Ohio State football: How personnel lends to new defensive scheme

It looks like the Ohio State football team is headed back to a single-high safety defense in 2021. Is the roster better set for a scheme like that?

Back in Ryan Day’s first season in 2019, the Buckeyes played with just one single-high safety on defense most of the time. They had Shaun Wade in the slot as a corner and only Jordan Fuller back as a true safety, flanked by two other cornerbacks.

Last season, they used mostly a 4-3 as Kerry Coombs joined the staff. That didn’t quite go as well. We all saw the issues that the secondary had all season long, but especially in the National Championship Game. Now, it looks like the scheme will shift back to Day’s original philosophy.

Does the roster lend itself to having a single-high safety scheme though? Yes, actually. The Buckeyes should be better off with just a single-high safety instead of putting two of them back there. They only have one that they trust right now anyway in Josh Proctor.

Coombs could also move towards a 4-2-5 scheme. That would allow the Buckeyes to keep two safeties back there while still having three corners up at the line of scrimmage. Either way, it seems that they will do away with having three linebackers out there at once.

That means that players like Ryan Watts and Lejond Cavasos have a bigger chance at getting some playing time. Not only is it better for them, but it was clearly effective when it was used in 2019. Day knows that it works too.

I will be very interested to see what the primary defense will be for most of the season. That defense and how it will be run is the main thing that could hold Ohio State back from winning a national title. If they get it right, they could be hoisting that trophy at season’s end.