As players, coaches, fans and, yes, even the media await the start of fall camp to arrive for the Wisconsin Badgers in less than two months, BadgerBlitz.com takes a look at UW's 2019 opponents.
Four of Wisconsin's last six conference games come on the road, and on Oct. 26, the Badgers head to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes. Ryan Day takes over the program full-time in his first season as head coach, and his team will have an extra day's rest to prepare for Bucky after facing Northwestern in a Friday night tilt on Oct. 18.
We caught up with Kevin Noon of BuckeyeGrove.com to answer some questions we had about Ohio State before they head into fall camp.
A new head coach leads Ohio State into the 2019 season in Ryan Day, though he is credited with three wins from last year with Urban Meyer's suspension. What changes have been noticeable from him and his staff already?
Kevin Noon: I think the goal is to see much of the same as you saw from the Urban Meyer-era in terms of how things are going to operate around the program, but things are not just "the same" in terms of the staff. Ryan Day came in and turned over almost the entire defensive staff by bringing in a pair of coaches from Michigan (Greg Mattison, Al Washington) one from Maryland (Matt Barnes) and one from the NFL (Jeff Hafley). Ohio State’s defense was a bit of a liability last year in allowing big plays in bunches and Day is trying to make that an anomaly rather than the new norm.
There will be some other changes in terms of maybe how the defense approaches things (don’t look for Ohio State to run man defense exclusively any longer) and you will see the quarterback line up under center on more than just a victory formation. But aside from that, you are not looking at a rebuild around Columbus, rather just a continuation of what the Buckeyes put together under Meyer.
How did quarterback Justin Fields look during spring practices in terms of strengths but also areas of improvement to be worked on? Behind him with Tate Martell leaving for Miami, how is the potential depth at the position?
Kevin Noon: Many people will look at a statistically poor spring game and say that Ohio State is beatable because of what Justin Fields did in a split-squad game with several players held out by design. That probably is not fair. But it is also probably not fair to say that the offense is not going to miss a beat with the departure of Dwanye Haskins after he essentially rewrote the passing record book for the Buckeyes and put up one of the rare 50-touchdown passing seasons in college football history.
Fields just has to learn the Ohio State offense, plain and simple. He has not had a year or two years to be in this system and know what the coaches want. Even if he was in the system, there is a new sheriff in town with Day and he brought in Mike Yurcich from Oklahoma State to replace his spot on the offensive staff, things are going to change a little bit.
Something that Fields brings to the table that Haskins did not have is a real ability to run the ball. Haskins could run, when pressed, but Fields really can run the ball and is a true dual-threat where Haskins was more of a pro-style quarterback.
Fields is going to have to work on drowning out the noise around him when he is not Dwayne Haskins throwing the ball. That does not mean that the Buckeyes are going back into the dark ages of passing - Fields has a live arm and is not afraid to sling the ball around the field. But he is not going to be able to walk in and pick up right where Haskins left off.
The Buckeyes and Tate Martell came to a decision after last season that it would be best for everyone to go their own way. Martell had his ups-and-downs at Miami and there is a debate as to what the Buckeyes really lost there. The one thing they lost, for certain, is a quarterback who had been part of the system and it is going to be on Chris Chugunov and Gunnar Hoak (Kentucky transfer) to really provide some depth because the bigger loss really may have been the loss of Matthew Baldwin to the transfer portal.
On both sides of the ball, who are some key returners that will likely give not just the Badgers but other conference opponents trouble later this year?
Kevin Noon: On the offensive side of the ball the Buckeyes return a two-time 1,000-yard rusher with J.K. Dobbins. Many may say that his sophomore season was not nearly as impressive as his freshman season and he might agree. He is not going to be splitting carries with Mike Weber, however, and knows that he will have a young back looking to carry the load with him, and this is really Dobbins’ year to shine and try and end up as a three-time 1,00-yard rusher.
