Spring practice is in full swing at Ohio State, and Buckeye fans will get their opportunity to watch the team in Ohio Stadium in two-and-a-half weeks.
Ryan Day said Monday that Ohio State will have a spring game after all this year, and that’s a decision that should be celebrated at a time when other colleges are canceling their spring games. The spring game can be a great opportunity both for fans to connect with the Buckeyes and for the team to get game-like reps ahead of the season, and it’s apparent Day recognized the value of both of those things in opting to move forward with a spring game.
After opening this week’s show by looking forward to the April 12 spring game, we talk about how Matt Patricia has continued to impress us in our early glimpses of Ohio State’s new defensive coordinator. Then, we share some of our early-spring thoughts on how Patricia’s defense could look this season, including the multiplicity he wants to be a hallmark of his scheme, Malik Hartford’s emergence at safety and Ohio State’s rebuild along the defensive line, where the Buckeyes’ defensive end two-deep looks promising but there’s still more questions than answers in terms of defensive tackle depth.
The full rundown for this week’s show:
- 0:00 Ryan Day Makes the Right Decision By Moving Forward with A Spring Game
- 5:15 Matt Patricia Continuing to Make Great Impression in First Two Weeks of Spring
- 10:30 What the Multiplicity of Matt Patricia’s Defense Could Look Like
- 14:05 Malik Hartford Trending Toward Playing A Big Role in Ohio State’s Secondary
- 16:56 C.J. Hicks Seems to Be Finally Be Playing the Right Position
- 21:31 Ohio State Has the Pieces to Rotate More Frequently at Defensive End This Season
- 26:40 Defensive Tackle Depth Remains A Major Question Mark
- 33:42 Ohio State’s Defense Will Likely Go As Its Defensive Line Goes
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