Ohio State Football: The Jack position might be dead

The Ohio State football team is in the second year of trying to wrap their heads around Jim Knowles’ complex defense. They were able to implement most of the defense last year, but not 100%. This year should be a different story though.

One of the important aspects of Knowles’ defense is the “Jack” position. It’s a hybrid defensive end-linebacker role that allows a player to play both positions. Jack Sawyer manned that position last year for most of the season and did a pretty decent job of it.

But according to Jim Knowles today at Spring practice, the “Jack” position won’t be used this Spring. In fact, Sawyer has been moved back to a traditional defensive end position. Does this mean that the “Jack” position is already dead? Have the Buckeyes decided to go a little more traditional in their style?

That remains to be seen. The Ohio State football team will still stay in that 4-2-5 format and will still have three safeties out there. That formation is something that hasn’t changed. Knowles also didn’t indicate that the “Jack” position would be fully eliminated once Fall rolls around.

I still find it very interesting that they aren’t using it in the Spring. My guess is that Knowles has just gotten rid of it from his scheme and started focusing on four traditional down linemen. Why else wouldn’t you practice that position as much as you can?

It’s still the first day of Spring ball, so a lot can still change. I find this development very interesting though. Ohio State had some issues rushing the passer late in the year. Maybe they think they can do better at that with two traditional defensive ends going at the same time.

There will surely be a lot of stories that come out of Spring ball. This is just one of many.