Denzel Burke felt “a lot different” on the field Saturday compared to the last time he played in front of fans at Ohio Stadium.
Whether or not the rest of his teammates felt it, the Buckeye secondary looked a lot different than it did at the end of 2022, too. Burke said the spring game was “probably the most fun I've had in a while,” and given the performance that he and the back end of the Ohio State defense turned in collectively, it’s easy to see why. Perhaps it’s still too early to make any concrete assertions about the potential performance of any position group in 202, but the early returns on the Buckeye secondary have been undeniably positive this spring.
The indicators were there from Ohio State’s very first spring practice, and after limiting four Buckeye quarterbacks to a combined 332 yards and two scores on a whopping 62 pass attempts over the weekend, the caliber of play in the secondary didn’t taper off the spring game. Not to mention, those numbers were skewed by a 57-yard score in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter during which Ohio State had mostly inexperienced reserve players on the field defensively.
Tightening up on the back end was one of Ryan Day’s primary defensive objectives this spring, and after Saturday’s exhibition, he’s seen a large enough sample size to believe significant improvement is possible from season to season.
“You try to look at it through the whole 15 practices of what you see. If you're starting to see the secondary getting their hands on some balls, then all of a sudden it doesn't happen for a few days, it's probably not real. We've seen that for almost 15 practices, what you saw today. So that was really good,” Day said. “I think the challenge will be increased in the preseason, when we're at full strength there (at wide receiver). But you can just see the discernment. Everything's faster. They’re moving faster, they're seeing it. I think being year two in the system, adding (Davison Igbinosun) there, you're starting to see the secondary move faster, make more plays and be more decisive.”
The Ohio State secondary didn’t leave Buckeye fans with an overwhelmingly positive impression at the end of the 2022 campaign. Ohio State gave up 994 yards and eight touchdowns through the air in the final three games of last season, with many of those scores coming by way of explosive downfield gains due to breakdowns on the back end.
In terms of long touchdowns, the Buckeye defense did give up three before the end of the day in the spring game. However, all three of them came against Ohio State’s second or third units and only two came on passing plays. When Ohio State’s first-team secondary was on the field, the Buckeye offense largely struggled to get things going through the air.
“When you leave the spring, you get a feel for where things are. When you start the spring, it's hard, I think you hear me say or us say, 'We'll get through the spring and we'll have a better feeling.' So coming out of the spring, I do (see improvement in the secondary),” Day said. “I think the first thing was the back-end explosives. You saw today, we didn't really give up a lot of explosives. Maybe just a couple down in the second half. And that's important for us. We expect to score a lot of points on offense, and if we can avoid explosive plays, that's a recipe for winning. That was the idea in 2019, and we need to continue to do that. As we come out of the spring, we'll evaluate it, we'll go through each position. But there's reason for optimism, for sure.”
Burke’s play was key to the success of Ohio State’s first-team defense on Saturday, as the Buckeyes’ top corner was credited with one PBU and helped force multiple other incompletions with his razor-tight coverage. Following the first spring practice, the Buckeye coaching staff said Burke may have gotten his hands on more balls in one day than he did in all of the 2022 preseason. After the impressive spring he had leading into the weekend, Burke’s improvement was clear to see in the spring game.
"You're starting to see the secondary move faster, make more plays and be more decisive."– Ryan Day
Burke attributes that to the “pro approach” he’s taken this offseason, as well as finally being 100% healthy and having the comfort of a second year under defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. And that’s something Day believes is paying off for the entire group.
“The second year in this scheme, (it's) a lot more easier. You kind of get a feel for what Coach (Jim) Knowles is gonna call and the trust is there,” Burke said. “And I'm really excited. … Just this whole spring, I feel like it's probably the most fun I've had in a while on the field. The game is a lot slower, making a lot more plays on the ball, seeing things quicker, reacting quicker. It's just a lot more fun.”
But unless Ohio State continues making strides this summer, a stellar spring on the back end won’t mean anything. After all, the Buckeye secondary looked like an improved for most of 2022 before a string of late-season performances flipped the script on its public perception.
And while Burke was the mouthpiece for Ohio State’s defensive backs following the spring game, he made it clear that he’s not the only one that entered this offseason with an extra edge.
“I feel like we've got a chip on our shoulder and we still have a lot to prove to the world. And I'm really excited about what we have in store for this season,” Burke said. “Just got to stay in the moment, keep going, getting 1 percent better every single day.”
Back in February, secondary coach Tim Walton said he would “open this thing up” as far as starting jobs were concerned. Between that notion and the early impact that transfer DBs like Igbinosun and former Syracuse safety Ja’Had Carter had this spring, it’s evident that Walton’s attitude helped light a fire under many of Ohio State’s top defensive backs.
“Competition breeds even more competition. So we've all been playing hard. It's my job as a leader to lead the room and coach the guys and help them be able to reach their full potential,” Burke said. “… They pushed me a lot, because we all ball and it really makes me happy to see them do their thing. And it just makes me, for myself, go out there and do my thing as well.”
Day expects the challenge to ramp up in the coming months once wideouts like Julian Fleming, Emeka Egbuka and Xavier Johnson return to the fold, but the secondary cleared the first offseason hurdle with flying colors.
