One of the major talking points this spring for Ohio State has been the “enhanced” offense under the direction of Urban Meyer, Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day. It’s not new, Meyer says, as it will always be the Buckeyes’ offense, but Wilson and Day tweaked some things in an attempt to repair a unit that lacked some explosion for the better part of the last two seasons.
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver K.J. Hill needed just one word to describe what both Wilson and Day brought to the Ohio State offense this spring.
“Swagger,” he said.
Swagger is certainly something that somewhat lacked the last two seasons. The Buckeyes weren’t nearly as explosive as they were during their national championship season in 2014 and it showed in the predictable play-calling. There wasn't much confidence. The deep passing game was almost non-existent and the fear Ohio State once struck in opposing defenses seemingly vanished.
There has been a noticeable change this spring, players say.
“It’s totally different,” Hill said. “Everybody has swagger on offense. We’re going fast, talking ahead to them. I feel like we’ve got something going.”
During the 2016 season, Ohio State ranked just 60th nationally in plays of 20-plus yards from scrimmage. The Buckeyes recorded just 63 on the season — an average of 4.8 per game. By comparison, Clemson — the team Ohio State played in the Fiesta Bowl — ranked ninth nationally with 88 plays of at least 20 yards from scrimmage.
In 2014, during the national championship season, the Buckeyes had 92 plays of at least 20 yards from scrimmage. That ranked fourth in the country. That's quite a substantial drop-off.
Ohio State needs that big-play explosion to return.
“Swagger is coming back to our offense, I feel like,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “When we make a big play it’s not like, ‘Oh, it’s just another play.’ The offense, we stop practice and it gets hype in here because we make a big play.”
“Those are game-changing plays,” McLaurin continued. “Coach Day says all the time if we make a big deep route, those are game-changing plays. Those will help you win games.”
Of course, there are more ways to hit explosive plays than just downfield throws. Ohio State hit quite a few home runs with Ezekiel Elliott taking carries out of the backfield, but last season, outside of a few electric Curtis Samuel runs, the Buckeyes didn’t have a ton of success with game-breaking carries.
Samuel, of course, moved on to the NFL so those potential explosive running plays now fall on the shoulders of running back Mike Weber and new H-back Parris Campbell. They have to be there, too, in order for Ohio State’s offense to be at its best.
When Day and Wilson were hired by Meyer, the purpose was to get the Buckeyes back to where they were a couple years back, to “enhance” — Meyer’s word — an offense that lacked a big-play ability it had not long ago.
It appears the two are doing that already — plus more.
“Those two guys are definitely guys that have swag and I think with them coming in it brought the offensive swagger back as a whole,” Campbell said. “Each unit on offense, we have a little chip on our shoulder and I’d definitely say that swag is back.”
The only question that remains: Will it continue into the season?
