Ohio State Football: Secondary is biggest concern for Buckeyes in 2020

The Ohio State football team has a lot of firepower coming back for the 2020 season, but what area is the biggest concern for the Buckeyes?

The 2019 version of the Ohio State football team featured a great all-around team, however, that was not the mindset coming into the season.

Having a new starting quarterback and coming off a terrible defensive year, this team had a lot of question marks that they ended up answering. Now as players exit the program, there are still some question marks concerning the 2020 Ohio State Buckeyes.

The biggest concern for this team is going to be their secondary. Losing three out of four players for a unit that was instrumental in the Buckeyes’ success is hard. While Ohio State is used to retooling with a lot of their players leaving early for the NFL, that is a lot to replace on one unit.

Shawn Wade staying will absolutely help the Buckeyes, however, he will be playing in a different position (outside corner vs. slot) than he has in his career at Ohio State. In 2019, when players on the outside would go out with injury or ejection, Shaun Wade did not slide over.

This is not to say that he can’t be the next great cornerback to come out of DBU, but there will be a learning curve that may take a few games.

Arguably, the biggest boost Ohio State is receiving in the secondary is in coach Kerry Coombs returning to the Buckeyes. He has a great track record of leading strong successful units, and Ryan Day is going to count on him to do it again.

After seeing what Jeff Hafley was able to do in just one season with this group, coach Coombs has a very high bar.

If Coombs has success in coaching the next generation of Ohio State great cornerbacks, this team will be among the favorites for a national title. However, if this defense struggles, the Buckeyes could be in some trouble with a difficult schedule looming.