Ohio State Football: Defensive back depth still concerning

Cornerbacks are part of the reason that the Ohio State football team isn’t playing for a national championship on Monday night against TCU. The defense, specifically the defensive backs, got burned in the fourth quarter and the Buckeyes gave up a 14-point lead.

With the Buckeyes losing another defensive back to the portal, the depth is now extremely concerning. They did get Ja’Had Carter, a safety from Syracuse to transfer in. But that isn’t enough to offset a departure of backs that have already happened. Plus, the DBs that are here haven’t been all that good.

At corner, the Buckeyes now have just six scholarship players for next season. Of those corners, just Denzel Burke has significant playing time. Jordan Hancock has been hurt most of his career so he hasn’t gotten a chance to play a ton of snaps yet.

Jim Knowles and his staff better get on the recruiting trail to get some corners and safeties into the program. The Buckeyes aren’t going to magically get better in the backend next season either. In fact, there’s an argument they could be even worse with the inexperience they’re throwing out there.

2023 is a defining season for Ryan Day has the head coach of this Ohio State football program. I thought he called an excellent game against Georgia. His defense just let him down. I thought it was the best play-calling he had all season long if I’m being honest.

He needs to continue to do that next year or give up his play-calling duties altogether. The fanbase won’t tolerate another loss to TTUN next year. That would be three losses in a row to them, something that hasn’t happened since John Cooper roamed the sidelines in the mid-90s.

I’m very concerned about the secondary next year. I’m hoping a full offseason with Jim Knowles will help alleviate some of those fears.