OSU defense goes about its business

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

While everyone seems to be talking about Urban Meyer’s new hurry-up offense at Ohio State, the defense has been quietly going about its business.

OK, maybe not exactly quietly.

“I would say practices are a little more enthusiastic. A lot more fast tempo,” said lineman John Simon, the Cardinal Mooney High graduate who is acknowledged as the leader of the defense. “It’s good for us. That’s what we need. It’s making guys think on their feet and think fast. That’s how games are played, so it’s getting us prepared.”

The Buckeyes return nine starters on defense from a team that floundered at times during a 6-7 season. The defense was 27th in the nation in points allowed and 19th in yardage permitted.

But with Simon and Johnathan Hankins playing well up front this spring, and corners Travis Howard and Bradley Roby holding down the fort in the secondary, there are high hopes for much improvement this fall.

There’s an edge to Meyer’s practices that touches every player at every position. Almost every drill, every bit of conditioning, is a head-to-head competition.

“It’s fun. Because last year there really wasn’t that much competition,” Hankins said. “To see each other fight every day every play is fun. Practice is faster.”

Meyer has gushed about Simon, in particular, this spring. Summoning up the name of a quarterback who led one of his Florida teams to a national championship, Meyer referred to Simon as “Tebowish.”

Simon deflects that kind of high praise.

“It’s a great honor everything that he says about me,” said the senior who led the team with seven sacks last season. “But we’ve got a lot of guys on this team who deserve that honor as well.”

Mike Vrabel, who coached linebackers last year, is now in charge of the defensive linemen. He said having two great players on the line in Simon and Hankins has made his job simpler.

“The better they play, the better I appear to coach,” he said. “When you’re blessed with great guys and great players, it’s easy to coach those guys. We’ve got to get the other guys going up to that standard. It’s easy for the other guys to see what our expectation is because they don’t have to look too far. They can look to those guys right there — how they compete and how they play.”

So far, the defensive line has been overpowering. Getting a consistent rush on the quarterback and stopping the ground game has made it much easier for the secondary.

Asked about the benefits of having an intimidating front line, cornerbacks coach Kerry Combs said everything stems from the play of the biggest guys.

“They’re our best friends. Those guys are getting up-the-field pressure on the quarterback, not giving him time to throw. They’re phenomenal,” he said. “As a result, if you can get pressure with a four-man rush, and put seven in coverage, you’ve got a great chance to cover. If you have to get your pressure out of five- and six-man pressures, it’s a lot tougher on our guys. Right now we’re thrilled with the amount of pressure that the D-line is putting on the offense.”

Ohio State has not revealed a depth chart at this stage of spring workouts. But Garrett Goebel and Adam Bellamy also figure to see a lot of playing time up front.