Ohio State’s coaches have expressed optimism throughout the preseason about their depth on both the offensive line and the secondary.
Their depth in both areas will be put to the test immediately in Ohio State’s season opener against Minnesota.
Harry Miller, who was in line to begin the season as the Buckeyes’ starting center, and Cameron Brown, who was expected to start opposite Sevyn Banks at cornerback, are both unavailable for Thursday night’s game. As of now, it’s unclear why exactly they are unavailable and whether they will be back for the Buckeyes’ second game of the year against Oregon.
For at least the first game of the year, though, Ohio State will need to rely on less proven players to fill their important roles on both sides of the ball.
Ohio State offensive line coach Greg Studrawa raved about the depth of his position group in August, saying he believed the Buckeyes had 10 offensive linemen who were ready to play, so there is reason for confidence that they’ll be able to survive the absence of Miller. While Miller was penciled in as the starting center throughout camp, Luke Wypler and Matthew Jones took first-team center reps when Miller was sidelined by a shoulder injury in spring practices, and coaches have praised both of them over the past few weeks.
Wypler is the likely frontrunner to start in Miller’s place, given that Studrawa said Aug. 10 that Wypler, a redshirt freshman, was giving Miller “a hell of a battle” for the starting center job.
“Luke Wypler’s probably the most dedicated guy for a freshman kid to learn the position I’ve ever been around,” Studrawa said. “So those two guys right now in a big-time, big-time, heavy battle. And I love what both of them are doing. Both intelligent, both tough.”
That said, Jones also gives the Buckeyes a veteran option to fill in, as Ryan Day said last week that the fourth-year interior offensive lineman was making a push for a starting job.
“I think Matt Jones has actually practiced really well as well, so he’s in the mix right now,” Day said.
Either way, Thursday night will be the first test of Ohio State’s vaunted offensive line depth for the 2021 season, as they’ll need either Wypler or Jones to be reliable leading the way as a blocker and snapper in the middle of the trenches, while also relying on two new starters on the right side of the offensive line in Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones.
Luke Wypler could be in line to make his first career start at center with Harry Miller out for the season opener.
Building depth in the secondary has also been a major priority for the Buckeyes this offseason. They’ve maintained throughout the preseason that they feel good about the depth they’ve been able to build there and that they expect many different defensive backs to see playing time this season.
“I think that the way some guys have practiced really gives us some confidence going into that first game that there’s more depth than we’ve had in a long time here,” Day said last week. “Still trying to figure out exactly who is game-ready, but we have a good group of guys. And I think we’re much further along than we’ve been in the last couple of years in terms of our depth back there.”
Defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs offered similar sentiments on this week’s Ryan Day Show, where he even said that he thought the Buckeyes had enough depth on the back end that they’d be fine even if they had a player go down with an injury.
“It’s a much better situation for us in the back end than it was last year. We’ve got a good group of really good players that are gonna fight for playing time, they’re gonna share playing time, they’re prepared to play,” Coombs said. “We feel good about an injury not taking us out of our ability to stay in the game and those kinds of things. So I’m excited. It’s a young group, but I’m excited about them.”
Still, Brown’s absence might be the one that’s most concerning from the list of players who are unavailable for Thursday night’s game. Ohio State’s pass defense missed Brown last year after he went down with a season-ending Achilles injury in the second game of the season against Penn State, and his absence leaves Sevyn Banks as the only available outside cornerback that’s seen substantial playing time.
Between second-year cornerbacks Ryan Watts and Lejond Cavazos, true freshmen Denzel Burke, Jakailin Johnson and Jordan Hancock and sixth-year senior Demario McCall after an offseason position change, Ohio State has numerous options to potentially take Brown’s snaps in the cornerback rotation on Thursday. Watts seems like the most likely candidate to start in Brown’s place, though Burke has turned heads with his development throughout the offseason and Day said Tuesday that McCall will see playing time in the secondary against the Gophers.
“His move to defensive back was really good for him,” Day said of McCall. “I kind of almost wish he had done it earlier, because he’s been competing really well, he covers really well, he competes well, so you’re gonna see him on Thursday night. He’s gonna be on there and playing DB and looking forward to seeing him out there.”
Thursday will be a prime opportunity for at least one or two of those inexperienced cornerbacks to show what they can do on a big stage, and if they hold up well, that could be a big boost for the Buckeyes’ secondary depth even when Brown is back, giving them more options they can trust at cornerback.
In the first game of the year for a pass defense that struggled last season, though, it’s far from ideal for Ohio State to be without one of its projected top two cornerbacks. Minnesota has an experienced quarterback in Tanner Morgan who’s capable of testing the Buckeyes’ secondary, and it’s likely the Gophers will look to target whoever lines up opposite Banks, hoping to take advantage of an unproven cornerback – no matter who it is – who will be playing the biggest snaps of his Ohio State career to date.
