The story of Lathan Ransom’s 2022 season turned on a dime.
His ascension as a starter in the Buckeye secondary early in the season was made all the more impressive by a lightning-fast turnaround from a leg fracture suffered in the final game of the 2021 campaign. Still, Ransom wasn’t content only to get back on the field. The third-year safety emerged as a star performer for Jim Knowles’ defense, and entering the final month of the regular season, Ransom was named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. With a strong end to the year, he might have been off to the NFL.
But all it took was a few plays in the two biggest games of the season to change the narrative.
In back-to-back Buckeyes losses to finish the year, the Ohio State defense allowed Michigan and Georgia to rack up a combined 87 points, with many of those coming on explosive plays deep down the field. Ransom was a part of multiple costly breakdowns in the Buckeye secondary, and he took plenty of heat as a result.
4.2 speed pic.twitter.com/hEaDxnZMlM
— CFBLIVE247 (@CFBLive247_) January 1, 2023
Ransom returned to Ohio State to right some of those wrongs, prove he’s better than what he showed at the end of last season and help the Buckeyes reach the goals they fell short of in 2022. And he’s using any criticism as motivation.
“When you're playing good, you're at the top of the world. When you’re making bad plays, you're at the bottom of the world. And I mean, I use that as fuel,” Ransom said Thursday. “I use that as fuel to get better every day. So that's really what I do. … I'm here because I want to improve on things that I wasn't, maybe – I didn't like the way I played last year. I mean, all types of things. I think I'm trying to improve my game all around. I'm trying to improve my game all around, trying to be the most consistent safety in the country. I mean, that's really what I want to do.”
Fortunately for Ransom, several factors figure to ease his path to improvement. For one, his early offseason won’t be centered around rehab. After breaking his leg in the Rose Bowl two seasons ago, Ransom had a chip on his shoulder to return to action before the start of 2022. Injury-free this spring, though, Ransom can focus more on honing his skills than worrying about his health.
“I felt a little rushed (last year). And then now I get time to get my body to feel 100 percent, my mind to feel 100 percent,” Ransom said. “And then get out there and just get with the guys and get a lot of reps. I mean, the ones are taking a lot of reps. And just take advantage of those reps and get better as a whole defense. … This is my second winter since I've been here. So I'm really excited about that. So I'm just trying to take advantage of that, take advantage of the reps. I mean, the only way to get better is reps. So I'm just repping all the things I want to work on and then get more comfortable with the defense. We're just repping as a whole and then just fixing everything that we've got to fix.”
Rather than getting his body back to full strength, Ransom has been able to make strides in the weight room and add size to his frame. Ransom said he weighs anywhere from 208 to 210 pounds this spring, heavier than ever, and he said it’s a testament to the work he put in over the winter.
“I've never weighed that much. I think Coach (Mickey Marotti), that was our biggest thing in the offseason is (to) look like some of them safeties that were in the combine and getting ready for the draft,” Ransom said. “Focused really with Coach Mick, (Kaila Olson), nutritionist, getting my body right. Appreciate them.”
Ransom will also benefit from operating under the same leadership for a second straight season, a luxury he never previously had at Ohio State. The Buckeyes have undergone frequent coaching changes at defensive coordinator and in the secondary over the past few years, but Jim Knowles and Perry Eliano are back in 2023.
Without having to learn a new scheme over the offseason, Ransom said he can play faster than ever on the field.
“(It’s been) way easier. I mean, the game slowed down. This is the first time I've been here that we played the same defense for two years in a row,” Ransom said. “So that's one thing that I'm really excited about to get more comfortable and just play fast.”
Ransom won’t have to shift positions, either. As coaching regimes turned over, Ransom bounced to several safety positions in his first three seasons with the Buckeyes. Ransom had a career-best season in Knowles’ boundary safety role this past year, but with starting free safety Ronnie Hickman departing for the NFL, some thought he might fill that vacancy in 2023.
However, Ransom said he, the coaching staff and the defense feel “most comfortable” with him remaining at strong safety.
"I'm trying to improve my game all around, trying to be the most consistent safety in the country. I mean, that's really what I want to do.”– Lathan Ransom
Beyond his individual efforts to improve, Ransom said the entire team is being pushed to the limit so far this offseason as the Buckeyes look for ways to get over the hump. After all, Ohio State failed to beat Michigan or win a Big Ten championship in each of the past two seasons.
“This has definitely been the hardest winter workouts we've had since I've been here, most definitely. Practices have been the hardest they've been,” Ransom said. “Coaches are pushing us harder than we've ever been pushed. We're just embracing it, man, and we're excited for the journey. … Obviously we fell short of a lot of our goals that we had. And I mean, that's not accepted here. That's not accepted. We don't come here to do that. So I think that's just ramped up more than ever now. And we just can't fall short again.”
To help Ohio State climb that mountain, Ransom knows he must maintain a high caliber of play throughout the entire 2023 season while also leading the Buckeyes’ defensive unit more than ever before.
“Definitely got to step up more as a leader. I think that's the biggest thing for me,” Ransom said. “Stepping up more as a leader. That's basically my biggest step, step up more as a leader and be consistent. My biggest thing is just consistent, consistent, consistent. Because that's my biggest goal.”
