One of the biggest question marks surrounding Ohio State in 2016 is how to replace a pair of veteran safeties at the back end of its defense. With Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell both currently in NFL training camp, the Buckeyes must find a way to fill two gigantic holes in their secondary.
As things stand right now, with Ohio State wrapping up its fifth practice of fall camp Thursday, junior Damon Webb and redshirt sophomore Malik Hooker are running with the first-team defense at those two positions. But according to co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Greg Schiano, junior Erick Smith and redshirt junior Cam Burrows are not far behind.
“Right now, the whole thing is wide open,” Schiano said Thursday. “We haven’t named anybody a starter.”
There is currently no timetable for the Buckeyes to name their starters at both safety spots, but in the pair of practices open to the media thus far during training camp, it has been Webb and Hooker running with the first team while Burrows and Smith go with the second team. Throughout spring practice, as Burrows and Smith were both sidelined due to injuries suffered during the season, Ohio State’s first-team safeties were the same.
“It’s just a competition every day and we’re just going out there and competing, giving our best effort and making plays,” Hooker said. “Right now, we’re still not sure. We’re just going in there trying to figure out the plays and stuff like that.”
In Bell and Powell, Ohio State must replace a pair of two-year starters, both of whom currently sit on NFL rosters. Bell was a second-round pick of the New Orleans Saints and while Powell went undrafted, he was quickly snatched up by the Seattle Seahawks.
Both made timely, big plays throughout their college careers in Columbus.
“Vonn and Tyvis, they actually taught me a lot,” Hooker said. “When I first came in, they were pretty much mentoring me, teaching me the plays in one-on-one sessions and stuff like that. I’m just using the technique and fundamentals that they taught me and just putting it together there out on the field.”
For now, it’s Hooker and Webb that figure to be the replacements for Bell and Powell as Schiano said Smith and Burrows might be "a notch below." But Ohio State's new co-defensive coordinator was also quick to point out the gap between the Buckeyes' first- and second-team safeties is not that wide.
It's a competition that likely won't be decided for at least another week.
“We’ve just been going hard every day; I don’t care if I was with the 1s or 2s, I’m still going to go hard,” Webb said. “We don’t look at it as a battle. We’re just trying to get better each and every day.”
