2022 tOSU Offense

[ScriptOhio]

Ohio State's Tony Alford enjoying 'real talent' running back room; 'Those guys all deserve to play'

There aren’t too many changes from Ohio State’s talented offense in 2021 and the group that will take the field this season. This is especially true in the running back room, where the Buckeyes’ top three players at the position in 2022 are all names with which Scarlet and Gray fans are familiar.

While Master Teague is gone – now a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers – and Marcus Crowley was forced to medically retire, Ohio State’s top-two rushers from last year in TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams are back. Henderson had a record-setting freshman season, rushing for a team-best 1,248 yards and managing 19 total touchdowns. Williams, despite missing three games, had 507 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Add in Evan Pryor, who redshirted after playing minimal snaps in four games during his true freshman season, and the Buckeyes have a trio they are excited about as fall camp began this week.This has made work fun for running backs coach Tony Alford.

“I think we've got a real talented room, I do,” he said on Friday. “Great guys, great guys to work with. I enjoy coming to work with them every day. I'm asking them to make sure they're being pros. They're veteran guys, they've been around. I should say two of them are at least veterans. But they've been in the program now, the top three guys have at least. And so I'm asking them to be pros about the way they approach their business, when they go to meetings, walk throughs, practice. So be pros and just continue to get better. But I love the room right now.”

Entire article: https://247sports.com/college/ohio-...enderson-Miyan-Williams-Evan-Pryor-191032560/

There's an old coaches' adage: "you can never have too many running backs". Needless to say, depth at RB (or any position for that matter) is a very good thing.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Ohio State’s fall camp continued on Friday as the Buckeyes took the field at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for the second time this preseason. The Buckeyes will ultimately complete 25 practices over the next month, so things will like look different by the time the season opener against Notre Dame is set to kick off, but here are several observations from Ohio State’s practice session.

Ohio State’s offensive line groupings remained mostly the same as Thursday, with Paris Johnson Jr., Donovan Jackson, Luke Wypler, Matthew Jones and Dawand Jones going from left to right on the first team and Zen Michalski, Enokk Vimahi, Jakob James, Try Leroux and Josh Fryar on the second team.

There were a couple of new faces on the third team, which went Avery Henry, Ben Christman, Toby Wilson, Jack Forsman and George Fitzpatrick, who replaced Carson Hinzman from Thursday. Ohio State also trotted out a fourth unit that included Tegra Tshabola, Ryan Smith, Grant Toutant and Hinzman.

The rotation at tight end was mostly consistent with Thursday, with Cade Stover leading the way followed by Gee Scott Jr., Mitch Rossi, though Sam Hart ran fourth on Friday followed by Joe Royer, Bennett Christian, who did not participate on Thursday, Patrick Gurd and Zak Herbstreit.

We also got to see several throws from the quarterbacks. C.J. Stroud was as advertised and presumed backup Kyle McCord looked solid in his brief outing, but it was hard not to notice the talent that Devin Brown posses and the ease at which he ran through drills despite only being on campus for a little over six months.
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[Bestbuck36]

The depth is insane. I'm freaking ready for some football!!

 

[pnuts34]

The depth is insane. I'm freaking ready for some football!!

Agreed! I love the new optimism with the OL now, I've always felt that what Frye can do with some of the unheralded OL prospects will go a long way towards the teams success. The fact that guys like Michalski, Leroux and James are now all on the 2nd team is a pretty big deal. And for all the talk of TE recruiting, it looks like we have more of them then we know what to do with. Keep Stroud upright and make sure that the RBs can move the chains on money downs and OSU is hoisting some trophies up at seasons end.

