Postgame Breakdown: Jeremiah Smith, Defensive Depth Shine in Ohio State’s 52-6 Win over Akron

[Music] welcome inside Ohio stadium Dan hope joined by Andy Anders following Ohio State's season opener a 52-6 win over akan and Andy we have started a lot of these videos over the last eight months talking about one Jeremiah Smith we are going to do it again because the Freshman sure lived up to the hype in his first game as a buckeye he's built different that's what Ryan Day said uh that's what the kids said and I think he proved it out there today man and you saw him make some mistakes early right had a dropped pass on a tunnel screen that might have gone for a touchdown looked wide open was a gorgeously designed play had a penalty early on but uh he was able to Sher off each of those mistakes and go out and just ball I mean the the in zone grab the first touchdown catch of his career was massive uh made a Fant just a classic high point turnaround back shoulder ball on a fade you had before that he had two really big third down grabs I thought um he converted had a third and 10 conversion that really helped get Ohio State's offense finally going in a positive direction after it went three and out on its first drive then later saw a slot fade that was a nicely thrown ball from will Howard he catches it from with one hand uh and had a second touchdown on the day as well so that just uh lived up to all the hype that we've been cultivating this offseason about him that the coaching staff has been cul ating this offseason about him that has been talked about and discussed since he was signed as the number one Prospect in his recruiting class so uh everything you wanted to see out of Jeremiah Smith today I think you got that and it seems if he if he's not guy one for Ohio State he's at least guy too behind a mecha abuka it seems in that receiver rotation outside of Jeremiah Smith not the best first half for Ohio State's offense but Buckey scoring only 177 points before halftime definitely a little bit clunky first game I think uh you know it took Will Howard a little bit while to sell in I think the offensive line with no Donovan Jackson out there rotating a little bit at Right Guard with tgra chabola and Carson Hinman uh you definitely saw some things that were not perfect in that first half from the offense and you know Ryan D said after a game he felt like they were a little bit too uh uptight on offense but he felt like they needed to play looser and felt like they did do that in a second half one the Buckey scored 35 points ultimately won the game by 46 so you can't be too upset about a 46 Point win not not quite a cover for V Buckeyes but still a a convincing comfortable Victory uh for theck guys and certainly you know if we're looking for other highlights uh you you look at the defense and their ability to come up with takeaways they've talked about it all last season as good as they were defensively last year one area where they want to grow this year is making more big plays making plays on the ball and ideally turning those takeaways into touchdowns and that's what they did today three takeaways by the Ohio State Defense defense two of them touchdowns yeah uh it it was everything you wanted to see from the Ohio State Defense and everything that they've talked about all offseason like you said I also thought man this defensive line and I know ak's not exactly World beaters up front right they're going to have much better offensive lines they play this season but it was ferocious jt2 amola wasn't out there long but man does he looked good uh and then the second unit Kenyatta Jackson Jr had a few nice pressures you had Kon Curry forcing the fumble that lean Ransom Scoops and scores for a touchdown Ohio State's first defensive touchdown and then the other one was a batted pass that gate Bowers runs to the house you Andrew Houston get hand on that and Houston got a hand on that one and that's that's way down the defensive in-depth chart that that second unit on the defensive line was there wasn't a huge drop out drop off from that first group that was out there they were still making plays generating pressure and man if if if it wasn't three steps and out for Akon's quarterback whether that was Ben Finley or Taj Bullock he was getting smacked and that is there that there's a c if the defensive line continues to generate that type of pressure throughout the season to where it's only quick reads and quick throws that are going to be viable for offenses man it's it's it's going to make it easy to scheme up for Jim NES yeah I think we both felt a little bad for Ben Finley by the time he left the game cuz man he got beat up I mean and you know those defensive ends were getting after him I thought JD TOA had a fantastic game Ty Williams had a fantastic game but to your point I think what what really stood out today was the depth of a defensive line I mean I think you can really see them being five deep at that defensive end position with Kaden Curry kinata Jackson Mitchell Melton all doing some nice things today you know defensive tackle def we saw Kaden McDonald play a good amount you know hero canoe getting in on that you know fumble uh that was recovered by Le and Ransom speaking of Le and Ransom I think we'd probably both agree that Jeremiah Smith was a player of the game today but if you're looking at a defensive player of a game lean Ransom probably leads that list he had nine tackles today two tackles for loss plus that fumble return touchdown this is a guy who of course had his season cut short last year by the the L Frank injury that he