Coming off of what was widely regarded to be a disappointing season for Ohio State’s linebackers in 2017, the narrative surrounding the Buckeyes’ play at that position hasn’t been much better so far in 2018.
As Ohio State’s defense has struggled with giving up big plays early in the season – including three touchdown runs of at least 78 yards, making the Buckeyes defense the only defense that has surrendered that many plays that long already this season – the linebackers have been pinned with much of the blame.
The box score from the Buckeyes’ 49-6 win over Tulane on Saturday didn’t help matters, either, as none of Ohio State’s three starting linebackers – Malik Harrison, Pete Werner and Tuf Borland – were credited with a single tackle in the game.
Ohio State’s linebackers, and their coaches, acknowledge that their play could be better. But they also don’t believe they’ve played badly.
“Always room for improvement,” Werner said Tuesday. “But as far as doing our job, being in the right places at the right time, I think we’re off to a good start.”
While Urban Meyer has harped on the need for the Buckeyes to stop allowing big plays, identifying that as the biggest area in which the team needs to improve while speaking Tuesday on the Big Ten football coaches’ teleconference, Ohio State’s head coach was taken aback during his press conference on Monday when told that the Buckeyes’ starting linebackers hadn’t recorded any tackles against the Green Wave, as he did not believe that was indicative of their play.
“I did not know that,” Meyer responded. “Did we not have any champions there?” (The Buckeyes didn’t name any of their linebackers as team champions for the win over Tulane.)
Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said Tuesday that while there are plays that the linebackers would like to have back, he believes that’s true of every position at this point in the season, and doesn’t believe the linebackers have necessarily made any more mistakes than any other position group on the Buckeyes’ defense.
“There’s plays at every position that we’d like to have back. And it goes back to what’s the standard. You can say good and walk away, and it’s probably closer to good than it is the other side of it, but at the same token, it’s a position that features several young guys,” Grinch said. “But awfully excited about those guys, and every week, you’re getting that much closer to playing at the level we expect them to.”
Both Meyer and Grinch singled out Harrison, who leads the Buckeyes’ linebackers in snaps played (204) and tackles (12), as a linebacker who they believe has stepped up his play and performed well this season.
“I know Malik's playing at a very high level,” Meyer said Monday.
All of that said, the Ohio State linebackers and their coaches expect them to play better than they have, because they hold themselves to being a standard of being the best in the country, and they know they haven’t been that.
“I don’t think the standard here is even close to being met,” Grinch said in reference to Ohio State’s entire defense. “The fortunate thing is you’re able to say that with a 4-0 record. And so obviously the No. 1 goal is to hold the opponent to one less point than the offense scores. But obviously our goals are much higher than that.”
“Always room for improvement. But as far as doing our job, being in the right places at the right time, I think we’re off to a good start.”– Pete Werner on the play of Ohio State's linebackers
In order to improve, Grinch said there are three things the Buckeyes’ coaches need to look at: scheme, execution and personnel, in that order. From a personnel standpoint, though, there are several reasons why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the linebackers remain a work in progress – and that give for optimism that the Buckeyes’ linebacker play will improve over the course of the season.
Harrison and Werner are both first-year starters. Borland, meanwhile, has seen somewhat limited playing time in Ohio State’s first four games after suffering an Achilles injury this spring – an injury that Meyer said would have kept many players out until November – and he acknowledges that he hasn’t been able to play up to his full ability yet, in part because of the practice time he missed in spring and fall camp.
“With an injury like that, it takes some time to kind of get your feet underneath and kind of get used to playing again,” Borland said. “Obviously you can stand there and watch as much tape as you want, but until you’re in there, getting live shots, it’s just different.”
Baron Browning has been rotating with Borland at middle linebacker through the Buckeyes’ first four games, and Grinch indicated Tuesday that Browning has played well enough that the middle linebacker rotation should continue even now that Borland is no longer on a pitch count.
“In a perfect world, you’d be able to (rotate) at every position,” Grinch said. “And that’s one right now, we’re very comfortable with both those guys in that position.”
Defensive coordinator Greg Schiano has also said multiple time this season that he expects the Buckeyes to rotate their linebackers more this year, because he believes they have more linebackers who have shown they deserve playing time.
One such candidate to potentially earn more playing time as a rotational linebacker is Dante Booker, who earned Ohio State’s defensive player of the game honors this past weekend after recording four total tackles, with three tackles for loss and one sack, against Tulane. Keandre Jones and Justin Hilliard are also veterans who have made their case that they should get on the field more.
So far this season, however, the only four linebackers who have seen regular playing time with the first-team defense are Harrison, Werner, Borland and Browning, and Grinch suggested Tuesday that might not change.
“What it goes back to, from a weeklong preparation standpoint, guys have to do it on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and just show an understanding of the game plan, but also the ability to be a playmaker for the defense,” Grinch said. “And those two guys (Werner and Harrison) have kind of separated themselves, certainly to a point that warranted those guys the bulk of the reps (at outside linebacker).”
Regardless of whether the coaches decide to make any tweaks to the rotation, however, the Buckeyes’ current starters plan to keep working hard to help make their linebacker unit as a whole better.
“Every week, we watch the tape and there’s need to be fixed, things that need to be addressed,” Borland said. “And we’re working hard to do that.”
