Ohio State has to replace three starters in its secondary from last season, but the players who are being replaced are confident their successors will rise to the occasion.
The Buckeyes will have at least one new starting cornerback in 2023 with Cam Brown moving on to the NFL. While Brown didn’t single out who he thinks will take his place in the starting lineup, Brown is confident whoever emerges as the second cornerback will be ready given the competition they will have to beat out.
“It's gonna be exciting,” Brown said Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “It’s a lot of them, and they’re all competing. They all want to be great. And I feel like that's going to push them to the next level. Hopefully they’ll put a lot of coverage on and become more confident.”
As for returning starter Denzel Burke, Brown expects the Buckeyes’ third-year cornerback to raise his game in 2023 after his performance fell short of expectations in 2022.
“I’ve talked to a lot of coaches at Ohio State, and he has a different mindset coming into this year,” Brown said of Burke. “He’s young, and he was put into the fire. He’s young, he had a great season (as a freshman) and everything came right away, he had to just take off with it. But he's gonna be a great player. His potential’s off the charts. And I think that he's finally realized that he can do what he can do.”
At safety, Ronnie Hickman identified Lathan Ransom and Josh Proctor as the players he expects to lead the way in the secondary along with Burke. Like Brown, Hickman believes others around them will also step up on the back end of the defense, while he thinks they’ll get plenty of help from the defensive front, which returns plenty of experienced players including defensive ends JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer, defensive tackles Mike Hall, Ty Hamilton and Tyleik Williams and linebackers Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers.
“Those guys are gonna be ready. Those guys are gonna be prepared,” Hickman said. “Lathan Ransom, you got Josh Proc, you got Denzel, you got young guys coming up. The front seven’s gonna be off the charts. Those guys are hungry, they're highly motivated. And I'm excited to see them play. You guys should be too.”
While Ransom was already one of Ohio State’s top safeties last season, Proctor spent most of the season on the bench after losing his starting job to Ransom following the first game of the season. But Hickman is confident Proctor will bounce back in a big way.
“He's gonna be a guy who’s coming downhill, ready to hit. He's going to be another leader in that back end that guys are gonna look up to,” Hickman said. “And Josh is a playmaker. He's gonna make plays when it comes down to it. Probably one of the most athletically gifted guys I've been around, especially in that safety room. So I'm super excited for him. Praying he stays healthy and everything goes well, God willing. But he has a bright future this year.”
That said, Proctor will also face plenty of competition for a starting safety spot, with rising sophomores Sonny Styles and Kye Stokes being two of the leading candidates to push for a job. While Hickman indicated he views Proctor as a likely starter alongside Ransom, he expects big things from Styles and Stokes over the course of their Ohio State careers, too.
“Sonny and Kye are just two guys that are off the charts athletically,” Hickman said. “I mean, you’ve seen Sonny. And I think Kye is gonna be a big eye-opener as well. Those guys are willing to do whatever it takes to win. They've listened, they take the coaching well. So I'm super excited for those guys that have a really bright future.”
Asked what he thinks Stokes and Styles’ roles could be in Ohio State’s defense in the future, Hickman said “both of those guys can do it all.”
“I mean obviously, Sonny’s got a bigger kind of build. So he can drop down in that box a little bit more. Kye’s a little bit faster, more rangy kind of guy. But they’re interchangeable,” Hickman said. “So I'm super excited for those guys.”
Ohio State’s other outgoing starter at safety, Tanner McCalister, was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. During an interview with Eleven Warriors in January before Proctor’s decision to return for another year was finalized, however, McCalister also identified Stokes and Styles as up-and-coming safeties to watch and Ransom as a leader at the position.
“I just saw Lathan coming back, and that's a really good safety. That's my guy. And you got guys like Sonny Styles who's gonna come on the scene, he's a really big body, I think he can do a lot of things close to the box and even in space, so I'm excited,” McCalister said then. “And Kye Stokes as well, it was fun watching him grow. And I think he'll continue to grow and become a really good player. And then even some of the young guys I was able to meet that are coming in now, I think this year is gonna be really fun just to see guys develop even more, and hopefully that back end is flying around making plays and picking balls off.”
A leading candidate to replace McCalister at the nickel safety spot in 2023 is Syracuse transfer Ja’Had Carter. While Hickman and Brown never played with Carter, fellow NFL Combine participant and former Syracuse cornerback Garrett Williams did for the past three years, and he says Ohio State fans should expect big things from his former teammate.
“Yeah, Ja’Had, he’s a dog,” Williams told Eleven Warriors. “I think he’s gonna go to Ohio State and probably be one of the better DBs that Ohio State’s had in recent years. And a lot of people don’t know it, but I know what’s about to happen, so I’m excited to see it come to fruition.
“Ja’Had has great feet. Really athletic, especially for his size. And he doesn’t have any holes in his game. He can cover, and then he’s one of the best tacklers that I’ve seen personally too. So I’m excited to watch him ball at Ohio State.”
Syracuse cornerback Garrett Williams on his former teammate JaHad Carter, who transferred to Ohio State this offseason: I think hes going to go to Ohio State and probably be one of the better DBs that Ohio States had in recent years. pic.twitter.com/KWDVdewRTW
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) March 2, 2023
Ohio State will be looking for better, more consistent play throughout its secondary in 2023 after a rough end to 2022 in which the Buckeyes allowed an average of more than 330 passing yards per game in their final three contests. Both Hickman and Brown are confident that will happen now that the returning players have a year of experience playing for Jim Knowles under their belts.
“That defense, when you first learn it, it's very hard, it's very challenging. And once you get the hang of it, everything gets rolling,” Brown said. “It's gonna be an exciting defense.”
Hickman said he thinks the Buckeyes’ defense “will be a lot more poised out there” now that they have more familiarity with Knowles’ scheme.
“I think if you put guys in the same system again, just the confidence level goes through the roof,” Hickman said. “They’ve played a full season with it. They’re able to watch the film now from it, and kind of build off of that. So any time you can watch the film on certain things, and know that it'll be the same thing next year, you can make some adjustments and things like that.”
