Ed Warinner offered a wink and a smile, a rare emotional bit from normally a stoic and serious but wildly successful offensive mind. A reporter asked him if Ohio State's tight ends will benefit from having Warinner, the team's offensive coordinator, as their position coach this fall.
Read: Will he pull some strings and feature Marcus Baugh, A.J. Alexander, or a trio of talented freshmen more in the passing game?
"Probably," Warinner said, a smile creeping across his face. "It only makes sense, right?"
It does, but whether or not it comes to fruition relies on one very important thing. Those guys have to show they can make plays and be considered among the top options on what is set to be an extremely young stable of skill players outside of quarterback J.T. Barrett.
"Our No.1 objective is to get the ball to playmakers and as we develop this offense and go through training camp, we're trying to find out who the consistent playmakers are," Warinner said.
“The way it’s looking right now I have a pretty good role in the passing game.”– Ohio State Tight End Marcus Baugh
The Buckeyes are only three days into 2016 training camp, but you know the story of how many yards and touchdowns are gone from last year's lineup. You also know about the laundry list of pass catchers in the program for Barrett and the other quarterbacks to throw to, the majority of them hardly without game experience.
Baugh worked himself into the picture late at the end of the season behind current Seattle Seahawk Nick Vannett, making a 27-yard reception in the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame. He only had one other grab last season, while Vannett caught 19 passes for 162 yards. No one in the tight end room found the end zone in 2015; the group did eight times in 2014 and five times in 2013.
"Marcus has shown that he can be (a playmaker)," Warinner said. "So have some of the other tight ends. More and more, they become more of a primary receiver in the progression."
Warinner admitted there really are not too many plays where the tight end is the first read for Barrett, but he hopes the guys at the position change that.
"If you have talent at every place, position, you need to use it," Warinner said. "So a tight end can really be, as you can see in the National Football League, tight ends that are exceptional and really help their offense. So a big player in the middle is a matchup problem."
Baugh is big, standing at 6-foot-5, 258 pounds and possesses solid hands, certainly with the potential to become a matchup problem for the opposition. Urban Meyer's offense requires a tight end who can block on the edge, which is what made Vannett and Jeff Heuerman so valuable in recent years. Additionally, Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Thomas, Braxton Miller, Jalin Marshall, Curtis Samuel and others needed the ball too in 2015. There is a reason four of those guys became draft picks.
Baugh said Tuesday the three tight ends in the 2015 recruiting class — Jake Hausmann, Kierre Hawkins and Luke Farrell — are all physically more developed than he was when he came to Ohio State. Now a redshirt junior, Baugh is looked to as the leader at the position and No. 1 option. He feels his place in the offense expanding some too.
"Now, I have a pretty good role on offense," Baugh said. "I would say better than in the past years, but the way it’s looking right now I have a pretty good role in the passing game."
It is early in camp but Baugh said the tight end is the first or second choice for Barrett on some reads in the passing game.
"We have the same concepts and plays, it's just sometimes we'll have flipped the two and three receiver or change us to the first read," Baugh said. "There's a lot more where we're the primary in the concept."
That could be the effect of having the team's offensive coordinator as your position coach or the exodus of talent and roster flip following the 2015 season.
Whatever it is, the twinkle in Warinner's eye will only stay there (and get the football into the hands of Baugh and others) if they can show him and Meyer they demand attention and be something other than just a sixth offensive lineman. Otherwise, this storyline will become a pipe dream.
"It doesn't hurt having him as my position coach," Baugh said. "He's going to make us look good and himself look good."
Added Warinner: "We put in passes or the progression takes the ball to them early so we want to be multiple in who we get the ball to. We have ways to get it to every position and that's a position we definitely want to get the ball to this fall."
