It only took Michigan State one play to know the exact location of the weakest part of Ohio State's secondary.
The Spartans, hosting the team they beat in the 2013 Big Ten Championship Game, struck first in the rematch on Nov. 8 in East Lansing, Mich. After handing off to Jeremy Langford for seven yards, Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook lofted a beautiful ball over the head of Gareon Conley and into the waiting arms of Keith Mumphery for a 44-yard gain.
Three plays later, Cook hit Mumphery again, this time in the flat and yet again in front of Conley. Having already yielded the first down inside the red zone, Conley tried his hand at tackling Mumphery, who trucked he way through the redshirt freshman and into the end zone from 15 yards out.
"What happened when you went out on the field last year? They came right at you, play two," Ohio State cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs said Tuesday of Conley. "It took them one play to find him and he knows that."
It was a statement drive by the Spartans, who took advantage of Conley getting the starting nod over Eli Apple, who was nursing a tender hamstring that night.
Ohio State eventually won the game 49-37, but Conley hardly saw the field again following the initial sequence. Coombs, Luke Fickell and Urban Meyer told Apple they needed him to play — and play well — for the Buckeyes to have a chance to win the game.
Conley hasn't forgotten that.
"We’re talking about how celebration is great motivation, but so is getting your butt beat and failing and not doing what you thought you could do," Coombs said. "What great motivation that is."
Conley was listed as a co-starter along with Apple throughout Ohio State's improbable run at the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship, but everyone knew it was Apple's job opposite of first team All-Big Ten performer Doran Grant.
Now Grant is preparing for the NFL Draft and it's fairly common knowledge that at least one corner spot is Apple's to lose. Without Grant, though, the need to fill his massive shoes looms larger with each passing day.
| Games | Total Tackles | Solo Tackles | Passes Defended (iNT) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eli Apple | 15 | 53 | 33 | 10 (3) |
| Gareon Conley | 15 | 16 | 12 | 2 (0) |
| Damon Webb | 9 | 3 | 3 | - |
| Marshon Lattimore | - | - | - | - |
It makes sense that Conley will get first crack at the open spot, but Coombs isn't going to give it to him with any relative ease. That's not how it works at Ohio State.
"We talk about that in very honest terms in our room. So when he trots out there Saturday the 18th, he’s gotta know it’s a big boy world," Coombs said. "You’re out there on an island and you’ve gotta make those plays."
Ohio State's spring game is April 18 and closes the book on the spring season for the defending champion Buckeyes. It's Year Two of the press-man coverage Chris Ash and company implemented that was instrumental to Ohio State's success last season. Year Two means more time under your belt and should mean more confidence.
"Now that we’ve had a good year and the kids know it, we have a lot of returning players obviously Doran Grant is gone but Eli Apple is playing really well," Meyer said March 31.
Grant excelled in the new scheme, as did Apple by season's end. Conley, though, struggled when the lights shone the brightest.
"We live in a big boy world out there in press quarters at the corner position," Coombs said. "You train and you work and there’s a different level of expectation on the part of the player who feels really good that he’s going to be the starter."
Spring drills are the first chances younger players have to fight for open starting positions. While Ohio State doesn't have too many vacant spots available as a result of such a young team last season, the corner opposite of Apple is under a microscope.
"Damon Webb is nipping at his heels and he wants that job," Coombs said. "I expect him to play corner. I think it’s competition, competition, competition. I think he’s a very, very good football player."
Another guy Ohio State expects to be a part of a truck load of wins before he leaves the program is Marshon Lattimore, who had surgery in August to repair an injured hamstring. Lattimore redshirted in 2014, but was a heralded recruit from Glenville High School in Cleveland.
"We live in a big boy world out there in press quarters at the corner position."– Kerry Coombs
"We’re very excited, I saw enough of him before he had the surgery to know that this guy can play," Coombs said of Lattimore, who has been working out and slowly improving but not yet at 100 percent. "I think the transition in the next two weeks is important for him and then summer’s gonna be critical, but I expect him to play.”
That makes three worthy candidates according to Coombs who could step in for Grant with the hope of making it look like he never left.
We're exactly five months removed from Conley getting beat twice against Michigan State and then shelved for not being ready to hold down the starting position. If Ohio State wants a shot at defending its title, though, the other corner spot must get sewn up soon.
"When he trots out there Sept. 7 (against Virginia Tech), he's gotta know they’re coming to get you," Coombs said. "There’s no safety net. We’re walking the rope without a net and we’ve gotta go play.”
