Spring Opponent Review: Ohio State

With spring practices now wrapped up around the country, HuskerOnline.com will look at where each of Nebraska’s 12 opponents in 2021 currently stands coming out of spring ball and heading into the summer.

Today we preview the Ohio State Buckeyes, who travel to Lincoln on Nov. 6.

Like always, the Buckeyes come in with championship expectations, but questions on both sides of the ball need answers before they can realize those goals.

We caught up with Kevin Noon of BuckeyeGrove.com to get the latest on OSU coming out of spring ball.

It’s not often where a team must replace a great deal of talent and production from the previous season while also returning plenty in those areas, but such is the case for Ohio State in 2021.

Despite losing 10 players to the NFL Draft for the second year in a row, including star quarterback Justin Fields, the Buckeyes look ready to reload with another round of five-star talent on offense and defense.

The big storyline of the spring was replacing Fields under center. It appears that redshirt freshman C.J. Stroud is the frontrunner to take the keys to the offense this season, but head coach Ryan Day has not yet announced a starter.

While it might not get the same attention as the quarterback battle, one of the most important tasks of the offseason was trying to revamp the defense at both linebacker and in the secondary.

Ohio State lost all three of its starting linebackers plus its top backup and the majority of its secondary from a unit that struggled last season compared to previous years.

Whether it’s Stroud or someone else at quarterback, Ohio State will have some of the best wide receiver weapons in the country to throw to in Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson and a slew of four and five-star wideouts behind them.

The Buckeyes lost two starters on the offensive line to the NFL, but they still should have one of the best fronts in the Big Ten. They still need to name replacements at center and guard, but both starting tackles return, and five-star tackle Paris Johnson will move inside to guard as a starter.

As mentioned, linebacker might be the biggest concern on the roster in terms of lost experience. There’s plenty of talent in that room, but it still needs to prove itself at the college level.

While OSU hasn’t officially announced it yet OSU, it did land a transfer commit from former five-star linebacker Palaie Gaoteote IV out of USC. He should immediately factor into the rotation this fall.

Cornerback has become one of the hallmark positions for Ohio State over the years, and it must replace its top player at that position in Shaun Wade. Cameron Brown is back after missing all of 2020 with a torn Achilles, and Sevyn Banks is a returning starter at corner.

Many at both the college and NFL levels were stunned with Olave announced he was returning to Ohio State for a fourth season.

The Buckeyes’ leading receiver each of the past two years, Olave was regarded as a consensus top-10 receiver in the 2021 NFL Draft pool had he entered the draft.

Instead, he returned to Columbus to give OSU arguably the best 1-2 punch at wideout in the county alongside Wilson.

While Wilson has more big-play ability, Olave has been as consistent and versatile as they come.

He caught 50 passes for 729 yards and seven touchdowns in just seven games last season.

While defensive ends and cornerbacks have usually held this title at Ohio State for the past decade or so, having an anchor in the middle like Haskell Garrett will be invaluable for the Buckeyes this season.

The 6-foot-2, 300-pound senior had 20 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, and 2.0 sacks in eight games last year, but his importance to OSU’s defense goes well beyond his stat line.

With the questions and concerns Ohio State has at linebacker and in the secondary, it needs its defensive line to be more disruptive than ever. Having a guy like Garrett in the middle to eat up blocks will go a long way toward helping at the next two levels.

It’s hard to call a former five-star recruit rated the nation’s top defensive end prospect and No. 11 overall recruit in the 2021 class a surprise.

But given how quickly Jack Sawyer made his presence felt at Ohio State this spring as an early-enrollee freshman definitely raised some eyebrows.

After a strong showing throughout spring ball, Sawyer was credited with three sacks in OSU’s spring game. Noon said he could have easily been given five sacks in the thud-tackling scrimmage.

Even with the level that the Buckeyes have recruited at defensive end over the years, it’s rare that a player sets the tone from the jump the way Sawyer did this spring. He’s well on his way to becoming the next star edge rusher in Columbus.

This is probably due to Ohio State being a bit spoiled with the level of defensive play it’s become accustomed to over the years.

However, compared to what they’ve been, the Buckeyes took a noticeable step back on defense in 2020, especially against the pass.

Now OSU must replace its top-four linebackers and a starting cornerback while trying to get its play in the defensive back end up to par again.

The talent on paper is certainly there, and the defensive scheme that has been so successful hasn’t changed much.

But with the amount of inexperience right now and the fact that Ohio State gave up 52 points to Alabama in the national championship game, there is a “fear of the unknown,” as Noon put it.

Will the Buckeyes find players to step up and produce at the expected level, or will they have to adjust their defense to account for some weaknesses at the back two levels?

Noon: “I think Ohio State is going to come out on a mission this year to prove that some of its deficiencies in 2020 were the anomaly and not the new expectation.

“While Ohio State handed Nebraska a 35-point loss last season, it felt closer than that as Nebraska started to attack some of Ohio State’s weak points.

“While this game is going to take place in the first week of November, there’s still a long memory over at Ohio State on teams that were able to do things against them.

“So I expect to see a really focused Ohio State team come out there, and for Nebraska to have a chance in this one, it’s going to have to find a way to flat out-score Ohio State.

“While I don’t expect this defense to be No. 1 in the Big Ten by the time it’s all said and done in 2021, I expect it to be pretty good. I expect Ohio State to roll.”

Noon: “Ohio State hasn’t lost a conference game under Ryan Day. Ohio State hasn’t lost a regular-season game under Ryan Day. I expect that to continue.

“I see Ohio State’s schedule setting up nicely for them to run the table and make it back to Indianapolis, a definite berth in the College Football Playoff, and then all bets are off at that point.

“Ohio State was certainly able to slay a giant dragon last year in getting past Clemson for the first time. It all comes down to matchups for anything that might happen come College Football Playoff time.

“But before that, I really expect Ohio State a pretty clear path to the postseason.”