Ohio State Football: Ronnie Hickman at bullet will be key

For several seasons, the Ohio State football team has teased deploying a defensive hybrid position dubbed the “Bullet” position. Since the Buckeyes did not have the right depth and personnel for playing the proposed position, it hasn’t been present on Ohio State’s defense.

This offseason, the coaching staff continuously mentioned using the bullet position. Finally, we saw what the bullet position will look like in the season-opener against Minnesota. Ronnie Hickman was the player debuting the bullet position for most of the night with 62 snaps. With six snaps, Craig Young was backing up Hickman at bullet.

Hickman at bullet showed exactly why everyone was so excited to see the new position on the field. The bullet position presents so much versatility for the Buckeye defense. Hickman moved all over the field throughout the game depending on the personnel on the field.

For the majority of the time, the Buckeyes were set in the traditional 4-3 defense. Hickman was up by the line of scrimmage playing linebacker with three corners playing man coverage and Josh Proctor playing deep safety. Other times Ohio State had three traditional linebackers on the field with two corners and had Hickman, the bullet, playing safety alongside Proctor.

The bullet was exactly as expected with Hickman basically bouncing back and forth between linebacker and safety. What makes this position so appealing is Hickman’s speed at linebacker. All players who play the bullet position have safety-type speed. The trick for playing the position is whoever plays bullet must be physical enough to play by the line of scrimmage. Hickman certainly looked the part Thursday night.

Ronnie Hickman looked impressive for the Ohio State football team in the 45-31 season-opening victory

The bullet position wouldn’t be talked about in a positive manner if the players at the position looked bad. This was not the case though, as Hickman had a good performance against Minnesota.

Hickman led the team in tackles with 11. He was one of 12 players on defense who graded out as a “Champion”. On a week-by-week basis, the coaching staff of Ohio State gives the title of champion to players who they think performed well in their recent game.

The defensive staff had to like what they saw out of Hickman. In addition, Hickman was one of the highest-graded players on the Buckeye defense by PFF, which gave him a grade of 68.6. This isn’t a superb grade, but it is solid to above-average and is a good start for Hickman.

Overall, Hickman tackled quite well throughout the Minnesota game, proving he can be physical enough to play some linebacker. He did have a couple of missed tackles like the rest of the defense, but for the most part, Hickman’s tackling was consistent. On more than one occasion, Hickman made impressive open-field tackles.

The entire idea of the bullet position was evident with Hickman’s solid performance. Having a position that can be either a solid safety or a very speedy linebacker is so valuable. Hickman’s role fits in very nicely alongside other skilled traditional linebackers like Cody Simon and Tommy Eichenberg.

The bullet position still remains a potential game-changer for the Ohio State football team’s defense. As the Buckeyes look to improve their defense, Hickman at bullet could be a huge factor all season long.