Although Ohio State hasn’t played a football game for more than five months, and still won’t play another football game for nearly three months, the Eleven Warriors community never fails to have plenty of questions to ask and topics to discuss about the Buckeyes.
So as we count down the days until the Buckeyes return to Ohio Stadium for their season opener against Oregon State on Sept. 1, I decided it was time to ask our readers what they wanted to know for an offseason edition of the Eleven Warriors Mailbag.
Per usual, our readers delivered, asking more good questions than I could answer here, but I’ve selected 11 of my favorite submissions – including questions about how much Tate Martell could play, how many wide receivers could have big roles within the offense, which players the Buckeyes cannot afford to lose to injuries and who could be a breakout player that goes pro early – and provided my best guesses below.
How much playing time realistically could we see Martell (assuming Haskins has a good, healthy year)? Are we talking a few plays here and there plus garbage time, or are we looking at more like he gets a couple drives each game? – BuckeyeTrappedInSouth
I think Tate Martell will see regular and meaningful playing time this season, but I think it is most likely that Martell will see the field for one or two plays at a time – barring an injury to Haskins or situations where the starters are pulled from the game – rather than Haskins coming out of the game for entire drives.
If the Buckeyes remove Haskins from the lineup for entire series at a time, that could hinder his ability to take a true command of the Ohio State offense, and potentially create an unwanted quarterback controversy. And because Martell has a very different skill set from Haskins, I believe there were a package of plays designed specifically to take advantage of that skill set rather than Martell coming in to run the same offensive plays as Haskins.
The Buckeyes will have to be careful, of course, to avoid making it too obvious what plays they will run when Martell enters the game (though they never had a problem with predictably running QB power with J.T. Barrett on 3rd-and-short). Ultimately, though, I think the ideal way to use Martell would be similar to how Oklahoma used Kyler Murray last season – bringing him in for occasional snaps to take advantage of his athleticism and playmaking ability, which did nothing to hinder Baker Mayfield from having a Heisman-winning season.
Do you think Haskins zeroes in on one wideout and makes him the go-to? Or will he spread the wealth? Do we have a true #1 guy on the squad that can be that difference maker? Or will it be a group effort? – RunEddieRun1983
Urban Meyer’s offenses have always favored spreading the ball around over throwing the ball repeatedly to one receiver, so I wouldn’t expect that to change in 2018. Haskins’ coaches won’t necessarily instruct him to throw the ball to specific receivers, but they will certainly encourage him to make smart reads and find open targets to mitigate risk.
With that being said, Haskins certainly appears inclined to throw downfield when the situation calls for it, which makes me think the “X” receivers will see substantially more targets this season than they did the past two seasons. It also appears that Haskins and Austin Mack, who were roommates last year, already have a great rapport. So if any receiver is to emerge as a true No. 1 receiver this year, Mack could be the top candidate to be that guy.
If Dwayne Haskins has a go-to receiver this year, it could be Austin Mack.
I still think it will be largely a group effort, though, considering all the experienced players that the Buckeyes have at the wide receiver position – and that they will likely all continue to rotate regularly like they did last season.
What is more likely – 2 RBs with 1000 yds each or 2 WRs with 750 yds each? – Txsbuckeye
I wouldn’t put money on either of these happening, but I do think it is more likely that the Buckeyes will have two 750-yard wide receivers than it is that they will have two 1,000-yard running backs.
While J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber have both proven they can be 1,000-yard rushers, and I think at least one of them will be, history would suggest that a pair of 750-yard receivers is more likely. In Meyer’s first six seasons as head coach, the Buckeyes’ second-leading rusher among non-quarterbacks has never had more than 771 yards (Curtis Samuel in 2016). Meyer’s Buckeyes did have a pair of 750-yard receivers in 2014, when Devin Smith had 931 yards and Michael Thomas had 799.
Because Barrett and Braxton Miller are no longer quarterbacking the scarlet and gray, Ohio State’s running backs could see a greater percentage of carries than the running backs have on any of Meyer’s previous Buckeyes teams. The fact that the Buckeyes will likely rotate anywhere from six to nine wide receivers also makes it less likely that two or more wide receivers will have huge individual seasons. But I think the Buckeyes will pass the ball downfield enough, as well as continue to run the quarterback (whether Haskins or Martell) enough, that a pair of receivers having big statistical seasons is more likely than Dobbins and Weber both running for quadruple digits.
