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Former DC Jim Heacock (official thread)

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osugrad21;1290170; said:
Coach Heacock has taken plenty of heat this year, but after the last few weeks, he deserves credit for making the changes needed in personnel and scheme.

Keep it rolling Coach.
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There have been a lot of Buckeye players and coaches taking heat this year, most of the time unjustifiably so. I myself have been guilty at times:blush:. I see it as a result of being spoiled by such a successful program. Anyways, it seems that most of Heacock's heat has been in regard to the success of spread offenses against our defense. Coach is getting another chance against the spread and I think that he will have the defense ready to shut down or at least contain this Penn St. offense. He definitely has to find a way to get pressure on the QB though. We have an excellent secondary, but they can't be expected to lock down the receivers all night, especially if Clark regularly has time to throw the ball.
 
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osugrad21;1290170; said:
Coach Heacock has taken plenty of heat this year, but after the last few weeks, he deserves credit for making the changes needed in personnel and scheme.

Keep it rolling Coach.
Click to expand...
Good post Grad,

The D-Line has looked much better the last few weeks.. god I love getting penetration :pimp:

Seriously, we need to continue getting heat from the lines rush this week against PSU. Much improved the last few weeks.
 
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Moving Heyward inside was huge. He has really made a difference inside. The return of Tod Denlinger has also helped at DT, as has the return of D. Washington at CB to full time duty.

We have the DB's to match up with Penn State's WR's pretty well. To me, this is going to be one of the biggest match ups in the game, when we go to man coverage. Can MJ, D. Wash and Chekwa, man up on Williams, Butler and Norwood? If these guys can cover it is going to give our DL that extra second to get to Clark.

LET'S GO BUCKS!!

:osu:
 
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Well, I was pretty ticked off at Heacock for the first half of the season but he's really gotten our defense to play well the last 3 weeks(thought they only played ok against UW). I'm still not totally sold on him being our best option but he deserves some credit for shutting down a vaunted read-option spread attack, his main bugaboo.
 
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Great gameplan by Jim tonight.. However, my opinion of him as being over his head as a DCoord wasnt formed based on one game.. therefore, Im not gonna call him a genius based on one game..

I think his next big test will come in the Bowl against USC or one of the three high powered SEC teams (UF, Georgia, Bama)
 
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Big Ten spotlight: Ohio State's Jim Heacock
September 11, 2009
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Terrelle Pryor has garnered most of the attention this week, but Ohio State can't beat USC without a superb defensive performance, especially up front. USC boasts arguably the nation's best offensive line and unquestionably the nation's deepest group of running backs, led by junior Joe McKnight. Veteran Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Heacock has the challenge of trying to stop the Trojans.

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Jim Heacock has the unenviable challenge of trying to slow down USC's high-powered offense this week.

Heacock stopped by to chat about Saturday's matchup (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET), his new-look defense and who he needs to step up against USC.

USC obviously has a lot of weapons, especially at running back. Where do you start in preparing to defend this team?

Jim Heacock: You look at it all because that's what they are. When you talk about an offensive team, you can't zero in on any one area. They've got the receivers, they've got the running backs, and the offensive line is where it starts. They've got some athletic and experienced offensive linemen. The quarterback had a good game last week, they do a good job protecting him, and the running backs are well documented. Where we start is we've got to stop everything. You can't gang up on the running game or they'll get you, and you can't gang up on the passing game. They're about as balanced as you can get.

Your defensive line is one of your strengths. With their line being so athletic, so lean, do you go at them with speed? How do you attack a line like that?

JH: Well, our defense in general is fairly young, so it's not like we're going to make a lot of changes. At the back end, we're really young and at linebacker, we're awfully young. We're going to do what we do, play our defense, and you're going to hope you can match up. But we're not in a position, with our experience, to make a lot of changes. Our goal is going to be to execute.

How did those young guys grade out last week? Obviously, it's the first game, it's an odd opponent [Navy] with an odd offense. It's clearly a different test this week in many ways.

