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S Erick Smith (Official Thread)

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If Smith emerges as one of the top 4 DBs on the team (which could happen, especially with Armani out), it will be interesting to see how the coaches handle it.

One possibility is to give Bell an audition at the open corner spot if no one else steps up. Bell's size is more suited to corner and he does have good ball skills. Whether or not he can play press coverage is another matter. If he can it would allow them to move him and plug Smith in his spot at safety.
 
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Bill Lucas said:
Bell is a safety and a damned good one at that. Ohio State will be just fine at corner with the talent they have.
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Whole heartedly agree. Bell belongs at safety regardless of who is chomping at his heels on the depth chart.

I am excited to see more from Smith, but his depth will go much further in Ohio State's pursuit to repeat than it would with him starting while shifting another safety to corner.
 
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Smith is good, but he's not Vonn Bell or Tyvis Powell good at this point. He would have to have a Darron Lee type of off-season to supplant either of them, and he knows that.

At the least, Erick will be in the thick of the battle to be the starting Nickle, and his blend of corner and safety skills should be a real asset in that contest. However, he's going to face some stiff competition from Cam Burrows and those that don't win the Battle Royale to start at CB opposite of Apple (Webb, Conley, Lattimore, etc.). The fight for those two starting DB spots this spring ought to be more entertaining than the competition at Right Slob. Gonna be some hittin' going on.
 
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In the long run, even if Smith doesn't start next year, I'm sure the coaches will be working rotations at almost every position because of great depth. It's not a bad situation if Powell still started and Smith was still given a number of reps. I could see him getting a lot of game reps in conference, as outside of MSU, idk of a team we aren't favored against. The battle for Nickel starter will be every bit as interesting as starting DE opposite Bosa, starting CB opposite Apple, RT, DT, WR opposite Thomas, and of course QB.
 
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E @RestUpBoog
Ima start taking girls swimming on the first date.. to see how you really look behind that makeup
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7:53 PM - 4 Jan 2016

:slappy:
 
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Safety Erick Smith Close to Being Full Speed for the Buckeyes

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If patience is a virtue, then Erick Smith must be one heck of a guy by now.

As a rising-junior safety for the Ohio State defense, Smith has had to bide his time for various reasons throughout his career. He came to OSU as an All-American safety, but showed in the Army All-American Bowl that he could be a lockdown cornerback as well.

As a freshman he played in 13 games for the Buckeyes, notching 13 tackles. He found himself in the two-deep all season long at strong safety behind Tyvis Powell.

His play in practice impressed safeties coach Chris Ash, who remarked that Smith simply had an innate ability to find the ball. What was remarkable about that fact was that it was done mostly on football instinct, because Smith didn't really feel that comfortable with the speed of the game until late in the season.

Over the offseason between 2014 and 2015, Smith was truly able to begin examining the nuances of the safety position, and when he arrived in the spring of 2015 he was much more prepared than the prior year.

The only problem, however, was that he was behind two established starters in Powell and Vonn Bell. He then had to deal with some hamstring issues in fall camp last season, but he had already established himself enough to where his teammates had plenty of confidence in him.

"He is a hard-hitting Glenville type player," linebacker Joshua Perry said a year ago. "He’s exactly what you would expect. He takes some of those shots, and he might make them, he might not, but you’re going to feel it one way or another. He’s grown a lot in terms of his knowledge too, and that’s what he struggled with a lot last year. He’s got all the tools and I’m really excited to see how he develops."
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His recovery has gone well, according to safeties coach Greg Schiano.

"I think he’s pretty close," Schiano said at the conclusion of spring. "He’s been doing stuff more and more during the spring and I think when they get back from their little break here he’s going to be pretty much full speed."
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continued

Entire article: http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Foot...th-Close-to-Being-Full-Speed-for-the-Buckeyes
 
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