When Ohio State redshirt sophomore cornerback Gareon Conley left Saturday’s game against Indiana in the first half with a shoulder injury, it didn’t take long for the Hoosiers to target Conley’s backup: redshirt freshman Marshon Lattimore.
In fact, Indiana went after Lattimore on the very first pass attempt it had after Conley left the game. It was a 15-yard completion despite a penalty committed by Lattimore.
The fact the Hoosiers did this wasn’t surprising in itself; any time a starter for the opposition goes out, especially at a position like cornerback, you’d be hard-pressed to find a team that won’t directly try to attack the next player into the game. It was designed to expose a lack of depth by Ohio State in the defensive backfield.
The Buckeyes have been playing without their starting nickel back, Damon Webb, for the last three games. Webb was suspended prior to the Northern Illinois game for “a violation of athletics department policy.” There is no timetable on his return at this point in time.
On Saturday, Ohio State was also without junior safety Cam Burrows, who was the team’s starting nickel in Webb’s place and also a backup safety. Burrows is out indefinitely with an injury to his foot.
So, Lattimore was moved to the starting nickel role against the Hoosiers in addition to his backup spot at corner. But when Conley went down, that changed a lot of things, and suddenly the Buckeyes had to make adjustments on the fly.
“We’ve got a little depth issue right there,” safety Vonn Bell said Monday. “It’s next man up. Marshon’s ready to play. He executed what he had to do.”
Ohio State essentially couldn’t use its nickel package once Conley got hurt and Lattimore had to slide over to play corner; the numbers just aren’t there. The next guy in line is true freshman Denzel Ward. Sophomore Erick Smith has been working exclusively at safety this year.
So the Buckeyes were forced to remain in their base personnel. That’s something they’re comfortable with, but would obviously prefer to resort to their nickel package, if possible in passing situations.
“It kind of makes us go back to the drawing board a little bit,” co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said. “When Gareon went out and Marshon had to go to corner, it kind of limited us into some nickel packages we couldn’t get into.”
It doesn’t seem as if this issue is going to be going away anytime soon, either as Webb and Burrows could miss extended periods of time. So the Buckeyes could remain very thin in their defensive backfield for the foreseeable future.
That’s something they’re preparing for.
“A lot of what preparation is about is you’ve gotta be able to adjust and adapt come game time when some things happen,” Fickell said.
Ohio State adjusted once. The Buckeyes are hoping they don’t have to do it again.
