Tag: Kerry Coombs

Kerry Coombs and the defensive scheme he brings to Ohio State

Kerry Coombs brings in some new and exciting defensive schemes and techniques from the NFL, and Ohio State could thrive as the benefactor.

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.

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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Ohio State football coaches react on Twitter to parent letter to Big Ten

The Ohio State football coaches offered support on Twitter for a letter the players’ parents sent to the Big Ten and commish Kevin Warren.

The parents of Big Ten football players are getting restless. So far, the parents of Ohio State, Iowa, Nebraska, and Penn State have all sent letters to the Big Ten offices looking for answers to questions that have gone unaddressed with the postponement of the fall football season.

Clearly, the group of player parents aren’t happy about their sons not getting a chance to play the game they’ve worked so hard to prepare for, but it’s more than that.

It’s a recurring theme. The Big Ten and commissioner Kevin Warren have yet to address questions posed head-on, and instead have used generalities and no comment types of responses in the face of a situation that calls for direct dialogue.

In the case of Ohio State, it’s clear all of the administrators are aligned in wanting to play, but it has also stood with the Big Ten in a statement. And in case you wondered, yes, it’s okay to support the conference but still want to play the game that’s so much a part of the fabric of the O-H-I-O.

Despite somewhat toeing the company line, many of the Ohio State coaches have come out in support of the letter the parents sent to Warren and the Big Ten Saturday using the hashtag #Fight.

Here’s a look at some of the responses from the OSU coaching staff.

Next … Ohio State football coaches respond

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247 Sports updated its recruiting rankings, and Ohio State’s 2021 class is insane

Ohio State’s 2021 recruiting class is shaping up to be incredible. Ryan Day is keeping up the momentum.

Everyone has known for a while that Ohio State is the early leader to take home the 2021 recruiting title. Ryan Day and his crew have been excellent recruiters, quickly quelling one of the biggest fears surrounding Urban Meyer’s departure. It’s still early, of course, and there’s a ton of recruiting to be done before December. Whether it ends up as No. 1 overall or not, though, this Ohio State class will be one to remember.

Recruiting rankings services (well, the good ones, at least) don’t just give players a ranking then go home. They keep up with them, keep watching film, look at what coaches are talking to and about players, and overall try to keep every player and every ranking as accurate as possible. Therefore, individual players’ rankings will be updated from time to time, especially this far out from National Signing Day.

Well, 247 Sports updated its rankings this morning, and Ohio State’s class already looks like a monster one.

The players in Ohio State’s class so far have an average rating of 95.37. That’s an insane number, which likely will drop just a tad as the class fills out. (Clemson actually has a 95.38 average so far, but that class has only ten recruits, and none below a 4-star ranking. Ohio State, meanwhile, already has three 3-star players, which brings the average down a tad.) Still, it’s a really good insane number to have so far.

With just 17 commitments so far (plus a punter from Australia), the Buckeyes still have plenty of spaces to add more big names to this class. With a total of 296 quality points so far, this year’s Ohio State class already sits in what would have been a Top 5 class this past year. (Ohio State had the No. 5 class in 2020 with 295.08 quality points, and that had 25 recruits.) This recruiting class is already insane, and with months to go, it has room to get even better.

Maybe that’s the Buckeyes own three of the top four spots (and five of the top 12) in 247’s rankings of recruiting assistants. It’s certainly well-deserved.

Four Ohio State football assistants will make more than $1 million this season

According to compensation numbers released by Ohio State, four football assistant coaches will be paid in excess of $1 million this season.

According to compensation figures released by Ohio State on Monday, and a subsequent report by the Columbus Dispatch, four Buckeye football assistants will be paid over $1 million this season.

Based on over a decade of tracking by USA TODAY, it’ll be the first time four assistant football coaches at a public university will pay seven-figure salaries to that many assistants on one staff. With where assistant salaries are today as opposed to ten years ago, it’s not a stretch to believe that’s never happened in the history of public universities, but that cannot be confirmed.

Those four coaches that will break the $1 million barrier are defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs ($1.4 million), offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson ($1.2 million), and both co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison and defensive line coach Larry Johnson ($1.113 million each).

Prior to this year, the salary of Ohio State’s assistant coaches ranked the third highest in the country according to USA TODAY, with a total of $7.25 Million — trailing only Alabama and Clemson. The new total will now be $7.94 Million. It’s too early to tell if that puts OSU in the same ballpark or more than where the Tide and Tigers were last season.

I guess if you want to win these days in big-time college football, you have to pay not only your head coaches, but the guys that surround them. The teams winning everything are doing just that.

Mike Vrabel: Titans’ Anthony Midget is ‘different’ from Kerry Coombs

Midget already has a connection to Vrabel, having spent four seasons with him on the Houston Texans coaching staff.

The Tennessee Titans will have undergone several significant changes by the start of the 2020 NFL season.

One of those includes a new secondary coach in Anthony Midget, who filled the void left by Kerry Coombs.

Coombs, who was especially known for his high energy level, left for Ohio State shortly after the end of the Titans’ run to the AFC Championship.

Midget already has a connection to Vrabel, having spent four seasons with him on the Houston Texans coaching staff.

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And it’s because of that time sharing a sideline that Vrabel knows just how much of a stark contrast there is between Midget and Coombs.

