COLUMBUS, Ohio — There won’t be a surprise appearance with an offensive starter magically showing up to save the day on defense. + EnlargeIcon SMIAs the regular season winds down, injuries have been piling up for Urban Meyer’s defense. If there was a candidate to fill Zach Boren’s versatile shoes and make that jump, Ohio State would have already pulled that rabbit out of its hat by now. But just like the Buckeyes had to do a year ago as they prepared for Indiana, they’ve been hit by a string of injuries that are stretching the defense thin at a crucial point in the season. And while the health concerns haven’t forced coach Urban Meyer into a desperate enough situation that he needs to find a new starter from the other side of the ball this week, he is spending a lot of time teaching offensive players to tackle as the cumulative effects trickle down and start creating leaks elsewhere.
“Our effort this week is we’re beat up a little bit,” Meyer said. “Right now we’re just going through it, and it’s showing up in our coverage units a little bit. I want to say nine players are out for the season, scholarship players. Seven or eight of them are guys we were all counting on.
“Our emphasis is on teaching people how to tackle. We have five offensive players on punts right now. Never had that. Punt, you go down and tackle. When guys have never tackled in their career, that’s bad coaching by us.”
It might simply be just bad luck instead, since most of the recent problems have clustered for the Buckeyes on defense. Linebacker Joshua Perry wasn’t even hurt on the field, missing last week’s game at Illinois after slipping on ice.
But that unexpected issue for Perry, lingering ankle and back problems for fellow starting linebacker Curtis Grant, the season-ending broken ankle suffered by Christian Bryant, a neck injury that forced defensive end Joey Bosa to the sideline last week and a handful of other health concerns for key special-teams contributors have again forced the Buckeyes to get creative late in the season.
Perry is likely to return this week, and Grant could perhaps be back on the field as well…
Continue reading this article at ESPN: Injury bug taking a toll on Buckeyes
