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2008 Secondary Discussion

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Dispatch
DBs look to close gap in backfield
Too many drops kept unit from making big plays
Wednesday, April 9, 2008 3:31 AM
By Ken Gordon


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




They're called "up-downs," and Ohio State players hate them. They involve jogging in place, and when a coach blows a whistle, you hit the ground and bounce back up, still jogging. "They are not pleasant at all," defensive back Malcolm Jenkins said.
Starting today, the entire OSU defense will have to do 20 up-downs for each dropped interception. If the policy had been in place yesterday, they would have done 80.
The name of the punishment is appropriate because when the ball went up last year, Ohio State defenders did not come down with enough of them.
The Buckeyes had 11 interceptions, and according to free safety Anderson Russell, they dropped 15. Russell alone dropped four.
"One against Youngstown State, one against Akron and two at Purdue," he said. "Every day, I remember them."



Cont...
 
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Dispatch
April 8, 2008

Will Malcolm stay in the middle?

It was defensive backs day in the old ballpark tonight, and I was examining the safety spot.
One interesting topic was whether Malcolm Jenkins would once again slide to safety when OSU is in nickel. That worked out well last year, with Jenkins snagging at least several of his team-high four interceptions from his spot roaming the field.
This spring, Jenkins is not playing safety. But I didn't read that to mean he won't return there in the fall. The way safeties coach Paul Haynes explained it, they know Jenkins can play there, and spring is about rolling a lot of other guys into those spots to see if they can play -- guys like Eugene Clifford, Aaron Gant, Nick Patterson and Jamario O'Neal, to name a few. Why waste spring practice reps with Jenkins there?
In the fall, though, it comes down to getting the five best DBs on the field in nickel. So really, the question is, is Chimdi Chekwa (the No. 3 corner last year) better than O'Neal (the No. 3 safety last year)?

Cont...
 
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Ohio State football: News and notes on Malcolm Jenkins, Eugene Clifford and the defensive backs
Posted by jmorona April 09, 2008

Defensive back depth chart: According to cornerbacks coach Taver Johnson, behind starters Malcolm Jenkins and Donald Washington, Chimdi Chekwa is the No. 3 corner and Andre Amos, now back from a knee injury, is the No. 4 corner. Shaun Lane, a special teamer, would be No. 5 and redshirt freshman James Scott is there, too.

According to safeties coach Paul Haynes, behind starters Anderson Russell and Kurt Coleman, Jamario O'Neal is the No. 3 safety, Eugene Clifford sounds like the No. 4 safety and Nick Patterson and Aaron Gant are also in the mix.

Haynes also mentioned linebackers Jermale Hines and Tyler Moeller potentially working in as nickel safeties, though we heard that with Moeller last year and it never really materialized.

"Those guys both could be safeties, body-type wise and running wise," Haynes said. "And they play out there anyway in our base formation. It's just a body, but we play the same defense."

Haynes especially likes the way those guys can stop the run when receivers try to block them.
Click to expand...

Ohio State football: News and notes on Malcolm Jenkins, Eugene Clifford and the defensive backs - Cleveland Sports News – The Latest Breaking News, Game Recaps and Scores from The Plain Dealer
 
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I am thrilled with everything Im hearing about the DBs..

1) No more switching guys all over the place.. i really thought it effected the ability of some of the guys to execute.. I prefer seeing everybody having a set position, and then mastering it.

2) Couldnt be happier for O'Neal.. when he struggled in 06, then lost a job in 07, I thought he was done.. He was a top level recruit, who was then a junior, with no starting job, and younger players holding all the DB positions.. It would have been easy for him to give up.. Instead, he played like a demon on ST, did well in his limited snaps at S, is one of the emotional leaders on the team, and now seems to be in position to win a key role as the STAR back.. Couldnt be happier for the kid..

3) Ideally would love to see Chekwa start focusing on being the backup for Malcolm.. start getting prepped for 09, even if it means fewer snaps for him in 08..

4) Clifford sounds like he is coming on hard.. not sure how much he'll play this year, but I have a hard time believing he wont be a starter in 2009.. even if it means a guy like Russell has to find a new position/role.

5) Once again, props to the coaches for listening to the players and deciding to pull back on the "multiple positions" especially in the case of Jenkins
 
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To be honest, I think Malcolm and Donald Washington are the best CB duo we have ever had. So in my opinion I want the playmakers at both Safty positions, Big Fly around guy, If that happens to be Eugene and O'Neil thats who I would want, because both Malcolm and Donald give us that privilege. Your not going to find many CB tandems with the excellent man to man coverage as both Malcolm and Donald.

That is my personal opinion, and I know that it probably won't happen.
 
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ozone

The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas

Change for a Nickel: OSU's nickel defense last season was rather interesting. When the Buckeyes wanted to go to the nickel they didn't really bring in a nickel back. Instead, they brought in a corner (Chimdi Chekwa), regular corner Malcolm Jenkins went to Anderson Russell's safety position, and Russell moved to the Star (nickel back) position. It appears that whole scenario is going to change this spring.

"Last year after the season we talked about we would be better off as a secondary with everybody playing just one position. When we go in we're just going to bring somebody in to play nickel. I think it's going to be good for us in the long run," said Russell.

This spring the Buckeyes are looking for nickel candidates. The criteria is really pretty simple.

"We're just working on finding our best five," said safeties coach Paul Haynes. "In the spring you're trying to find out who are those guys. The key for us is to try to put them in the right spots."

Contd ...
Click to expand...
 
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HorticullyBuck;1137207; said:
CB -man//man vs Saftey.

Which position needs the better football player??

im assuming you need more speed for CB and better tackling/ hitting for saftey. What really seperates who plays what??
Click to expand...

Coverage skills are clearly more critical at corner. You want the harder hitter at safety for run support. Tackling is vital at both.
 
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Yeah I don't know about you guys but I thought moving a lock down corner like jenkins who also is so physical to saftey was the dumbest thing I've seen outta our dcoordinators last year. When jenkins plays his natural position it makes the other offenses very predictable to which side of the field theyr'e going to go (away from him). Now I understand that putting him in the middle they were hoping they couldn't avoid him, but that just made jenkins less effective because he was covering a ton more ground. jenkins can essentially, when playing corner, shut down 1/4 of the field. which is a lot easier to do that rather than having so much backfield to cover as a saftey.

I'd love to see both moeller/hines grab that starting nickle position. With Clifford maybe being out for the year, and chikwa moving into a starting roll with washington maybe being out for the year that really opens up the door for them. There was 5 possible nickle backs in that article ( o'neal, chikwa, clifford, moeller, and hines) with two maybe beign suspended and the other moving into a starting role the nickle spot has over night gone to a two man race between #26 and #7. I like the idea of having a very fast LB at the nickle spot. This way we can add more size to our secondary so in any case of someone running against our nickle defense will now be a lot harder to do. On a personal note i hope tyler wins the job because of how people talk of his speed and the motor that he has. It'd be great to see his hard work finally get rewarded here..
 
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"Yeah I don't know about you guys but I thought moving a lock down corner like jenkins who also is so physical to saftey was the dumbest thing I've seen outta our dcoordinators last year."

Jenkins got all of his INT's from the safety position, so it couldn't have been all that stupid.
 
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