Ohio State has a new offensive coordinator this season. Arthur Smith replaces Brian Hartline now that Hartline is a head coach at USF. Last season was the first year in which Hartline was actually given the opportunity to call plays, and the reviews were somewhat mixed.
The Buckeyes won every game Hartline called plays in. Once he announced he was leaving right before the Big Ten Championship, Ryan Day took over play-calling. That didn't go so well, and Ohio State lost its final two games. Yet, not everyone liked what Hartline was doing with the offense.
Did Isaiah West take a shot at Brian Hartline while praising Arthur Smith?
When describing what Smith brings to the table, West seemed to value that Smith has shrunk the playbook.
"Arthur Smith has a structured plan for the offense. We don't have a thousand different plays. We have a few that we're really good at. Arthur Smith is really big on the basics."
In this response, did West take a veiled shot at Hartline for the size of the playbook? Hartline had never called plays before, so it stands to reason that he took what he knew about calling plays from Ryan Day. Whatever the case was, it seems West was frustrated with the volume of the playbook.
Even if he isn't taking a shot at Hartline, West made it pretty clear that he likes the new system. He seems excited that Smith has changed the approach heading into next year. It would be nice if the team was able to play a little faster without having to think about so much on that end of the ball.
Last season, the Ohio State Buckeyes averaged 422.6 yards per game. That was only good enough to be considered the 26th-best offense in the country. It's a drop from where they have been in the past. Ohio State also managed to score just 24 combined points in the final two games of the year.
Ohio State feels they can be a top-five offense in the country
With the talent returning from last year, the Buckeyes have a real shot to have the best offense in the country. Jeremiah Smith is the best returning player in the country. Of course, he was the best returning player to start last season, too. However, he had a first-year starting quarterback.
Julian Sayin comes back a year after having been a Heisman Finalist. That should make this team much more dangerous. There is a reason that they are the top-rated team in the polls. Day wouldn't have hired Smith if he didn't think that he could not just keep the offense at a strong level, but elevate it to an elite level.
With two former NFL head coaches coordinating the offense and the defense, other teams are in trouble. That's even true with how tough the schedule will be. West seems to be excited about the direction that the team is headed on the offensive side of the ball, and that should excite fans.
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