Thursday, October 24, 2002
Buckeyes' secondary primary concern
But so far, young corners holding their own
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS - Ohio State's No.4 ranking, unbeaten record and national championship hopes might rest on the slight shoulders of two freshmen and two sophomores.
The Buckeyes are 8-0 heading into Saturday's showdown with No.18 Penn State and, for the most part, the defense has been as unforgiving as a block of granite. Yet head coach Jim Tressel still holds his breath on every pass headed in the direction of his young cornerbacks.
“Every time the ball goes up in the air and someone's running deep, my heart is in my throat because it can go one way or the other,” Tressel said earlier this week.
That's not to say Tressel thinks his cornerbacks and safeties aren't talented. On the contrary, he thinks they are - despite a lack of depth at the positions.
True freshman E.J. Underwood of Hamilton High is starting in place of injured junior Richard McNutt and opposite sophomore Dustin Fox, who is in his first season at cornerback after playing safety a year ago.
The backups are true freshman Nate Salley and sophomore Harlen Jacobs.
To add some depth, Ohio State wide receiver Chris Gamble has been seeing time late in games as a cover corner on the opposing team's top passing target. So far, that experiment has been a rousing success.
Gamble has played just five snaps on defense - and has two game-saving interceptions. His athletic pickoff of a Jim Sorgi-to-Jonathan Orr pass in the fourth quarter ended Wisconsin's last scoring threat in the Buckeyes' 19-14 win Saturday.
The problem is that Gamble is so valuable on offense, where he is Ohio State's second-leading receiver with 20 catches for 337 yards, that he cannot be shifted to defense full time.
“I don't want our secondary coaches to get tempted to start coaching him,” Tressel said with a chuckle. “We just want to let him go out there occasionally and make a play.”
Ohio State's safeties - Donnie Nickey and two-time All-American Mike Doss - are better at rushing up to stop the run or rushing the passer than they are in coverage.
So it appears more and more responsibility falls on the younger corners - or on Gamble when he's in there - every time Penn State's Zach Mills drops back to throw this weekend.
“I don't think we need him,” linebacker Matt Wilhelm said of Gamble. “We've got guys who know the system and are just one big play in practice from proving themselves to the coaches. There's guys out there who are very good corners. They just have to play within the system and do what they're coached to do.”
Statistics are always slippery. Does a defense give up a lot of passing yardage because it's not very good, because opponents are frequently playing catch-up, or because the other team cannot run the ball against it?
Ohio State ranks next to last in the Big Ten in pass defense. It may be revealing that the one team worse in passing defense is Iowa - the only other team unbeaten in the league. The Buckeyes are giving up 263 passing yards a game. Four teams have more interceptions than their nine.
Gamble has some insight into the corner position because he sees it from the other side of the ball when he's on offense. He said he enjoys the challenge of going head to head with a wideout in man-to-man coverage. He daily learns more zone coverage.
“I learned like four coverages today, so I'm all right,” he said after Tuesday's practice. “They tell me what to do and I'll just do it.”
Gamble has made it look so simple, the other corners have tried to make him see it's not always this easy.
“He's a little lucky about getting his picks - I tease him about that,” Fox said with a laugh. “I'm like, "Man, you come and play like five snaps and you're leading the team?”'
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Buckeyes' secondary primary concern