“Midge is composed. He is different than Kerry,” Vrabel told reporters at the NFL Combine, per David Boclair of Sports Illustrated. “And I think that will be really good. He’s got a lot of knowledge, a lot of range in our defense having coached with Anthony in Houston. I’m excited that he’s going to be able to bring a lot of knowledge to the secondary.”

It will certainly be interesting to see what the Titans’ defense looks like this season, with Midget new on staff and the team’s decision to not name a defensive coordinator after the retirement of Dean Pees.

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Cameron Martinez confirms that he will sign with Ohio State

Four-star athlete Cameron Martinez announced via Twitter Tuesday that he will sign with Ohio State. It’s a big recruiting win.

There will not be additional drama on the traditional signing day for college football recruits it appears. By now you know Ohio State signed almost every piece of its 2020 recruiting class during the early signing period save for one very, very important piece.

Four-star athlete Cameron Martinez has been a verbal commitment to the Buckeyes since July 4 of 2019, but he decided to wait and see who Ryan Day brought in to replace Jeff Hafley on defense. Wait he did, and now it appears as though the home-run hire/re-hire of Kerry Coombs has sealed the deal.

According to a Tweet Martinez shared to Twitter on Tuesday, he will indeed be signing with Ohio State.

Martinez, out of Muskegon, Michigan is rated as the No. 14 athlete in the 2020 class according to 247Sports.

This is great news for Ohio State, and there’s no doubt Ryan Day and staff are high-fiving behind the scenes. It became a real possibility that OSU would lose MLive’s two-time Michigan player of the year. And the timing would not have been ideal.

OSU already lost out on a highly-touted defensive back commit, Clark Phillips III when he flipped from Ohio State to Utah. Another loss of an athlete that could end up on that side of the ball would put the back-end of the defense in an extremely thin position.

Now, none of that matters because the Buckeyes got their guy. You can think Kerry Coombs and Ryan Day for keeping this one together.

 

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Anthony Midget will replace Kerry Coombs as Titans DBs coach

The Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson announced the news on Tuesday afternoon.

The Tennessee Titans have officially filled the void of Kerry Coombs.

Anthony Midget has left the Houston Texans, and will join Mike Vrabel’s staff as the team’s secondary coach. He interviewed for the job shortly after Coombs’ departure.

The Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson announced the news on Tuesday afternoon.

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Midget originally joined coach Bill O’Brien in 2014 as the assistant secondary coach before taking over the secondary back in 2018 when John Butler was relieved of his duties.

Midget was also on O’Brien’s staff at Penn State before following him to Houston.

He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.

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Kerry Coombs visits Ohio State target Cameron Martinez

New Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs spent time visiting with four-star 2020 target Cameron Martinez Wednesday.

New Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs is wasting no time working on priorities. The Buckeyes are looking to keep four-star Michigan athlete Cameron Martinez committed, so that’s where Coombs spent time “planting flags” Wednesday.

You had to believe that paying a visit to the lone holdout from the early signing period would be one of the main things Coombs would jump on right away, and it took him all of two days on the job to get it done. How’s that for letting Martinez know how much he means to the program?

In fact, Martinez seemed to enjoy getting to know the new defensive coordinator and replacement for Jeff Hafley — with whom he developed a great relationship with. The two-time MLive Michigan football player of the year shared the visit on his Twitter feed.

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Martinez recently told the Detroit Free Press that he’s still planning on signing with Ohio State, and this sure looks like a good move towards that. We’ll all find out on February 5 when the traditional signing day comes around.

 

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WATCH: Ohio State return of Kerry Coombs hype video

Kerry Coombs is back on the Ohio State football coaching staff and the OSU creative team capped it off with a hype video for the ages.

Kerry Coombs is back, but of course you knew that by now. After a five year stint under Urban Meyer where every starting defensive-back he coached landed in the NFL, Coombs took a two-year hiatus to coach under Mike Vrabel with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.

I mean, who could blame him? But now, he’s getting a promotion to come back to Columbus with his high-energy, coffee, Red-Bull and all.

We’re used to seeing the Ohio State creative team put out hype videos throughout the year, but rarely do we see one centered around a coaching hire. But that was before the excitement level of getting Coombs back on staff went through the roof.

If you haven’t seen the return of Kerry Coombs hype video, you can click on the below. Just be prepared. Coombs can make about anyone want to run off a cliff into boiling water, so clear all breakables before you watch it.

Are you and everyone around you safe? Just checking.

 

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New Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs met with players Tuesday

New Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs met with some of the Buckeye players on Tuesday. He’s hitting the ground running.

Newly minted Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs is officially back on campus, and he’s apparenlty hitting the ground running.

According to a Tweet he shared to his own Twitter profile, Coombs got to meet at least some of the Ohio State football players on Tuesday and get in touch with some old friends to re-establish relationships he had prior to leaving the program for two years.

He also is apparently ready to go out on the recruiting trail Wednesday to begin selling the virtues of the Ohio State program to potential recruits. You have to believe one of those guys he’ll be in touch with his four-star athlete Cameron Martinez who has been keeping his options open since Jeff Hafley left the program.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. There’s not a guy around that exudes more energy for something he believes in than what you’ll get from Kerry Coombs. He’s on a mission already and ready to sell the program.

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Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

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