Ohio State Football: Perry Eliano could be a stud coach

The Ohio State football team revamped their entire defensive coaching staff this offseason. It was out of necessity since the defense was one of the softer defenses in big games I can remember. Honestly, it was the same in 2020 too and that cost them a national championship.

One of the coaches that Ryan Day brought in to help fix that is Perry Eliano. Eliano is the new safeties coach with the Buckeyes and has already started turning some heads on the recruiting trail. He hasn’t landed a recruit yet, but he’s got the ear of some big-time guys.

Eliano had some great coaching moments with Cincinnati, which is where he was prior to coming to Columbus. He helped the defense be good enough to help the Bearcats make the College Football Playoff and helped Sauce Gardner be a likely first-round pick in this upcoming draft.

Ohio State needs someone who can develop the young guys in the secondary. 2020 was probably the worst performance from an Ohio State secondary since 2013, and I’d argue it was worse. The Buckeyes are hoping that Eliano can do that for the safeties.

Safety was a problem position for the Ohio State football team last season, partially because of injury. With Josh Proctor back from his injury and Tanner McCalister transferring in, Eliano should have some decent pieces to work with that the Buckeyes didn’t have in 2021.

Eliano is considered a rising star on the defensive side of the ball in terms of coaching. The Buckeyes are very happy to have Eliano on the staff. If he can recruit as well as Kerry Coombs could, then the Buckeyes hit this hire out of the park.

This summer will tell us how good of a recruiter Eliano is and early Fall will tell us about his coaching abilities. I can’t wait to find out on both fronts.