When Tim Walton met with the media at the beginning of February, there was one theme that permeated throughout the Ohio State cornerback coach’s interview session: Competition.
Out of all positions on Ohio State’s defense, cornerback is the one that looks to be the widest open for competition this spring. And that’s exactly the way Walton wants it.
“What we've got to do now is we’ve got to create competition. We've gotta open this thing up,” Walton said. “Let guys go earn jobs and go play and go compete. That's what it's about.”
Walton says there’s “no real pecking order” entering the spring at cornerback, where the Buckeyes are set to have seven scholarship players this season: juniors Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock, sophomores Jyaire Brown and Davison Igbinosun, redshirt freshman Ryan Turner and true freshmen Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Calvin Simpson-Hunt. And any of them could realistically be candidates to earn playing time in Ohio State’s secondary this year.
Burke is certainly a frontrunner to be one of Ohio State’s starting cornerbacks, given that he’s started all 24 games he’s played in since he became a Buckeye two years ago. While Burke’s performance as a sophomore didn’t live up to expectations after a breakout freshman year, his play improved over the course of the season, as he allowed only 12 catches for 101 yards and one touchdown in his final seven games of the year (per Pro Football Focus) after giving up 10 catches for 231 yards and two touchdowns in his first four appearances of the season.
Walton believes injuries were a factor in Burke’s inconsistency last season and that he was better later in the year when he was healthier.
“He did a good job toward the end of the year, started doing a little better,” Walton said. “Obviously he had the stuff that he had to work through. But that's part of it, man. It’s a tough sport. It’s what we sign up for a little bit. We just got to try to manage and help navigate it.”
That said, Burke still has to prove this spring and summer he should keep his starting job. While Walton referenced multiple times that Burke is Ohio State’s only returning starter at cornerback, he was quick to clarify when a reporter asked Walton if Burke was a “locked-in starter.”
“He's a returning starter. Nothing’s locked in,” Walton said. “He's been playing for a couple years now. So he's the guy that has the most experience in the room. But you know how that is. You have to keep growing and building on that.”
The other favorite to start at cornerback for Ohio State entering spring might be Igbinosun, considering he started 10 games last season at Ole Miss. If the Buckeyes didn’t view Igbinosun as a potential upgrade as one of their top cornerbacks, they wouldn’t have added him as a transfer.
Igbinosun had his own inconsistency in his lone year with the Rebels, though, losing his starting job for their final three games of the regular season. While Walton couldn’t speak directly about Igbinosun on Feb. 1 since Igbinosun had not yet enrolled at Ohio State at the time, he said a starting job would not simply be handed to a new player joining his unit.
“Listen, we competing,” Walton said. “You try to bring the best guys in. And you try to bring guys in that are high character, great competitors, great work ethic, the love for the game, want to play at the highest level and then it always sorts its way out. That's part of it, you know. So you want to bring it in because you want guys that like the competition and you got to have guys ready.”
Hancock and Brown are the top candidates to push Igbinosun and/or Burke for a starting job. Hancock was poised to be Ohio State’s No. 3 cornerback behind Burke and Cameron Brown last season until he suffered a hamstring injury in preseason camp that ended up plaguing him throughout the season. Jyaire Brown flashed in 2022 as a true freshman, mixing in with the first-team defense at times – including a start against Wisconsin when both Burke and Cameron Brown were sidelined by injuries – and finishing the year with the lowest completion rate allowed (38.5%) of any Ohio State cornerback.
Turner will be hoping to make a move up the depth chart after redshirting last season. The possibility of Mathews or Simpson-Hunt making an immediate push for playing time also can’t be ruled out. Two of the top eight cornerbacks in the 2023 recruiting class per 247Sports’ composite rankings, Mathews and Simpson-Hunt are both talented enough to make an early impact like Burke did two years ago, even though Walton doesn’t necessarily want to rely on a freshman.
“I mean, theoretically, you don't want to have to put a true freshman out there and these things, but some guys are ready for it,” Walton said. “And if you’re ready for it, and you show that you have it in your competitive nature, you're physically ready, the mental state of mind; you have the maturity level, because some guys mature faster than others; if all those things fit, you understand the game, you have knowledge of the game that's a little more advanced, then you give that guy the opportunity. That's the right way to do it.”
Simpson-Hunt won’t be at Ohio State to compete with the rest of the cornerbacks this spring, as he opted to stay in high school for his final semester rather than enroll early, but Walton says that won’t preclude him from making a push to climb the depth chart in preseason camp.
“He is more physically ready than some high school guys,” Walton said. “It's my job now to bridge the gap with the knowledge and learning before he gets here, but he wanted to finish up with that experience, and we'll try to make sure we catch him up as soon as possible. But he's physically gifted a little bit, so he won't be as far behind with some things.”
If more than two cornerbacks perform at a starting-caliber level this offseason, Ohio State could end up rotating at cornerback rather than having two set starters. Walton says he doesn’t have a set philosophy on whether it’s better to have two consistent starters or a three-man rotation, but that it depends on the state of the unit.
“It’s a good thing or a bad thing; it can be either way,” Walton said. “When you have three guys rotating sometimes, the depth is good. Or it can be guys still need to come along.”
Jyaire Brown is among the cornerbacks who are expected to push for a spot in the rotation this season.
Regardless of whether the Buckeyes have two clear-cut starters, Walton knows Ohio State needs to have more than two cornerbacks it can rely on. As much as the Buckeyes’ cornerback depth was tested due to injuries last season, Walton is more concerned about developing depth right now than he is about how the cornerbacks will ultimately stack up on the depth chart.
“You want to develop guys in the spring,” Walton said. “Everybody has to compete. So you’re bringing in guys to always kind of compete and elevate the room. Some guys may beat some guys out. That's a part of this thing too. Just because you was a starter a year ago doesn't mean it's gonna be this year. Just because you was a backup this year doesn't mean you're gonna stay in that role. Roles are always constantly changing. And that's on the development, the growth and the accountability that we all have and do, and the production. So that all will kind of evolve on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.”
