HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE CAN A NEW COORDINATOR REALLY MAKE?
Kevin Wilson, in his first year as Ohio State's offensive coordinator, will be tasked with making sure J.T. Barrett, Mike Weber and co. make improvements on the offensive side of the ball in the coming season.
A year ago today, Kevin Wilson was gearing up for another season at the helm of the Indiana Hoosiers football program. Today, he's switched up the hue of red on his shirt and hat and is part of Urban Meyer's staff that has hopes as high as any team for a national championship in the coming season.
And, as any fan who paid attention to the offense last year, he's going to be expected to help out in a big way.
With the team's two leading receivers from last year gone, needing an offensive guard spot to be filled and just the need for overall improvement on the offensive side of the ball to keep up with the rest of the NCAA, Kevin Wilson will certainly have his hands full.
But how much can a new coordinator really help a team out? Especially a program that is already a national championship contender year in and year out?
Well, you won't even have to turn your eyes to another school to find out just what a new coordinator can do.
Hearken back to the 2013 season. Braxton Miller was still a quarterback, and a Big Ten offensive player of the year caliber one at that. Tom Herman, Texas' new head coach, was in charge of the offense, the offensive line had four seniors holding up the fort and the defense was anchored by players like Ryan Shazier, Bradley Roby, Michael Bennett and Noah Spence.
The team began the season 12-0 before suffering a heartbreaking loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game and then a 40-35 loss at the hands of Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
Not the worst loss to Clemson you can recall, I'm sure, but a bowl game loss nonetheless.
But even as the team succeeded greatly (despite the sputtering finish to the season), one glaring hole seemed to exist on the team: the secondary.
Bradley Roby, C.J. Barnett and Christian Bryant anchored the group, and they were all fine players in their own right, but of the three, only Roby was a first-round draft pick, Bryant was a seventh-round pick and Barnett went undrafted. In contrast with last season, three players from the secondary were selected in the first round alone.
To compete with college football's finest, the Bucks needed an improvement in the secondary. And where did they turn to find that improvement? Arkansas defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach Chris Ash.
The holes in Ohio State's secondary at the end of the 2013 season may have been shown by Clemson's Sammy Watkins who set a new Orange Bowl record with 227 receiving yards en route to being named the MVP. Ash certainly had a tall task in fixing Ohio State's secondary.
And that he did, and in only one season, no less.
Entire article:
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...add-to-ohio-state-as-an-offensive-coordinator