JH: It's challenging enough for it to be your first start, and then to have to face a disciplined approach from Navy, it was tough for them. I thought they responded well, they graded out well and did a good job. Unfortunately, at times, we'd have a mental breakdown or a physical breakdown. We'd go to the dive when we should have gone to the quarterback, all those things. But they prepared really hard for that offense and they played hard throughout the game. I was really happy to see the turnover with the two-point [conversion attempt] in a critical situation. It sets the tone, and hopefully you can build on it the rest of the season.

When you're facing so many different running backs from USC, do you just tell your players, 'Just tackle the guy with the ball,' or do you have to prepare for each back's strengths?

JH: And they're all really good. You can't separate them. They all can catch the ball, they're good out of the backfield, they can all pass-protect, they all obviously run extremely well. We haven't been able to say, 'This guy, we're going to do this, and this guy does that.' They're all good, they're all talented, they all can be effective.

Anything stand out to you about [Matt] Barkley in his first game?

JH: His poise. He had great poise throughout the game. He threw the ball on target. He just looked like he never got rattled at any time. He had a great day.

I know Thad [Gibson] finished last season on a high note and made several plays against Navy. How big of a factor is he in this game with some speed on the edge?

JH: I don't know if we have a lot of big names on this team. In the past, we've had that luxury of having some name players. This team, we don't have a lot of names, and the strength of this team is going to have to be that word: team. That's the direction we've got to go, and so what we've got to ask Thad to do is play his one-eleventh of the game and then play and do his job and not get out of character and try to do things he can't do.

How did the linebackers look last week? You mentioned you've lost some big names there, but obviously Brian [Rolle] came up with a big play.

JH: Brian played well. He was active, which we knew he would be. He can run around and make plays. I thought he played well. Like with everyone else, he had a few mistakes and a few things he can get considerably better at, but he played well. Ross Homan, he's played a little bit in the past but not a whole lot, and he got his feet wet. When you're playing an offense like [Navy], there's another dimension added to playing defense, and that's a real discipline. You read, stand there, and you take away a little bit of the aggressiveness defensively. Hopefully, this week we'll be able to see what kind of attitude we can play with. It's going to come back down to the team concept and guys doing their job and executing.

Did anyone stand out to you in the secondary? It looked like Jermale Hines gave you a lift.


JH: Jermale played a lot last year as our nickelback, but he's competing for the starting safety spot. The guy that stood out, if anybody did, would be Kurt Coleman. He caused a fumble and actually got two turnovers. He's a guy that certainly stepped up.

You mentioned with a young group, you can't change the scheme too much. Is it just about executing better against a team like USC?


JH: There's really nothing else you can do. I don't think at a time like this you want to go out and wholesale change what you're doing or try and X-and-O 'em to deal. My philosophy is you never do that. We're better when we know what we're doing and getting lined up and playing ball. You do what you do and do what you do best and that's when you play the fastest.
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Big Ten spotlight: Ohio State's Jim Heacock - Big Ten - ESPN
 
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I don't buy it. He had a very similar interview last season before the Texas game, and he gave up no information. Said we aren't going to do much very differently, but then it that game we saw more blitzes and stunts than we'd seen all season. I think this is a bit of gamesmanship from a great coach, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some exotic looks trying to confuse the freshman Matt Barkley.
 
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Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Heacock

There's one link between Ohio State's consecutive shutouts against Toledo and Illinois and the last time the Buckeyes had consecutive shutouts, against Minnesota and Illinois in 1996. That's Heacock, a first-year assistant under John Cooper then and a 14-year assistant and co-defensive coordinator now.

Heacock has taken some heat in recent years when the defense hasn't played its best, so he deserves credit now for a team that has given up one real touchdown drive in the last three games. That happened to be the game-winning drive for USC, but the Buckeyes have bounced back even better than expected, limiting Toledo and Illinois to a total of 380 yards the last two games. Those two teams ran 121 plays against the Buckeyes and averaged 3.1 yards per play.

"I don't need feathers in my cap," Heacock said when asked if the consecutive shutouts represented a milestone for him. "I'm glad for the win. I thought that was going to be a really good football team and a tough game, and I thought we were really in for a dogfight, and the guys came out and produced and deserve all the credit. The shutout, obviously you feel good for the kids. I just want to win."
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Defense (Heacock too) aces the exam vs. Illinois | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
 
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