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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Tressel Tales from Cus Words Sports!
To commemorate 25 years since Jim Tressel became the head football coach at Ohio State, we are looking back at his first season on the sidelines in Columbus through the Buckeye Sports Bulletin archives.
Last week, we took a look at what the offense was facing heading into spring football.
That means the defense is on tap this week.
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While the offense was in need of a rebuild when Tressel arrived, the defense appeared to be in better shape.
The 2000 Silver Bullets enjoyed a bounce-back season after struggling in 1999 and six of the top seven tacklers returned, including a solid nucleus up the middle around which to build.
And who would be doing the building?
Tressel tapped old friend Mark Dantonio to be his first Ohio State defensive coordinator.
A Zanesville native, Dantonio was an Ohio State GA in 1983 and ’84 then became Tressel’s defensive coordinator at Youngstown State in 1986.
He later joined Nick Saban at Michigan State, serving as defensive backs coach for Saban from 1995-99 and remaining in 2000 after Saban left to become head coach at LSU.
Upon returning to his home state, Dantonio was charged with continuing the defensive renaissance that started under Fred Pagac Sr. with the original Silver Bullets in 1996.
How would he do that?
Well, it’s complicated.
“What we’ve tried to do is not just bring Michigan State’s defense here but also incorporate a lot of things that Ohio State has done,” Dantonio said. “Ohio State has had some great defenses here.”
He went on to say he was looking for input from his assistants, including Jim Heacock, Mark Snyder and Mel Tucker.
While Heacock was a holdover from John Cooper’s staff and would continue to handle the defensive line, Snyder (linebackers) had worked with Dantonio at Kansas (between the YSU and MSU stints). Tucker (secondary) was a GA at MSU under Dantonio and spent one season at LSU with Saban.
“So we have a good mix of things,” Dantonio said. “We’re trying to adapt and do what has been successful at those places.”
Personnel overview: Strong up the middle
Six starters returned from a 2000 Ohio State defense that allowed 18 points per game, good for 13th in the nation.
That included All-Big Ten linebackers Joe Cooper and Matt Wilhelm (second team) along with All-American safety Mike Doss.
The defensive line lost ends Brent Johnson and Rodney Bailey along with first round NFL draft pick Ryan Pickett, but there was a lot of positive buzz around the front entering spring.
That’s because junior Kenny Peterson, a highly touted recruit from Canton McKinley, looked ready for a larger role while sophomores Will Smith and Darrion Scott had also shown promise as freshmen the previous fall.
At tackle, returning starter Mike Collins provided a veteran presence while Tim Anderson, a standout high school wrestler, was viewed as the next one up at the other tackle spot.
Along with Cooper (Will) and Wilhelm (Mike), Courtland Bullard (Sam) gave Ohio State all three returning starters at linebacker — a huge plus for Dantonio in terms of installing his scheme.
A Columbus Independence grad, Cooper blossomed in 2000 when he was second on the team with 80 tackles, including 10 for loss. He was honored with third-team All-America recognition, while Wilhelm added 15 tackles for loss and Bullard had 11 in Pagac’s ultra aggressive scheme.
Despite that production, Dantonio said he would need to see how they fit into his scheme.
“You’ve got to be able to make plays in space,” Dantonio said of the linebackers. “You have also got to be able to be powerful enough to take on blockers. The numbers are there to be very competitive, but we have to find out where they fit.”
The secondary was a tale of two position groups: Ohio State returned two standout safeties and nothing at cornerback.
At cornerback, David Mitchell graduated and first-team All-Big Ten pick Nate Clements entered the NFL Draft a year early. Then Derek Ross was suspended for spring after running afoul of the law.
That left behind a room not big on experience nor, well, size: Junior Curtis Crosby was listed at 5-11, 180 while sophomore Richard McNutt was 5-10, 178, and redshirt freshmen Harlen Jacobs (6-0, 190), Bobby Britton (5-10, 175) and Bam Childress (5-9, 180) weren’t the biggest guys in the world, either.
Fortunately, Dantonio indicated he planned to lean more heavily on the safeties and perhaps not so much on the corners as Pagac had with his man-heavy scheme (that made Shawn Springs, Ahmed Plummer and Clements first round picks).
At safety, Donnie Nickey was already a two-year starter while Doss had broken into the starting lineup late in his true freshman season of 1999 then led the team in tackles in 2000 with 94, including 13 for loss.
“Mike Doss is a playmaker,” Tressel said. “Mike Doss is a hitter, he’s a leader. He’s everything that everyone has been saying about him, and he’s a great kid to boot.”
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But how would the 2001 Buckeyes play defense?
Dantonio wasn’t ready to reveal all his plans as far as scheme, but like Tressel and his offensive philosophy, “Dino” gave some hints in the way he described his desired style of play.
“Coach Tressel wants us to be sound, and he believes like I do that how you play defense depends on how well you tackle, how you defeat blocks and do you have big-play capability?
Regardless of what defense we run, what kind of schemes we have up there, those are the underlying things we have to have, and they need to be able to be physical. That will separate people this spring.”
I don’t think his mentioning “be sound” first was an accident.
That was also a hint the high-risk Pagac scheme was on its way out.
So was a note in the April 28, 2001, BSB about the coverages the Buckeyes were learning: Yes, they were still doing press man but also Cover 2, quarters, Cover 3 and off man.
Of course, that did not mean the Buckeyes wouldn’t play aggressively on defense.
They would just try to attack offenses differently.
Other notes:
The quarterbacks were live for much of spring, something that is pretty much unheard of now and was a curiosity even then.
As a curious subplot to the cornerback issue, Childress got some time at receiver and dominated the April 21 scrimmage, which 500 fans, high school coaches and potential recruits got to watch. (But the defense won thanks to Doss and Tim Cheatwood stopping Sammy Maldonado on a sudden-death fourth-and-1 when the scrimmage ended with the sore tied at 52.)
April 18 saw the introduction of what would be a Tressel tradition: The kick scrimmage. The offense would get the ball at various spots on the field facing fourth down then have to go for it, punt or kick a field goal. This also allowed for practicing punt and kickoff returns and coverage and would be held once every spring and preseason.
In you missed any of the previous editions of the Tressel Tales, be sure to check the archive. Also look for a wrap-up of spring next week, and please be sure to spread the word if you know anyone else who might enjoy getting it in their inbox (not to mention This Week in Ohio State Football on Fridays all year and whatever else I can muster up between now and then).
