Ohio State Football: Expectations for Spring Game
At last year’s Spring Game, the defense of the Gray team showed up as well, holding the Haskins-led Scarlet team to only 14 points. While that defense had its struggles during the regular season, they finished on a high note, holding Washington to only 23 points.
On the defensive side of the ball, we will get a glance at how new coaches Greg Mattison, Jeff Hafley and Al Washington can improve last year’s defense, which had its fair share of struggles. Yet, even through those struggles, several players stood out and will look to bolster their draft stock in the upcoming season.
Defensive end Chase Young, who tied for the most sacks in the Big Ten last season (10.5) while battling injuries, will look to pick off where Nick Bosa left off. He will try to push his name into the top 10 of 2020 mock drafts (as a junior, it is likely though not certain that he will declare for the draft after this season).
Linebacker Malik Harrison, who was the star of the Buckeyes defense against That Team Up North, will look to plug the holes that plagued the Buckeyes last year when they gave up multiple 60+ yard runs.
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He will look to the new leadership of Al Washington, who will have the task of improving the defense of Harrison, Tuf Borland, Pete Werner, Baron Browing and Teradja Mitchell, who will make up the core of the linebacker unit this season.
We will also get a glance at the secondary, who is expected to have a strong season under new coach Jeff Hafley. With all starting cornerbacks and safeties returning (besides Kendall Sheffield), the Buckeyes will have a chance to focus intently on improvement and not replacement, unlike the defensive line, who will be forced to replace multiple starters.
And finally, we will get a chance to see the six early enrollees (WR Garrett Wilson, DE Zach Harrison, RB Marcus Crowley, S Ronnie Hickman, DE Noah Potter and OL Ryan Jacoby) from the 2019 recruiting class. They will hope to show Buckeye Nation that they belong and that they will be the future of Ohio State football.
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Overall, the Spring Game is a fun reminder that football is coming and an excellent opportunity to gain insight into what the 2019 Ohio State football team will look like and what we can expect to see from the future of Buckeye football.