No one needs a full-throated review of last year’s Ohio State pass defense.
It was bad. Really bad. Historically bad. And everybody remembers.
Blame can get — and has gotten — shifted in a number of different directions. Coaches? New coordinator? COVID-19? Recruiting misses? Guys not living up to expectations? All of the above? Take your pick. One thing’s a certainty: The Buckeyes know they can’t afford to put forth a pass defense that performs even remotely similarly to the one that consistently got shredded a season ago. That would put Kerry Coombs squarely on the hot seat, leave Ryan Day questioning his scheme and mean that a unit filled with former four-star and five-star recruits somehow couldn’t come together the way it should have.