Jeremy Ruckert poised to be a superstar? Or is there just too much talent at WR for him to get the ball? - KBonay
By the end of his Ohio State career, I believe Jeremy Ruckert will be the most productive tight end that Meyer has ever had in Columbus – and I’m not sure it will be particularly close. While the Buckeyes haven’t placed a huge emphasis on throwing to the tight end since Meyer’s arrival, Ruckert has too much potential as a receiver for the Buckeyes not to take advantage of his ability.
I also believe Ruckert will have some real opportunities to catch passes with the first-team offense this year, as I believe Kevin Wilson sees Ruckert as someone who can make an immediate impact in the passing game. The big question for Ruckert going into this season, however, will be whether he is ready to block at the collegiate level. And because Meyer places a big emphasis on blocking ability, I don’t think Ruckert will supplant Luke Farrell as the starting tight end as a true freshman.
That, along with all the talent around him at wide receiver, will likely keep Ruckert from putting big numbers this season. By his sophomore year, though, I believe Ruckert could emerge as one of the Buckeyes’ top playmakers in the passing game.
What is the DL rotation going to look like, especially the interior? Will Landers and Jones be the starters? Who gets the backup reps? We have a very deep and talented group of DTs, so someone is going to get left out unfortunately. Landers, Jones, Togiai, Vincent, Garrett, Jackson, Hamilton, Barrow...insane depth! - Osurox
You’re right, Osurox; with all that talent, there won’t be enough playing time to go around for everybody at defensive tackle. Larry Johnson has shown a willingness to play a deep rotation of players at that position, though, so I certainly wouldn’t expect that to change this year.
Dre’Mont Jones is a lock to start at defensive tackle, and should also be part of the Buckeyes’ Rushmen package this year too, making him a three-down player. Landers is penciled in to start alongside him, but that might not be quite as set in stone, and I’d expect him to rotate more heavily than Jones.
Davon Hamilton appears to be in line for a spot on the two-deep, and will likely be the tackle who rotates regularly with Landers. The competition for the other spot on the two-deep appears to be more wide open, but my pick coming out of spring is Tommy Togiai, who made a huge impression on his coaches this spring as an early enrollee.
Ultimately, I expect the Buckeyes to rotate six defensive tackles in competitive games: Jones, Landers, Hamilton, Togiai, Haskell Garrett and either Taron Vincent or Antwuan Jackson, depending on who has the better summer. Malik Barrow and Jerron Cage could push for playing time as well, but the Buckeyes are probably too deep at the position for either of them to crack the primary rotation this year.
What do you make of the linebackers this year? With or without Borland, will there be improvement from the unit as a whole this year? - BroJim
I’m not overly confident in this prediction, simply because the Buckeyes are very inexperienced at the position, but I do think the performance of Ohio State’s linebackers will improve as a whole this season.
There were clearly some growing pains for Bill Davis’ group in his first season as Ohio State’s linebackers coach, but they did play their best football down the stretch of the season. And while some of the Buckeyes’ more veteran linebackers seemed to struggle with the transition to playing for Davis from playing for Luke Fickell, Davis will now have a group of linebackers that he has the opportunity to coach for more than a year, which should make them more comfortable.
Ohio State’s chances of improving will certainly be better if Borland is healthy, but while he is the Buckeyes’ best run-stopping middle linebacker, the key to their improvement is playing better in coverage, and that’s probably not an area where Borland would be relied on heavily, anyways. Between the likes of Malik Harrison, Baron Browning, Justin Hilliard, Keandre Jones and Pete Werner, however, the Buckeyes need at least three linebackers to step up and perform better against the pass than last season’s linebackers did. I think there’s enough talent in the group to make it happen, but it’s still certainly one of the biggest areas of concern going into the year.
Does Pryor start opposite of Fuller or do you see someone (Proctor) else capturing the other open safety spot? - SoulPatrol32
As of now, my prediction is that Isaiah Pryor will be the starting safety alongside Jordan Fuller when the Buckeyes open their season against Oregon State. He saw the most playing time last season among safeties not named Fuller on the roster, took most of the first-team reps this spring and despite not winning the starting job outright, still appears to be ahead of all the other safeties who participated in spring practice.
