Ohio State football: The time is now for Bryson Shaw

The Ohio State football team is having a problem on defense. That problem is now exacerbated by injuries in the secondary.

As suspected, safety Josh Proctor’s 2021 season is over after suffering a fracture to his lower right leg against Oregon. After taking over the starting job part way through last season, Proctor has been a stabilizing presence on the backend of a defense that sorely needs it.

Coming into this season it was hoped he would continue to improve and turn into a Jordan Fuller-type, and his backup, Bryson Shaw, could take a season to develop. Proctor’s injury has changed all of that. The time is now for Bryson Shaw.

Shaw started the Oregon game because Proctor had a bit of a shoulder injury leftover from the opener against Minnesota. The results were not exactly impressive and Proctor eventually was pressed into service. Shaw was on the field for 54 plays (according to snap counts compiled by Eleven Warriors), Proctor only 21.

Yet, Proctor made just as many tackles (four) as Shaw. While Shaw looked passive, unsure, and was taking bad pursuit angles, Proctor was flying to the ball. The difference between the two was stark.

In defense of Shaw, Proctor struggled with pursuit angles early in his career as well. This is nothing unusual for inexperienced players. But, considering this is Shaw’s third year in the program and saw playing time in eight games coming into this season, I just expected more last week. Especially after he graded as a champion for the Minnesota game when he replaced Proctor, and Ryan Day spoke so glowingly about him last week.

When asked last week about the possibility of Shaw replacing Proctor against Oregon, Day talked about how well Shaw tackled, was where he was supposed to be, made the right calls, and is a calming force. That’s the Bryson Shaw we need to see.

The one Day talked about from the Minnesota game and not the one we saw against Oregon. We all are acutely aware of the problems of the OSU defense. A solid player on the backend who can clean up anything that gets through will help a great deal.

Last week I wrote about Ohio State having four starters on offense who were very low-rated three-star recruits. Shaw, who is from Maryland, was the 575th overall player and just the 45th ranked safety nationally for his recruiting year.

Like those four on offense, he needs to become another three-star superstar for the Ohio State football team and he needs to become one sooner rather than later. The time is now for Bryson Shaw.