suffered in his foot uh to come back that way certainly a big confidence booster for him going into his fifth year senior season yeah his trigger impressed me today just the ability to fly down from the safety position and make plays all over the field whether it was scooping that fumble I thought his second tackle for loss that he had I believe it was a screen pass to the outside he comes down from safety and just makes a beautiful play in the back field the first was on a blitz and I think definitely saw some more creative Blitz packages as promised from Jim nolles today saw Caleb DS blitzing a few times lean Ransom blitzing there on that tackle for loss as mentioned I think speaking of depth though out CJ Hicks may have started at linebacker but to me the biggest standout at linebacker today might have been arll ree arll was all over the field flexing the athletic as a missed tackle or two in there but made up for it with just awesome in instincts and Recovery speed and sideline to sideline playing he had a gorgeous uh play on it it was just I believe it was also a screen or maybe a quick out that was to the other side of the field he was backside on the plane he ran all the way across the field to go make a tackle on a play that looked like it was going to gain really good yards for akan only ended up being four so arel ree I think showed why today and it seems he has past G powers sort of in that linebacker rotation and is kind of right there in that mix for playing time I think he's probably their fourth linebacker right now and it's pretty good when your fifth linebacker is running back a an interception for a touchdown so I think the linebacker depth really stood out today I think you know Sunny Styles playing that Mike position a position we didn't really expect to see him play much he has to start at that position he's the guy the Green Dot his helmet first game in for Ohio State since that was implemented in college football he looked very comfortable in that Mike linebacker role CJ Hicks like you said make some plays as well I think you feel good about uh the depth that you have at that linebacker position another guy I got to highlight is Brandon inis because we we've talked a lot about this drought that Ohio state has had on return touchdowns I come out of today thinking we're going to see Brandon inis return a punt for a touchdown this year because he just he just has a look out there it you could tell that every time he wants to bring that thing back for a touchdown and you know our Josh Pala made a good point Brandon inis had 60 punt return yards today Ohio state had 75 punt returns all of last season and so we'll see if Brandon inis can continue that on a week- toe basis but he certainly looks like a guy that can be a weapon back there and I think special teams in general it was an area that uh got a lot of scrutiny for the last couple of years with Parker Fleming coordinating that unit it wasn't perfect today there were a couple of penalties and so definitely some things for Ohio State to clean up in that regard but you know we saw Jaden Fielding make his only field goal attempt of the day a bit of a surprise at punter as we saw Joe Maguire get the start over Nick Mardy but I think he was solid and then definitely seeing that spark from Brandon inis in the punt return game I think gives you some excitement about the potential for Ohio State to have more of a spark in that area than they've had in a long time yeah Special Teams I think the P return with Brandon inis I to your point I tweeted out during the game I think he's going to score a touchdown this Ser just there's a different Aura and while I think a meca was a good returner especially on kick return in the past a you don't want to risk his body with the amount of reps he's played and he the hits he's taken throughout his career but B I I think I actually like Brandon a little better back there returning punts because he's a little bit shiftier of an athlete you want somebody who can make guys miss in the open field make a quick cut and and go for yardage and and he really flexed that ability today and to your point 75 yards last year Brandon had a 21 yard return called P so if you if that had stood it would have been 81 and then he exceeds last year's total but no no doubt he'll pass it soon um if teams keep giving him opportunities to return the football so special teams I think overall yes a couple penalties but there was no like outside of that it was mostly a you get good flashes from Brandon inis but there wasn't a lot of bad to say about the Special Teams which I think is the main point and uh Joe Maguire too Ryan Day pointed out week he had named Nick mccardy the starter previously at punter uh so it was a surprise to see Joe Trot out there but the consistency is what was important and I think we saw it practice you know Nick mcclard's got a huge leg and when he connects it can go 70 80 yards sometimes even but when he misses it's a big Miss and I think the indication kind of we got was more of those misses showed up in practice this week and the consist see Joe Maguire doing it rep in rep out is what won him the job and both of his punts were good today no complaints there Ohio state did a good job on punt today well we will have a lot more to come from Ohio State season opener over on 11w warriors.com so stay tuned with us for full coverage of Ohio State football and we'll be back next week when Ohio State plays Western Michigan at night in its second game of the season so thanks for joining us here on the postgame show and we'll talk to you again soon