legend Braxton Miller.

I am in Columbus for the Ohio Safety Congress & Expo at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The city I work for has sent me down for the three day event to take some classes and learn some important information about safety that I can take back to make the division I am responsible for safer. After sitting through a few lectures then talking with some vendors I realized I was extremely hungry and had a craving for a lamb burger with a Guinness beer. The first place that popped into my head was The Pub over at the Polaris Mall, great place if you’ve never been able to eat there. After enjoying my dinner I decided to take a walk around the mall noticing that for a Tuesday night not many folks were there which was kind of nice.

I stopped at one of the two Starbucks for a coffee, seriously why do you need 2 Starbucks this isn’t Dublin. I’m walking around enjoy my extremely hot cup of joe then all of a sudden I notice someone, I’ve heard rumors he likes to hang out at Polaris also nobody mess with him like nobody recognizes him. It’s Braxton Miller sitting by himself looking at his phone. I’m not one to go disturb someone’s peace but something told me just to go shake his hand and say hi at least so I have something to tell my grandchildren one day.

Nervous for some reason, probably afraid he’s gonna yell at me for disturbing him, I walk up, say hi and introduce myself. Miller stood up, shook my hand and said it was nice to meet you. While he’s shaking my hand I tell him I am a contributor with this site he then immediately throws my hand down in disgust. I am shocked trying to figure out what all of a sudden went wrong.

Do you know Jeremiah he asks. My answer is of course yes. I explain he is one of the founders of this site. Miller goes on asking what is wrong with him and why did he have to break the Advocare news which has since made this last week a major pain for him. I explain that I wasn’t part of the process but explain that we really aren’t in the breaking news business just a blog but if we get or find information we go through extensive process of verifying stuff also we don’t just erroneously report things to get “hits”. I talked to him about the Carlos Hyde situation then discussed with him about some information that I received after he got hurt that we never ran. It seemed after we talked for five more minutes he knew I was telling him the truth which gained his trust so for some reason I took a leap into the unknown.

I asked Braxton if I could possibly have an exclusive interview with him if he had ten minutes. He looked at his watch which to my surprise said sure why not. I tried to hide my look of shock then grabbed out my Note 4 asking if it was ok to tape, it has a nice voice recording app on it. He was cool with it so we sat down, started to talk then about six minutes into the interview that’s when he dropped the bomb shell that I was never expecting.

“I am leaving Ohio State”

After the interview I shook his hand also telling him how gracious I was for his time. I walked away impressed about what a class act that Braxton Miller is and its going to be such a shame to see him leave when his career is over at Ohio State.

Thad Matta has won a ton of games at Ohio State that will never be an issue. Thad Matta is one of the best recruiters in CBB that cant be disputed. Thad Matta has has some high level recruits not pan out though and that caught up to him this season. Was Thad discouraged? I am sure but he just went back out and loaded up on his 2015 class with 5 top 150 recruits. Now he has his first big get for the 2016 class. So lets get to know this young man.

Derek Funderburk is a 6’9″ 210 lbs 4 star Center from Lakewood, Ohio. Derek is a Top 50 recruit with a 98 rating in the composite rankings. Derek will bring toughness and athleticism to the center spot at OSU something they have missed the last 2 years. He also will be the focus of the 2016 as he goes out to help recruit the rest of the class.

The unit that improved the most last season, in my opinion, was the secondary. After being torched the last three games in the 2013 season, the hiring of Chris Ash and some young talent taking over helped turn the secondary into a formidable defense. It’s early, but here’s the way the secondary could shake out, with one spot to fill in the gradated Doran Grant.

Who To Watch

There’s a spot open at cornerback because Doran Grant has graduated. The two names I think we’ll here connected to that spot are Gareon Conley and Damon Webb. Conley, class of 2013, took a redshirt in the 2013-14 season. He was a four star recruit, and saw minimal playing time this season. He started the Michigan State game in place of Eli Apple, though Apple came in not late into the game. Damon Webb played as a true freshman last year, primarily on special teams. If you play on special teams as a true freshman under Urban Meyer, you’re probably pretty good. Neither Conley nor Webb has significant playing time at the cornerback position in college, so spring ball will be huge for them. Conley’s action was mainly in relief last season, and he got chewed apart for the portion of the MSU game in which he played. However, I still give him the edge to be the starter, because his minimal experience is more than Webb has, and Webb is younger. The wildcard in this position battle is senior Armani Reeves. He has primarily been the nickelback, and as a senior has the most experience of the group. However, the young talent on this team will prove quite a challenge for Reeves. The last name that might surface is redshirt freshman Marshon Lattimore, who sat out last year with a hamstring injury. While a highly touted recruit (right behind Damon Webb in the 247sports.com rankings), missing last year due to injury puts him behind in experience.

The Veterans

Safeties Tyvis Powell and Vonn Bell return, as well as cornerback Eli Apple. All three of these players will, barring injury, retain their starting positions. All three of these players played huge roles in the Buckeyes’ run through the playoff. Bell picked off Alabama’s Blake Sims in the end zone after a shanked punt, causing a huge swing in momentum. Tyvis Powell intercepted the Hail Mary at the end of the Sugar Bowl. Eli Apple intercepted the last pass of the National Championship Game. These three are going to have the secondary on lock down with another offseason together. Their communication and feel for each other will improve, and I expect these anchors of the secondary to lead this defense to be one of the nation’s top pass defenses next season.

The Depth Chart

Thanks to three returning starters, this isn’t as much as a guessing game as say, the quarterback position.

CB – Eli Apple; Marshon Lattimore

CB – Gareon Conley; Damon Webb

S – Tyvis Powell; Cam Burrows

S – Vonn Bell; Erick Smith

Apple, Powell, and Bell are solidified at their positions. As I said earlier, I give the edge to Conley to take the other CB starting position, but that could change at the end of spring practice. Cam Burrows will backup Powell, and Erick Smith, Bell. Smith saw some time on special teams last season, and should factor into the rotation in the secondary this year when Bell needs a breather/is injured.