The Ohio State defense will have its hands full with Alabama’s explosive attack led by Crimson Tide’s three-headed Heisman monster.
Tide’s defense isn’t exactly going to the national championship game on Monday night going for a walk in the park.
Led by Justin Fields, perhaps the best receiver pair in America, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, and an offensive line that has been opening huge holes for the scorching Trey Sermon, the Buckeyes’ attack will be led by Justin Fields. serious threat in Miami.
The day after speaking with an Alabama attack led by players who said the Buckeyes’ defense would be “the best we’ve played this year”, the defense took the podium on Thursday and gave Ryan Day’s team some more praise .
Can ‘Bama make the state of Ohio one-dimensional?
At the beginning of the 2020 season, much of the Ohio state attack revolved around Justin Fields taking the ball to Olave and Wilson. With the way Trey Sermon ran the ball recently, Alabama wants to put the Buckeyes back where they have to throw the ball more than they would like.
“As for us, I feel that this is one of the main things that we should be concerned with, trying to make the state of Ohio one-dimensional and interrupting its racing game, because that is something really important with regard to success,” said the linebacker Dylan Moses.
Running after what Moses called the “really excellent offensive line,” Sermon recorded 331 yards with two touchdowns in the Big Ten title game before catching 193 yards and a touchdown at the Sugar Bowl. These consecutive performances followed him running 344 yards in the first five games combined.
So what kind of sermon does Alabama think it will see?
“I think we will get the best of it,” said Golding. “We usually get the best of everyone and I think he’s playing at a very high level. I think he runs the ball well, runs after the cushions. I find it explosive. I think he does a good job of understanding his blocking structure from the beginning, follows blockers and is patient when he needs to. But he’s one of those guys where you do the sewing, he can handle it. ”
“A young Cam Newton”
Golding spent his first season in Tuscaloosa as a defensive co-coordinator for Tide in 2018. While there, Golding and Co. faced Justin Fields only once during the freshman season of the former five-star in Georgia.
Fields was hardly used in that December 2018 showdown, playing incomplete in his lone pass attempt and ending with three runs for six yards. So it’s not like Golding had a fantastic or complete view of Fields as a defender, but he was still able to gauge the growth that Fields made from his first high school season to his third, in which he rose to the top five. of the NFL draft.
“Obviously, I think he looks a lot more veteran,” said Golding. “I think he does a good job of putting them in and out of play. Obviously, they are a great check team with me, and based on the shell and the front, he can control the running game and the pass game. I think he has come a long way, obviously, to understand the covers and the fronts and how they fit together. He does a very good job of putting them in and out of the pieces. Obviously I think he has a very good arm, a very strong arm, another. He played his back foot 68 yards last week for the touchdown, but I think his accuracy has improved. ”
One of the main areas in which Golding was impressed by watching Fields on tape is his ability to make checks on the scrimmage line, his understanding of the covers and his mobility in his pocket to avoid pass rushers and move smoothly to create time for his receivers to find openings in the field.
He also noted how Fields damaged his defenses with his ability to get out of his pocket and fight for big gains, saying that all of this contributes to Fields being “a complete defender”.
Golds assessment of Fields was echoed by linebackers Christian Harris and Dylan Moses, with Harris alluding to some of Fields’ major difficulties in the semifinal victory over Clemson and his bombs for Chris Olave and Jameson Williams.
Moses, on the other hand, compared Fields to a player that many people (including Fields himself) compared him to in the past – and for those who somehow don’t realize, Moses was doing the comparison in a positive way.
“I’ve been watching Justin Fields since he left high school. I always praised him a lot, ”said Moses. “He kind of reminded me of a young Cam Newton or something. The guy has great talent. He can deliver the ball to his recipients, he has a strong, athletic arm. He’s everything you want in a quarterback. As I said, we respect him and, as I said, we go into the game confident and knowing that it will be a great challenge. ”
Impressions from Ryan Day, the interlocutor
It is certain that Nick Saban does not know Ryan Day very well. The closest they came to facing each other in the countryside was when their schools lined up a series of home and home for 2027 and 2028, and have not yet established a close relationship so far from everything. Maybe that will happen at some point.
But as of now, Saban is widely known as Day Coach based on second-hand information and what he has accumulated from watching the Buckeyes in a film from afar.
“He does a great job as a coach,” said Saban. “He is a very good offensive player. He has a great attack scheme. It certainly does a great job training your players to execute this scheme. They are very well trained in all phases, and their team plays with great intangibles, discipline, tenacity, hard game. They seem to have a great unity in their team. So, I think all of these are great indicators of the excellent work that Ryan Day does as a coach and leader of his organization. I think he took a great opportunity and he certainly did an excellent job.
“They have one of the best teams in the country, no doubt.”
As an offensive coach and defender of the game, Day forced his colleagues – including Saban and defensive coordinator Pete Golding – to pay attention. Ohio’s offensive has steadily improved since Urban Meyer brought it as a co-offensive in 2017, after his team laid a goose egg in the college football playoff. Now, with Justin Fields as a defender and a racing game that ranks third nationally, with six yards per load, he has things buzzing in Columbus.
What Golding – a 36-year-old in his third season coordinating Saban’s defense – saw of Day’s attack impressed him a lot.
He pointed out how Day manipulates defenses with formations, moving the guys to isolate them in clashes where the state of Ohio thinks it has individual advantages. Golding observed Day’s verification system with me on the scrimmage line and mentioned how the head coach sometimes pretends this.
“I think he did a great job of complementing those two things and keeping himself well balanced with that,” said Golding. “And then mix the timing game on top of that where they’ll create an explosive move and then they’ll hurry up, and then now they’ll hurry up and then they’ll grab and go. And then they go, ‘Hurry up, kill, kill, kill, whatever you are in, let’s call it the right move. Here’s two out, here’s a scout room, let’s put double posts and shoot. Obviously, I think a lot of things complement each other in appearance and in the racing game and in the pass game, and based on what you are in, they have the best move forward in the racing game or for that coverage in the game of passage. So I think you have to do a really good job to change that. ”
“I just had to make the best decision for myself”
Even if Jordan Battle hadn’t moved to Alabama on the day of the early signing two years ago, he could still be playing the national championship game this season.
Second in safety in the 2019 recruiting class, Battle initially committed to the state of Ohio in June 2018. After continuing to visit other schools, however, Battle chose to sign with Alabama that December, shortly after Urban Meyer announce his retirement as Ohio State Head Coach.
Given the inconsistent game Ohio State had in its secondary this year, Battle probably would have played an important role in the Buckeyes’ defensive backfield this season. That said, second-year safety plays an important role in the back of Alabama’s defense, starting all but one of the Crimson Tide’s 12 games this year. He recorded 63 tackles in total, four pass splits and three loss tackles and had a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown against Kentucky.
Battle does not regret the decision he made to join the Crimson Tide on the Buckeyes.
“I had to make the best decision for myself,” said Battle. “Obviously, you see that I made the best decision for myself, and that was all that happened.”
Battle said he doesn’t remember much of the recruiting process, now that he’s been in Alabama for two years. But he still holds the state of Ohio in high regard, although he tries to beat the Buckeyes on Monday.
“I give all the praise to the State of Ohio,” said Battle. “Great technical team, great players. I just had to make the best decision for myself in the end, to come to Alabama. I give all the praise and all the excitement and joy in the state of Ohio, too. ”