Even though Tanner McCalister just arrived at Ohio State in January, many of the Buckeyes’ other defensive players are already turning to him for advice.
His 1,849 defensive snaps of playing experience at the collegiate level – nearly 800 more than any other player on Ohio State’s roster – would be reason enough for the other Buckeyes to want to learn from McCalister. More importantly, though, McCalister played those 1,849 snaps in an Oklahoma State defense coached by Jim Knowles, who is now Ohio State’s defensive coordinator.
Because of that, McCalister’s value to the Buckeyes as a graduate transfer extends beyond his own ability to play the nickel safety position in Knowles’ defense. He can also help the rest of Ohio State’s defenders learn the new scheme they’ll be playing in this year.
“He was already a coach on the field (at Oklahoma State), and he'll be more so here at Ohio State because he's been with me, we've been through the wars together, he understands me,” Knowles said in late January. “He can talk to the other guys and he can talk about my style to them. But he can also explain the defense to them in a way that coaches can't or someone my age can’t. He has them out now, just on his own, just going through different things and kind of preparing them for what I'm going to do. So he'll be invaluable.”
McCalister said his new teammates started asking him questions about Knowles’ defense as soon as he arrived in Columbus, and McCalister has been happy to answer those questions for them.
“When I first got here, I'm working out with the guys and all our relationships, we instantly clicked. Just because we know we all have one goal, win a national championship, try to play in the NFL, things like that,” McCalister said in early February. “So they were kind of like, 'Hey, what's coach Knowles like? What's his defense like?’ And I was like, ‘I can show you. I can explain it.’
“So we kind of came out here and did some footwork on the field and we talked about what he likes to do, and I think they liked what they heard from me, and I'm sure they’re gonna like what they hear from Coach Knowles. Just how they can be used in different ways.”
Freshman safety Kye Stokes, who also arrived at Ohio State in January as a midyear enrollee, said “it helps a lot” to have a teammate in his own position group who is already familiar with the defensive playbook that the rest of the Buckeyes are learning for the first time this offseason.
“Every time we come out here and put in some work, I ask him a question or two,” Stokes said. “‘How does Coach Knowles run this? How do you do this in this defense?’ And he has no problem with breaking it down to me and sharing his knowledge of what he knows as far as Coach Knowles’ defense.”
McCalister believes Knowles himself will do a good job teaching the defense to his new players. Four new defensive support staffers who have already worked with Knowles – senior advisor and analyst Matt Guerrieri and program assistant Sam McGrath, who both worked with Knowles at Duke, plus quality control coach Brent Zdebski and program assistant Koy McFarland, who worked with Knowles at Oklahoma State – will also play key roles in helping the Buckeyes get up to speed quickly with the new scheme.
One thing McCalister believes he can do, though, is help the other Buckeyes understand why Knowles – who has already been described as “intense” by some of Ohio State’s freshman defenders – does certain things the way he does.
“He can be aggressive at times. He can yell. He's kind of a quirky guy. Some people may take it wrong,” McCalister said. “I remember when I first was getting coached by him, some of the comments and some of the things he was saying, I was like, ‘Why is he yelling so much?’ But I just came to realize, man, that's just how he is. And he doesn't mean any harm by it.
“He just wants his defense ran right. Some guys, if he's yelling, guys react different. So I think I can kind of just tell them like, ‘That's just how he is, don't take it to heart.’”.
Of course, McCalister’s primary responsibility is not to coach Ohio State’s other defenders but to play his own position, and he’ll be focused on playing that position as best as he can to try to bolster his stock as an NFL draft prospect, which Knowles believes McCalister already could have been this year. But McCalister’s also hoping to win a national championship during his season with the Buckeyes, so he’s willing to do anything he can to help make his teammates better, too.
“I definitely came here to play,” McCalister said. “But I think if the goal is to win a national championship, then you gotta get everybody on one accord. So I think I can help with that.”
