Urban Meyer talks often about those players that contributed to the defensive line on the team that won him his first national title at Ohio State.
"When we won the national championship, the defensive line played as well as any team in America," Meyer said Saturday after the spring game. "And a good chunk of those guys are gone."
Joey Bosa, Adolphus Washington, Mike Bennett, Rashad Frazier, Steve Miller, Tommy Schutt — all names that left the program either after 2014 or this past season. Each thrived against Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon for Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson in the 2014 post-season. Miller's interception return for a touchdown against the Crimson Tide is one of the iconic plays from that run, much like Bennett's inspired play for fallen teammate Kosta Karageorge and Bosa's overall dominance in the trenches.
That team put all the necessary pieces together on both sides of the ball to win the first-ever College Football Playoff, but Johnson's unit specifically played out of its mind to boost the rest of the defense.
"Why did Curtis Grant, Stevie Miller, all these kids become so great at the end of (2014)? Because they fixed that No. 3," Meyer said April 5, when he laid out three reasons players struggle to reach their potential. "They were always good enough, but they didn’t play good enough and we have to find out why.
"It’s very complicated and something we spend an inordinate amount of time on is finding out why is that kid not playing good. It’s easy to say, ‘You stink, you’re not good enough.’ No they don’t. They’ve done something very well to get here."
Meyer said he and his staff spoke to their team at length about that final reason at the end of practice that day, putting an emphasis on how he wanted to see the right steps taken this spring. Especially at defensive line, which must replace Bosa, Schutt, Washington and Joel Hale before the season opener Sept. 3 against Bowling Green.
"There's a lot of pressure on Coach Johnson and that unit," Meyer said Saturday.
Sam Hubbard and Tyquan Lewis didn't play Saturday in the annual spring game. Hubbard is penciled in as a starter and played a bunch in 2015, so it didn't make sense to risk injury. Another starter, Lewis is on his way back from offseason shoulder surgery.
That left the spotlight to shine on the youth of the defensive line. Jashon Cornell, Dre'Mont Jones, Michael Hill, Donovan Munger, Darius Slade, Davon Hamilton, Robert Landers, Jonathon Cooper — the list is long of players vying to be in the rotation this fall. Don't forget Tracy Sprinkle and Jalyn Holmes, two juniors that sat behind stars the last few years. Incoming freshman Nick Bosa is also someone Meyer said will contribute.
"I think they're talented, very eager, we have an excellent D-line coach, and the good thing, they're allowed to spend time with our players now in the summer," Meyer said.
Rules changed to allow for coaches to have some time to work with players during the summer, the part of the calendar programs shred through workouts in preparation for fall camp. But drill work and instruction can only go so far, leaving the extra steps forward to get taken by guys willing to do extra.
"The learning process has to continue, but I was — we finished pretty good in the defensive line the last few practices," Meyer said.
That's expected with spring coming to a close and a top coach like Johnson overseeing the growth. But the pressure to be even better when things get going in August won't go away from a unit that must compete at a high level.
If not, championship seasons don't happen.
"It’s my job to get those guys to the next level. To be honest with you, I enjoy this part of it. This is the part of coaching I really enjoy, to get to develop guys and see them rise," Johnson said this spring. "This is probably the hardest spring I’ve worked in my whole career because it’s all about motivation. Those guys will see it, video tape and they’re like this and they’re buying in. I’m looking forward to where we’re going to end up down the road."