Because no safety performed well enough to seize the starting job this spring, however, I believe Josh Proctor will get a legitimate opportunity to win the job in preseason camp, and he just might be talented enough to do so. It’s very difficult to win a season-opening starting job as a true freshman at Ohio State, especially for a player who did not enroll early, but I think it’s likely that he’ll at least earn a spot on the two-deep.
Proctor will need to perform very well this summer to prove he’s ready to start right away, but at this point, I think he really might have a better chance of capturing the open safety spot than anyone other than Pryor.
Josh Proctor will have a chance to seize Ohio State's open starting safety spot in fall camp.
Which true frosh gets the most non-special teams minutes? - Huffdaddy
If Proctor was to win the aforementioned starting safety job, he would become the clear frontrunner to play the most snaps among true freshmen this season. If he does not, my pick will be Togiai, because of how well he performed this spring and how much Johnson rotates his defensive linemen. In one order or another, my guess is that Proctor, Togiai and Ruckert will see the most non-special teams snaps among true freshmen this year.
Three other true freshmen who are among the most likely candidate to see significant playing time: Dallas Gant, who is a candidate to crack the two-deep at linebacker after a strong spring, and Tyreke Smith and Tyler Friday, who could crack the defensive end rotation with the Buckeyes’ lack of depth at that position.
Will the “freak show” of athleticism be turned loose on the punt return/block team? What will the kickoff strategy be given the rule change? - MercyTex
While I think Ohio State will continue to put some of its best athletes on the punt return unit, I think it’s unlikely that we’ll see a return of the punt-blocking "freak show" of yore. As our Kyle Jones demonstrated in a Film Study last summer, the Buckeyes have moved away from their previously aggressive punt-blocking mentality, in part because of the recent proliferation of punting formations that make it more difficult to block punts.
That said, the Buckeyes do need a spark in their punt return game, because while they’ve placed a bigger emphasis on setting up returns in recent seasons, they still haven’t had many big plays in that phase of the game. Demario McCall should be an upgrade at punt returner as a more explosive and shifty athlete than K.J. Hill, but he’ll have to prove that he can secure the ball consistently to avoid turnovers.
As for the second part of the question, it’s hard to say how the Buckeyes might alter their kickoff strategy because we haven’t had a chance to ask Meyer about it since the rule was changed. My guess, though, would be that the Buckeyes will continue with their coffin-corner kick strategy because most likely, kickoff returners will still be inclined to return those kicks rather than call for fair catches.
If every opponent instructs their returners to fair catch kickoffs inside the 25, then the Buckeyes might be forced to alter their strategy. But I don’t think they’ll make any big changes before the actual games begin and they have an opportunity to see how other teams respond to the rule change in the return game.
What's the position group where we can least afford to lose a starter and why? - Iowabuckeye
Quarterback, to me, is the obvious answer here – not to say that Martell isn’t capable of starting, but because of the dearth of depth behind him. Following the departure of Joe Burrow, the only other scholarship quarterback on the roster is true freshman Matthew Baldwin, who underwent ACL surgery in January. Even if Baldwin is physically ready to play this fall, it wouldn’t be ideal for the Buckeyes to need to play him this season, so the Buckeyes can ill afford to lose either of their top two quarterbacks to injury.
Aside from Haskins, the other starter I believe the Buckeyes can least afford to lose to injury would be Fuller, because of the aforementioned question mark at the safety spot alongside him. Fuller will be expected to play just about every meaningful defensive snap this season as long as he is healthy, and with minimal experience outside of him at the position, the safety spot could become a huge liability if he gets hurt.
Who's your pick for the surprise breakout star that forgoes remaining eligibility and leaves for the draft? Seems we have at least one every year that catches us off-guard. - 440Buckeye
I’ll start by saying which players I expect to leave remaining eligibility on the table after this season. You can go ahead and assume that Nick Bosa and Dre’Mont Jones will enter the 2019 NFL draft now, because it would be a shock if either of them didn’t declare. Fuller, Kendall Sheffield and K.J. Hill are other Buckeyes who I expect to strongly consider leaving for the NFL draft after this season, but none of their departures would probably come as huge surprises.
Because of how weak the quarterback class for the 2019 NFL draft appears to be right now, I think it’s very possible that Haskins could leave after just one season as the starting quarterback if he has a big year.
Perhaps a more surprising name as of right now, though, would be Mack. If Mack is in fact able to use his downfield playmaker ability to emerge as Ohio State’s No. 1 receiver, he could shoot up NFL draft boards and enable him to make an early jump to the league.