 

[pnuts34]

Wasn't sure whether to put this article here, or in JF's thread. But if he's able to stay healthy, and play up to his talents, then you're easily talking about the top offense(easily in the top 3) in the country. When Egbuka and JF are playing for the 4th WR, then that's some INSANE talent on your roster. And that doesn't include the talent of Ballard at 5th WR

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...awaited-breakout-with-best-offseason-he-s-had

 

[ScriptOhio]

Projecting college football's 10 best offenses in 2022

1. OHIO STATE BUCKEYES

Wealth of riches and no signs of weakness. That's the ideal depiction of Ohio State's personnel offensively this fall entering Ryan Day's fourth season as coach. This is his most talented team yet on that side of the football and he knows it. C.J. Stroud is a co-Heisman frontrunner alongside Alabama's Young, and tailback TreVeyon Henderson is coming off a 1,258-yard freshman season and averaging nearly seven yards per carry. Wide receivers coach Brian Hartline is an elite recruiter and his position group is stacked with future early-round selections, this coming after the Buckeyes placed Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson on Day 1 in April's NFL Draft. This unit has a chance to be record-setting at Ohio State.

Entire article: https://247sports.com/college/ohio-...-best-offenses-in-2022-191220209/#191220209_1

 

[ScriptOhio]

The Bucks' offense not only has a chance to be special this fall, but could be even better than they were last season.

 

[MGMT]

I think the difference between elite and special is getting these red zone opportunities and converting them; it did is in against Clemson. Improve that rate in the rz and there’s essentially no outright stopping this offense.

there’s not a secondary in the conference that’s going to be able to stop this skill group.

 

[pnuts34]

I think the difference between elite and special is getting these red zone opportunities and converting them; it did is in against Clemson. Improve that rate in the rz and there’s essentially no outright stopping this offense.

there’s not a secondary in the conference that’s going to be able to stop this skill group.

Fully agree, and to piggy back your comment. What else is going to get us over that hump to an NC, is being able to convert short yardage 3rd downs consistently. Being able to control the LOS in short yards and not have to rely on the passing game to get 3yds or less would be a difference between elite and special as well

 

[pnuts34]

With Pryor down, the staff is going to have to reach for guys who were former RBs to possibly help out. Some names to think about Kaleb Brown, Xavier Johnson, Chip Trayanum, and my dark horse possibility, Cade Stover

 

[ScriptOhio]

QUARTERBACK DEPTH A STRENGTH HEADING INTO SEASON

For just the second time in six seasons since Ryan Day arrived at Ohio State, he’ll be working with the same quarterback for a second consecutive season. Third-year signal-caller C.J. Stroud returns after a record-breaking campaign in the first season as a starter and will look to repeat as a Heisman Trophy finalist – and maybe even take home the hardware – in his second act as the Buckeyes’ leader on offense.

“When you think about guys who have played in the NFL for 15 or 20 years at quarterback, this is just year two for him (as the starter), and it feels great,” Day said. “You feel like you’ve got a guy who has been around for a long time. We’ve only had that one other time with Justin (Fields). It is exciting going into the season with a guy who has played a whole season under his belt.”

Depth at quarterback has been somewhat of a concern since Day arrived in Columbus, with Ohio State’s starting quarterbacks rarely backed up by anyone with game experience. Fields was an injury away from Chris Chugunov entering the game in 2019, and the Buckeyes have had true freshman as backups for the last two seasons.

McCord is the presumed backup to Stroud given his experience and time within the program, and he’s taken further steps this offseason to improve himself and prepare for a potential starting role next season.

“They’ve definitely made strides,” Stroud said. “Kyle, he’s been a lot more vocal. He’s definitely been way more comfortable in the offense. I’ve never thought he was uncomfortable, but the way he just approaches the game now like a pro, it’s definitely paying dividends for him.”

Things are different this year, with sophomore Kyle McCord – who started a game last season when Stroud was out with a shoulder injury – and freshman Devin Brown, who enrolled early at Ohio State this past winter, providing a solid tandem behind Stroud for this season.

“We definitely have a healthy quarterback room, but the thing that I appreciate the most about the quarterback room is nobody’s comfortable,” quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis said. “Nobody’s worried about competition here or whatever, guys just truly – they want to get better and they want to work.”

