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The most interesting thing I heard Tuesday at Ohio State was Ryan Day explain why the coaching staff appears to be remaining stubborn with 12 personnel on offense.
Now, for the layman, that means using two-tight end, two-receiver, one-back sets1.
This year, tight ends Will Kacmarek and Max Klare both have more snaps than third receiver Brandon Inniss while tight ends Bennett Christian and Jelani Thurman both have more snaps than fourth receiver Mylan Graham, who is tied with true freshman Nate Roberts at 65 snaps according to Pro Football Focus.
What position does Roberts play?
Well, he’s listed as a tight end on the roster, but he lines up at fullback in short-yardage situations — so not receiver.
Does that mean Ohio State is officially a 12-personnel team now?
I suppose so until further notice, but here’s the thing: It hasn’t looked great, has it?
Not bad, of course, but sorta meh.
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The Buckeyes are 23rd in the nation in scoring offense (36.8 points per game) and 45th in total yards per game (421.5), both a far cry from the high-scoring units of Meyer and the earlier Day seasons.
They’re 41st in passing, 63rd in rushing and coming off probably the offense’s least-impressive outing of the season, a 34-16 win at Illinois.
They finished with only 272 yards against what to this point in the season had been a bad Illinois defense. That total was depressed a little by turnovers giving the Buckeyes short fields, but it’s still not impressive in any event.
More noteworthy would be they sort of fizzled out at the end when they were trying to run the ball (without freshman Bo Jackson) and bleed the clock to protect a large lead.
Theoretically, that is the type of situation Day has been building these Buckeyes to take advantage of, but it hasn’t really come together.
If the head coach is alarmed, he isn’t showing it.
When specifically asked if his team is getting enough from 12 personnel, he replied:
“There’s certain things that guys have shown they can do, and there’s certain things that guys have shown maybe they can’t do and we’ve gotta stop forcing it. Other things guys gotta step up and show us that they can do it. So it’s this back and forth, but that’s the journey of the team. That’s the growth of the team that we’re working towards, and as long as we keep having great weeks of practice, that’ll give us a chance.”
The “stop forcing it” part was what really caught my ear, especially when paired with the suggestion there are nonetheless things they aren’t going to give up on, either.
I’ve seen some people lament Day and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline (who is certainly calling the plays the head coach wants) have been too conservative, but I don’t think that’s true.
They have opened it up at times when necessary (like at Washington), but there are limits to what you can do against defenses committed to playing two deep safeties.
Day mentioned manufacturing explosive plays in the passing game against those looks anyway, but they should be able to run the ball better than they have.
Certainly the Illinois safeties and linebackers deserve some credit for stepping up to stop the run, but also the Not Bo Jacksons (James Peoples and C.J. Donaldson) probably need to do a better job of bringing their own blocker or making a guy miss in order for this running game to progress.
Jackson, who got banged up in Champaign but Day said could have gone back in if they needed him, has a better knack for setting up tacklers to miss and for running through them when they don’t, but Ohio State is not going to be able to lean solely on a true freshman for 13-16 games. Some of that is instinctual, but it can also be developed, something coach Carlos Locklyn needs to get from his guys.
The blocking could be better, too, both from the line and those many tight ends (though Roberts did have a couple of nice lead blocks when he lined up at fullback).
Overall, it’s just not been crisp.
Sometimes the safeties do a good job coming up in support, but others you’ll see two blockers neglect to block one guy near the point of attack.
That would seem to fall into the latter category of things guys need to step up to do.
Will they?
If you want to see more of what's being said during Ohio State interviews, check out my YouTube channel, and for more great sportswriting, check out my buddy Matt Brown’s newsletter that focuses on the business of college sports.
1 If you are a football nerd like me, you’ve been tracking this kind of stuff for a long time, but the too long, didn’t read it recap is this: Throughout the Urban Meyer era (2012-18), Ohio State spent almost all its time in the shotgun with three receivers, one tight end and one running back on the field (11 personnel), a major change from his predecessors. Upon replacing Meyer, Day worked in more 12 personnel (and put the quarterback under center from time to time, something Meyer never did), but the Buckeyes remained predominantly an 11-personnel team, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse as Day did not often utilize the running quarterback to neutralize an extra defender who might creep into the box to stop the run.