Ohio State Football: Ronnie Hickman looking to be even better

Most of the time, if your leading tackler is a member of the secondary, that’s not a good thing. That was mostly true for the Ohio State football team this past season. They struggled on the defensive side of the ball, and their leading tackler came from the secondary.

Ronnie Hickman was that leading tackler. He had a really good year, totaling 99 tackles, 2 picks, including one for a touchdown, and a sack. Even though you don’t want a safety leading the team in tackles because that means teams are gaining a lot of yards, Hickman did pretty well.

Hickman is looking to have even more success next year under Jim Knowles‘ new defensive scheme. The Buckeyes will likely have two or three safeties on the field at the same time. Hickman should be one of those safeties and is big enough to play in a hybrid role as well.

Hickman can definitely help to stop the run. He stands at 6’1 and 205 pounds, so he’s got a big enough body to come flying in to stop running backs. His ball skills are decent, but that’s something he’s looking to improve on this season.

Honestly, Hickman might be the one player on the defense who doesn’t need to improve his tackling. Everyone else struggled to make one-on-one tackles. Hickman might need to teach everyone else his technique so that the Buckeyes can stop more offenses.

I would expect Hickman to be even better as a junior. He’s going to want to have a big year so that he can entertain the idea of leaving the Ohio State football program early so he can enter the NFL Draft in 2022. If he wants to be a high draft pick, he’s going to need to make more big plays.

Hickman will be getting some new coaching this season. We’ll see if that aids in his development in 2022 and beyond.