Ohio State Football: Other Buckeye defensive ends need to start producing

Ohio State football defensive end Chase Young has been a monster for the Buckeyes this year, but other defensive ends need to start producing.

Chase Young has dominated on the field for the Ohio State football team this season as he leads the nation with 13.5 sacks. After him though, other Buckeyes are not really racking up the sacks.

To help Young continue his success and for the defensive unit as a whole to continue its domination, the Buckeyes are going to need to see more production from other defensive ends.

Looking at the other defensive ends, we have senior Jonathon Cooper, sophomore Tyreke Smith, freshman Zach Harrison, and redshirt freshman Javontae Jean-Baptiste.

Harrison and Jean-Baptiste each have 1.5 sacks on the season while Smith has one and Cooper does not have any.

However, Cooper and Smith have been banged up this year as Cooper has only played two games and Smith has only played four. Harrison himself has only played in five games but Jean-Baptiste has played in seven of the team’s eight games.

I am sure it is hard to get consistent production from your defensive ends when they are not able to actually play but these guys have to have more than just four total sacks combined – especially when Young has 13.5 by himself.

Young is getting a lot of attention because of how great he is. So, those guys should be able to get to the quarterback because of lack of attention they get compared to Young.

Additionally, if they could start getting to the QB consistently then offensive lines will start to direct more attention to them and less attention to Young.

When you look at some of the best pass rushers in the history of football, most of them had a partner that drew attention away from them.

For the Indianapolis Colts, Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis combined for 186 sacks and 73 forced fumbles in their 10 seasons together, according to Colts.com.

Even recently, rookie Bradley Chubb had 12 sacks for the Denver Broncos last season, freeing Von Miller up to get 14.5 sacks. The Houston Texans’ Jadeveon Clowney had nine sacks last season which allowed J.J. Watt to get 16 while the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Calais Campbell had 10.5 sacks last year and Yannick Ngakoue had 9.5.

I know that the NFL is a different game than college football, but this proves that it is better for elite pass rushers to have a partner to rush the quarterback with them.

Young has been dominant without a pass-rushing partner this season and I think he will continue to excel with or without one. If one of the other Buckeye defensive ends can start producing though, then Young will be able to get to the QB easier and offenses will be in a lot of trouble.