Entire article: https://www.buckeyesports.com/quarterback-depth-a-strength-heading-into-season/

C.J. STROUD TAKES CAPTAIN HONORS IN STRIDE

With attention to his leadership style in his new role as a captain, Stroud said he plans to just be himself and continue to push the team forward in the same way that he has over the course of his time as the starting quarterback.

“I’ll just approach it like I’ve been doing since I got here. I’ve always felt, by God’s grace, like I was a natural-born leader. That He’s blessed me with that ability,” Stroud said. “I feel like I can relate to a lot of people in different situations, so that’s what I’ll keep doing. I’ll just keep being myself, keep being unapologetically me and just understand my role. And my responsibility at Ohio State is to be the captain of the team and be a leader.”

Although Stroud battled a shoulder injury for the first few weeks of the 2021 season, he was still able to put up a gaudy stat-line by season’s end. He completed 71.9 percent of passes for 4,435 yards, 44 touchdowns and six interceptions. He produced several significant performances for the Buckeyes last season, including six-touchdown contests against Michigan State and Utah in the Rose Bowl.

As he cemented his status as one of the nation’s best quarterback’s through his play, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said he saw the rest of the team get behind Stroud as the season wore on.

“C.J. has always had very good leadership skills. He’s always had a voice,” Day said. “Once you go on the field and you show credibility that you can do it, you walk a little differently, and guys look at you through a different lens. I think that’s been the case.”

Entire article: https://www.buckeyesports.com/c-j-stroud-takes-captain-honors-in-stride/

 

[ScriptOhio]

Ohio State's offense was damn-near perfect last season. Even for a program with infinitely high expectations, the 2021 Buckeyes produced at a clip that few others could replicate, much less imagine, finishing first in the nation in yards per game, points per game, and SP+ (overall efficiency). They were so far ahead of the competition that the gap between them and the second-ranked offense in SP+ was larger than the gap between #2 and #20.

C.J. Stroud made replacing Justin Fields look easy, throwing for more yards per game than anyone in Ohio State history. TreVeyon Henderson casually set the OSU freshman record with 19 touchdowns. Oh, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba smashed the single-season school records for catches and receiving yards while playing next to a duo of first-round wideouts who combined for just shy of 2,000 yards while adding 25 touchdowns of their own.

The 2022 Buckeye offense put up numbers otherwise only seen in video games. And yet, because it wasn't perfect, changes had to be made.

While everyone here knows it was what happened on the opposite side of the ball which kept this record-breaking offense from competing for a national title, there were a few hiccups in big moments that stuck in the minds of not only Buckeye fans, but the head coach as well.

Trailing by just seven late in the first half against Oregon in the home opener, the Buckeyes faced a 4th & 2 from the Ducks' 39. Despite running the ball fairly well up to that point, a weak-side zone run (known as Wanda) was stuffed by Ducks' middle linebacker Noah Sewell, killing OSU's chances of taking momentum into the break.

Perhaps that moment allowed a seed of doubt to fester in the minds of the coaching staff, as they elected to throw the ball in a similar 4th & 2 late in the game, only to watch it fall incomplete.

“We didn’t convert on those fourth downs," Day said following the game. "Sometimes when those go four or five, as opposed to two and three, it makes all the difference in the world, especially in that plus territory. It did today."

"So that’s something we got to go back on as an offensive staff and get it fixed and get addressed," he went on. "Because we want balance, and we don’t have balance. We had 484 yards passing and 128 yards rushing, but that’s not balanced.”

While Day was working to reach perfection in the midwest, his former mentor was back in a familiar position of tinkering with tried and true concepts in an effort to confuse the opposition. Only this time, he had traded one coast for another.

The bond between Day and Chip Kelly has been well cataloged, perhaps even better than the latter's infamous experiments while the two were together at the University of New Hampshire. Ultimately, that work took him to the national stage at Oregon a decade later, leading a transformation across all levels of the sport with spread formations and an uptempo pace.

