Last week, my good pal and colleague Ben Kercheval took over the mailbag effort for me and handled himself admirably. Following a good friend’s bachelor party, I am back in the driver’s seat and ready to take your questions and wrestle down answers. Here we go!
Ah, Patti is back and as great as ever. For those too lazy to click on the article, it basically details the Buckeyes going from playing off coverage to pressing on nearly every play. Given how often I get tweets from fans and texts from friends that all basically say, “Gah, why are our corners so far off,” I think this is a great topic.
Although it is something I have hit on before in the mailbag, I’ve got no problem going nuts and bolts here in the offseason. A season ago, the Buckeyes secondary played plenty of off coverage and now they are looking to turn that on its ear and get more aggressive, going with press.
Keep in mind that press does not exclusively mean man coverage. Press looks work in man and zone. It is simply a means for cornerbacks to get their hands on a player and disrupt his timing before they get into their responsibility.
With the right cornerbacks it can be glorious. However, press plus responsibility adds another element to the defensive back’s plate. Instead of just reading keys and reacting on the snap, he is tasked with reading many of those same keys and reacting, all while handling the preliminary job of rerouting a wide receiver.
Whether it is man or zone, it is a lot…
Continue Reading: Your Best 11 Mailbag: Ohio State Secondary and 2014 SEC Offensive Production
