Don’t be shocked if a number of true freshmen play a lot under new coordinator Jim Knowles with that unit having been awful the previous two seasons.
Columbus, OH – True freshmen who actually see the field at just about any upstanding Division I football-playing university can be compared to a primary or high school student skipping a grade.
That’s one bear of a climb for an 18- or 19-year-old even at the dregs of the Big Ten, Indiana, Nebraska, Rutgers, Illinois and Maryland.
Doing that at Ohio State, where fans are brazen enough to try to book rooms at the sites of the College Football Playoff semifinals and championship game months in advance, is like graduating in three years.
Veteran columnist Mark Znidar writes the Buckeyes for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Yet in 2021, freshmen popped up on the field with great regularity on both sides of the ball.
Denzel Burke became a shutdown cornerback, defensive ends JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer played more important snaps as the team got deeper into the schedule, defensive tackle Tyleik Williams played here and there and all tailback TreVeyon Henderson did was run for 1,248 yards and score 19 touchdowns rushing and receiving.
With the exception of tight end Bennett Christian, it’s highly unlikely any of the offensive players who signed national letter of intent in December and Wednesday are likely to sniff the field. The 21-man class is rated fourth in the country.
On defense, though, where the Buckeyes ranged from bad to worse to worse yet last season, three new kids in particular might play right away.
The names to become familiar with are lineman Caden Curry, linebacker CJ Hicks and safety Sonny Styles.
This is not minimizing four other freshmen, linebacker Gabe Powers of Marysville, Ohio, tackle Hero Kanu and ends Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Omari Abor. They might play right away, too.
“I’m not asking for the playing time. I’m going to work for it,’’ Curry said.
Good answer, buddy.
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Hicks has been called Captain Buckeye because he was a factor in getting many of the 21 newbies interested in signing or to remain committed. He was the No. 1-ranked player in Ohio at Kettering Alter High School and the No. 1 linebacker in the land.
“We understand that once we come in that nothing is promised to us,’’ Hicks said. “It’s all about working hard and wanting it.’’
Hicks is a five-star, meaning that he is expected to become a stud at the college level and to do the same thing all over again in the NFL.
“I think everybody pays attention to the rankings here,’’ Hicks said. “At this point, it really doesn’t matter. If you are the No. 1 recruit in the nation and play horribly, you are not going to see the field.’’
The freshmen who have enrolled early – there are 11 of them – have been waking up before daybreak to enter the torture chamber of strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti.
Jobs are open for the taking on defense because Ohio State was so damned bad there the last two seasons. Alabama scored 52 points in the national championship game last January. Oregon hung 35 on them. Michigan scored 42 and should have scored more in a defeat that cost the team a chance at a fifth straight Big Ten title. Utah racked up 45 points in the Rose Bowl.
Ryan Day offered defensive coordinator Jim Knowles $1.9 million and the title of ‘head coach’ of the defense to get him away from Oklahoma State.
That’s why head coach Ryan Day wouldn’t stop bothering Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles via cell phone, Zoom and email when he was courting him. He offered $1.9 million and the guarantee that he would be head coach of the defense.
Everyone has been asking safety Tanner McAlister about Knowles He chose to transfer from Oklahoma State to Ohio State to play under him before going into the NFL draft.
What has he been telling them?
“It’s going to be aggressive,’’ McAlister said. “He likes to kind of be an offensive coordinator on defense. A lot of defenses react to what the offense is doing. He wants to make offenses react to what the defenses are doing. We’re going to get in their face. I think he likes to cause confusion.’’
Knowles, he said, is as honest as someone can get in coaching. He was in a contract year in 2021 and the players knew it.
“We as players said, ‘Hey, what are you going to do?’’’ McAlister said. “He was open about it. He said I will let you guys know. (Then) he told me, ‘Hey, I’m going to Ohio State.’ I thought that I’d like to go there with him.’’’
McAlister has watched film of the Buckeyes defense and said it wasn’t the players who messed up.
“Obviously, I watched the tape when I was in the (transfer) portal,’’ he said. “I saw a lot of great players here. There are great pieces. The players weren’t the problem.”
Another transfer is betting on himself that things will improve in 2022. DeaMonte Treyanum had a pretty good gig at Arizona State as a running back in totaling 402 yards and six touchdowns last season. He ran for 290 the season before.
But he thinks his best road to the NFL will be as a linebacker. He played that position at Akron Hoban High School.
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Treyanum will enter a linebacker room that includes veterans in Rose Bowl defensive MVP Tommy Eichenberg, Steele Chambers, Cody Simon, Teradja Mitchell and Palaie Gaoteote.
It’s a safe to wager that one or more will enter the transfer portal during or after spring ball because Knowles plays only two linebackers in his system.
“The way I look at it, it’s never a transition when you are going back home,’’ Treyanum said. “It has just been open arms. Every day is a process, and I’m loving it.’’
Then he said, “I bet on myself a lot of times. I work so hard that it’s hard for me not to be on the field.’’
Akron Hoban product Deamonte Trayanum has transferred from Arizona State and could fortify the Buckeyes at llinebacker.
Day jumped on the chance to land Treyanum because Ohio State finished No. 2 on his list when he signed out of high school.
The man to watch might be Curry. He was ranked a four-star, largely because the state of Indiana doesn’t play great high school football and he is from rural Greenwood.
Look at him on video, though, and, geez, he is a beast with a turbocharged motor. Knowles already has him penciled in at the Leo. That’s a hybrid lineman/linebacker who moves from the weak side to strong side and vice versa before the snap or keeps one hand on the ground as a pure rusher.
Curry’s lone problem is that Marotti’s lifting program has his abdominal muscles screaming. The plan is for him to gain 15 pounds to get to 265. He stands 6 feet 4.
“I’m trying to outwork everybody every day,’’ he said. “I’m soaking it up like a sponge. I’m not asking for the playing time. I going to work for it.’’
What about the Leo spot?
“I kind of see myself with an athletic build,’’ Curry said. “I see that guy on film having the ability to roam around. I look at myself like (Nick and Joey) Bosa.’’
Knowles has made a big impact on him.
“I love him,’’ Curry said. “I saw what he did at Oklahoma State. He has a lot of good things for us. I definitely watched (Oklahoma State’s) defense last year. I like what he did. I’m like a sponge. I’m taking everything in. That dude has so much experience and so much knowledge in football. It’s kind of like having that extra dad. You can see his true love. He loves his players.’’
With the NCAA transfer rules being eased where players can leave one team and play for another immediately, Ohio State could have lost a number of defensive players from this class when the coaching staff was overhauled. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson is the only who was retained.
Hicks saw linebackers coach Al Washington Jr. get fired and go to Notre Dame.
“It was hard a little bit seeing Coach Washington leave,’’ Hicks said. “We all had a linebackers meeting and he said that we were going to shock the country and show everybody who the Ohio State linebackers are. But the next day he was gone. That kind of hurt. He was recruiting me for two years. I understand that it is a business, but Ohio State is going to replace good coaches with good coaches.’’
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