It seems like forever ago Ohio State hired Kerry Coombs to fill its defensive coordinator role. It a pandemic 2020 though, it was just this January believe it or not. Coming in from the Tennessee Titans, by way of the Buckeyes, Coombs brings some added experience and some more developed schemes.
Back in February, Coombs was asked what kind of scheme the Buckeyes would play, and the answer was both exciting and expected.
“We’re not going to change a lot,” Coombs said. “Are we going to play press man-to-man? You bet your bottom dollar that we’re going to play press man to man because we’re going to be really good at it. We’re gonna have the guys that can do it. And we’re going to be really good at. We’re going to play three-deep single high a whole lot because that’s what they’ve done here and been very successful. So there’ll be some things, some additions — no reason for me to tell the world what they’re going to be — but there will be some coverage additions to what we do. But our base is going to be single high defense. That’s what we’re going to play.”
So while it seems that he will continue to employ the single-high coverage and man-to-man schemes, there are some new wrinkles he will be bring back with him. Looking at the success of the Titans who were top-10 in passing yards and interceptions, they ran a myriad of coverages and adjusted to the teams they were playing. Those adjustments are something that we have not seen over the years.
He seems to have learned some of the finer details to both coaching and in schematics. He has learned how to take what a team does and completely adjust his defense to counter their strengths. The Buckeyes had a really good defense before, Coombs could take it to another level.
Kerry Coombs is coming back to Ohio State. https://t.co/QI5JxDPeKR
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) January 20, 2020
Coombs will play a lot of man coverage on the outside if he can, but if a team has very dynamic weapons he will adjust to neutralize them and force quarterbacks to adjust their games and learn to read defenses. In college, reading pro-level defenses are usually one of the things they need work on at the next level. Very exciting and promising.
Coombs won’t go into too many details about exactly what we will see, but watching the Titans over the past few years, we do know he will put a lot of focus on coverage and allow the defensive line to get as much pressure to force mistakes. Tennessee’s defense was all about forcing errors and playing disciplined.
The Ohio State defense could be one of the best in the country, and Coombs will have a lot to do with that. Whether it is man coverage or zone, Coombs will have the secondary ready and able to handle the most explosive offenses. Now we wait for the unveiling and get excited about what could be a defense that could help win a championship.
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