Today, Kelly is back to his experimental ways, though this time he's bringing the game back in the opposite direction, towards a bigger, more physical game. While his win-loss record may still be a work-in-progress, his vision for a modern offense came to life last fall, as his UCLA squad finished 14th in the nation in rushing and ranked just behind league champions Utah for the best mark in the Pac-12.

While Kelly assuredly brought a great deal of creativity to the game-planning process, he wasn't the only one. Justin Frye played a major part in developing some of those new wrinkles that allowed the Bruins to run all over the competition, which is why Day hired him to coach the offensive line in Columbus this season.

“I think being out with Chip (Kelly) and out at UCLA, kind of having a little bit wider approach than just being with the offensive line is a big deal,” Day said of Frye this summer. “Sometimes in the O-line, you just kind of see between tackle to tackle. I think he sees sideline to sideline now, and I think it made him a better coach.”

Day would know what kind of coach Frye has been, as this is not the first time the two have worked together. Frye coached the O-Line at Temple in 2012 when Day was the offensive coordinator, and the duo would both move into the same roles at Boston College for the next two seasons.

During their time together in Chestnut Hill, their offenses weren't the high-flying aerial attacks many now associate with Day. Rather, they helped Andre Williams to become the first Doak Walker Award winner in ACC history, rushing for 2,177 yards in 2014.
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[ScriptOhio]

OSU's Hartline trusts six wide receivers as game ready for opener



Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline has become well known for his prowess in luring some of the nation’s top high school wideouts to come and play for the Buckeyes.

That is why when OSU lost Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson to the NFL after the 2021 season there was still optimism that the Buckeyes would be able to fill their three wide receiver positions for 2022. It is not exactly a plug-and-play situation, but, yes, Hartline sounds bullish on at least the top six receivers he will put on the field, beginning with next Saturday’s season opener against No. 5 Notre Dame (7:30 p.m., ABC).

It helps that junior Jaxon Smith-Njigba will be back in the Scarlet and Gray. He joined Olave and Wilson in putting up huge numbers, catching passes from quarterback C.J. Stroud in 2021. He set OSU single-season records with 95 catches and 1,606 receiving yards to go with nine touchdowns. He set Rose Bowl records with 15 catches for 347 yards to go with three scores in OSU’s win over Utah on Jan. 1.

The others expected to see playing time early and often include sophomores Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, junior Julian Fleming, redshirt freshman Jayden Ballard and senior Xavier Johnson (a former walk-on). Senior Kamryn Babb would also be in this group, but he is expected to miss at least the season opener after suffering another injury setback.

“We have a group of guys now that are ready to step in,” Hartline said. “I have six guys, a two-deep, that are really ready to go on the field and play. They’re going to do everything I ask. There's some guys within that six that will continue to grow throughout the season, which is fine. That's going to happen. I think really that's almost the whole deal.

Entire article: https://247sports.com/college/ohio-...eady-for-season-opener-192056943/#192056943_1

 

[pnuts34]

I heard Kaleb Brown's name come up a lot, surprised he wasn't part of that 6. But very excited for Xavier Johnson as a former walkon. Met him and his family, super nice people with a big focus on academics

 

[calibuck]

Here's hoping that 1) everyone mentioned lives up to their hype; 2) no significant injuries to key players. OL will be key to successful season, with the DL close behind. On paper, the OL looks more solid (actual guards on the field), but am believing that the depth players are more than capable of fillng the holes if the 1's are hurt/gassed. The DL was uncharacteristically quiet last year. Again, am betting the Coach J is espousing that 'get after qb if you want to play', which the fanbase didn't see as much as in prior years. Big assumption that the QB that went from not tossing a football in a game to heading to NY for the Heisman presentation, can/will equal or exceed what he did last year. As always am super excited to tee it up against the Domers in the opener. Go Bucks!