Luke Fickell has been coaching at Ohio State since 2002. There’s very little the now Buckeyes’ co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach hasn’t seen.
So when Fickell was asked at the conclusion of spring practice if there was anything he could draw from previous seasons about dealing with massive roster turnover — like in 2006 and 2014 — Fickell cracked a faint smile before giving his response.
“Those were pretty good little situations in '06 and '14,” Fickell said. “I think one of them maybe was a little bit better than the other with the final game, but both of them ended in what you would say — if you were going to roll the dice today, give me that opportunity.”
The Buckeyes entered the 2006 season after having nine players drafted — five of which came in the first round — following the 2005 season. Ohio State had quite a few holes to fill as it tried to replace the likes of A.J. Hawk, Donte Whitner, Santonio Holmes and Nick Mangold, among others.
The result, however, was a perfect 12-0 regular season and a berth in the BCS National Championship Game where the Buckeyes met up with Urban Meyer’s Florida team. Ohio State was blown out by the Gators, 42-14, but the point here is the Buckeyes were able to play for a title despite a rather substantial talent loss from the year before.
Things were similar in 2014 when Ohio State lost the likes of Carlos Hyde, Ryan Shazier, Bradley Roby and four offensive linemen from a 2013 team that was a Big Ten championship game away from playing for the national title. And the 2014 team was dealt an even bigger blow just two weeks before the season started when Braxton Miller suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
But you all know how that season ended; I don’t need to bore you with the details.
The larger point here is Ohio State has been through several of these situations before with Fickell on its staff and the longtime Buckeyes assistant is going to lean on those experiences to help with the 2016 campaign.
“You can definitely look back and see there are some things,” Fickell said. “I know that we were not the No. 1 defense in the country maybe at some point in time in 06, but the reality is that I think we led the nation in turnovers and takeaways which in turn gives you an opportunity to be really good.
“There’s definitely some things.”
There is no doubt Fickell will address those previous experiences with the players, too.
“Put those things in front of the guys because you learn from history,” he said. “Also, we are going to continue to try and build the confidence of the guys that we have.”
It will be hard for Ohio State to duplicate the success of those season following massive roster turnover, but it’s certainly not impossible either. A really difficult schedule will make things that much more difficult.
But Fickell and Co. still feel confident Ohio State can ultimately get to where it wants to be: in a position to play for a championship.
“There is no doubt that we can do what we need to do,” Fickell said. “History has shown it. In 2006, we lost eight guys, X amount of first-round draft picks. Same thing in 2014, had a bunch of new guys, a bit of a new system of what we were doing, but simplified and guys believed in what we did.
“And the end result is what you are looking for.”
