Cleveland, OH
Ohio State defense’s growth from crisis to confidence lives in 1 Buckeye: Nathan Baird’s observations
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Three observations from Ohio State football’s 37-17 victory over Maryland on Saturday.
1. Josh Proctor’s career full of near-misses and almost-had-its included its fair share of possible pick-sixes.
One of them finally stuck Saturday. He recognized a Maryland tendency pre-snap, read quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa’s plan and stepped in front of a pass in the second quarter. When he reached the end zone 24 yards later, the Buckeyes had their only touchdown of the first half.
Proctor called it “surreal.” That could describe his entire experience through the first five games. He won a job to open the season, and with every week, he earns a little more respect.
His seven tackles Saturday included 1.5 tackles for loss and that interception return touchdown. One of those tackles came after OSU’s touchdown to tie the game 17-17 midway through the fourth quarter. He stuck Braeden Wisloski inside his own 20, helping extend momentum already turning in the Buckeyes’ favor.
“Everything is coming to fruition,” Proctor said. “I prayed about these moments. I’ve dreamed about these moments. Sometimes I had my ups and downs, but honestly, I’m just living in the moment and I’m here now.”
Proctor made his third consecutive opening-day start this season. Yet his path to this sixth-year breakthrough has been anything but linear.
In 2021, it appeared his moment had arrived. He opened the season as the starting free safety in the single-high system. Yet that tenure was cut short halfway through the second game when he suffered a broken leg.
Ohio State lost the game, and it lost the stability Proctor brought to the back end of the defense. New defensive coordinator Jim Knowles arrived that winter, and Proctor had to earn a new coaching staff’s trust and learn a new system while completing his recovery. He opened the season as the starting bandit, missed a tackle on the first play of the season and was replaced immediately by Lathan Ransom.
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That would have been the end for many players. Either they would have moved on to the NFL or found another program to finish their career with a fresh start. Proctor, surprisingly, stuck around — and came back out and won a job, again.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day said earlier that Proctor wanted a full, healthy offseason of preparation before his final season. The word he kept coming back to: “Maturity.” Proctor found it in all aspects of his life.
Day singled him out in the locker room after the game — for what he fought through, for the player he is today, and for the one he can still become.
“He’s playing his best football,” Day said. “He’s the best version of himself. Now, in order for us to get to where we need to be in the next two months, we’re going to need him to play like that.”
This second half of Proctor’s six-year journey spanned an important evolution in OSU’s defense.
Back in 2021, OSU struggled to identify its best 11 defensive players. The entire unit lacked an identity, caught in limbo between the Cover 1 scheme Day preferred and the capabilities of the personnel. Proctor’s aggressive plays on the ball and willingness to deliver big hits might have helped provide that identity, but the fracture rendered him a spectator.
In came Knowles and his attacking, safety driven scheme. Now, the identity is growing, and the Buckeyes are gaining confidence at all 11 positions. That includes Proctor, roaming free around the back end, breaking up passes and making stops.
“I don’t want to think too far ahead,” Proctor said. “I just want to live in the moment and take it day-by-day and just continue to do my job at the end of the day.”
2. Perhaps the most surprising defensive statistic on the roster through four games was the combined zero sacks for J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer. The former finally got off the schneid with his sack of Tagovailoa midway through the second quarter. It was the pivotal play in a three-and-out that led to OSU’s only offensive points of the first half: Jayden Fielding’s 36-yard field goal.
He and Mike Hall Jr. collaborated on another sack in the fourth quarter. Yet his biggest play of the game arguably came in the first quarter, when he helped stop Billy Edwards Jr. on a fourth-and-1 try at the OSU 29 on Maryland’s first possession.
The sheer number of pivotal plays on which the third-year defensive end has been involved keeps piling up.
3. A numbers trend to keep an eye on. Ohio State led the nation in yards per play in both 2021 (7.96) and last season (7.28). After Saturday’s game, its yards per play dipped to 6.91 per game.
Now, come Sunday morning that should still rank in the top 20 or so nationally. But the only national champion in the last six years to average under 7 yards per play was, barely, Georgia in 2021 (6.98). And that team’s accompanying defense ranked among the best anyone has put on the field in recent memory.
I don’t point that out to cast doubt on OSU’s championship chances. I’m simply pointing out what form that championship bid may need to take.
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