The Buckeyes have a pair of receivers that will have a big impact this year as they come back with K.J. Hill opting to stay in college for another year and assuming the role as the main guy in the receiving game. He will be joined by Austin Mack who went down during the season last year. This will give the Buckeyes a strong one-two punch at receiver but will still have guy like Binjimen Victor and Chris Olave in the mix as well as a group of young receivers look to make their mark as well.
Ohio State’s offensive line will see a pretty major overhaul from last year but there are a lot of guys who have seen meaningful playing time including Thayer Munford who was the starting left tackle last season.
On the defensive side of the ball, it really starts with Chase Young. Young can be a force but needs to have a little more consistency. There will be no Bosa in the lineup this year and Young will really have to shine but will be helped with a returning vet in Jonathon Cooper on the other side of the line.
Linebacker was a bit of a mystery last year as the Buckeyes have no shortage of athletes, but they just did not seem to play up to their potentials. Everyone is back this year but there is a crop of young guys who are pushing for their moment as well. This will be the most interesting camp battle come fall.
There is some experience returning in the secondary and it starts with Jeffrey Okudah at corner, he will likely be Ohio State’s next first-round defensive back taken in the next NFL Draft.
How will the Buckeyes replace the production of departed receivers Parris Campbell and Terry McLaurin, along with other Buckeyes no longer with the program?
Kevin Noon: We kind of touched upon this above, the Buckeyes will essentially have starters returning with Hill and Mack. Olave stepped into the role vacated by Mack when he got hurt and had some big scores against Michigan and Northwestern. Victor has been a bit of an enigma during his career, having a few big plays and a few bad drops. This seems to be the year where that will all get turned around for the talented Floridian.
You really just don’t ask one guy or two guys to step in and fill the void. It is crazy to expect the Buckeyes to have 51 passing touchdowns again this season, that is a big number to replace. But if the Buckeyes are able to get a better run/pass balance and Dobbins looks more like the Dobbins of the 2017 and you add in the yardage that Fields will get with his legs, the Buckeyes should be fine. Especially if the defense rounds back into form and the Buckeyes don’t need to score in the 40s in every game to make up for some bad play from the defense.
Was there one or two players that stood out in spring ball that put themselves in position for extended fall reps and a potential key role on the team?
Kevin Noon: Wide receiver Garrett Wilson might have the highest upside of any receiver on the team right now and he should play immediately, even with a lot of returning talent in that receiver room. Running back Marcus Crowley looked very good but so did Master Teague, so there will be a good battle for No. 2 at that position with the loss of Mike Weber and the departure of Brian Snead out of the program. The H-back position will be interesting to watch as well as Jaelen Gill continues to impress and with the up-and-down nature of Demario McCall throughout his career, who knows what the future holds in that spot.
On the defensive side of the ball, there are so many returning starters, it might be hard to see extended reps, but keep an eye on defensive end Zach Harrison coming in and getting more than a few good reps a game. He is still raw and learning what it takes to be a college pass rusher, but it might be hard to keep him out of the lineup. Brendon White saw a good amount of time down the stretch of last season, it might be hard to keep him off the field this year.
With Day leading the program, what should be the realistic expectations for Ohio State in 2019? Is it just like the last two seasons of "Eat, Sleep, Win Big Ten, Repeat?"
Ohio State fans believe that they should win the league again. Now, Ohio State got no favors in terms of how the schedule set up. There is no high-profile out-of-league foe this year and all three of those games are at home. But a home game with Cincinnati should be a real challenge with former interim head coach and player Luke Fickell at the helm.
Ohio State also draws about the toughest possible crossover from the B1G West with Wisconsin at home and road games at Nebraska and Northwestern. Couple that with ending the season home against Penn State and at Michigan and there is not a lot of room for growing pains with this team.
With that being said, "Why not Ohio State?" could be said as well. The contenders in the B1G East all have big holes to replace this year or are coming off of bad seasons. I won’t get into breaking down all of those teams at this point, but the Buckeyes are still the safe pick on that side of the league and the East has owned the West in the championship game. So, it is not really that big of a stretch saying that the Buckeyes have a good chance of being the last team standing.
