Ohio State Football: Jim Knowles already making progress

Ryan Day pretty much cleaned house on the defensive side of the ball. The Ohio State football team had two consecutive bad seasons on that side that cost them a national title. In 2020, that was the reason the Buckeyes lost to Alabama in the title game. In 2021, it was the reason they didn’t make the CFP.

Day brought in Jim Knowles to run the show on defense after taking an Oklahoma State program that was one of the ten worst defenses when he got there and turning it around to be a top-five defense in the country. Now, Knowles is tasked with much of the same in Columbus.

The Spring Game got us our first glimpse of the defense. This will not be the same defense we see in the Fall because it was extremely basic. Day made that very clear both before and after the game. But what we did see is progress from the last two years.

The defense made some plays at every level of the unit. Jack Sawyer looked comfortable in the “Jack” position near the defensive line. He is going to wreak havoc both rushing the passer and dropping back into coverage during certain zone and even man-to-man looks.

Jordan Hancock staked his claim to be the third cornerback in the rotation. He was making plays all around the field in both the passing game and run game. Ohio State stole him from Clemson during recruiting and he finally has a shot to see the field this season.

The offense had issues at times moving the ball during the Spring Game. Even with a watered-down version of this defense playing, they still showed immense progress. This is a development that should excite Ohio State football fans all across the country for this year.