Ohio State Football Notebook: ‘I see things that maybe other people don’t’

Return To Sender

Fourth-year junior wide receiver Jayden Ballard has been the Buckeyes’ primary kickoff returner this season and backup punt returner. Through two games, Ballard has two kickoff returns for 23 total yards and one punt return for no yards.

The punt return came last week and was muffed by Ballard. He recovered it, but it was still a concerning development in the fourth quarter of a game that was no longer in doubt.

Buckeye head coach Ryan Day was asked on Tuesday if Ballard’s job was safe.

“We think that Jayden Ballard had a really good offseason,” Day said. “He was recognized as a gold individual during the offseason, which is significant in our program. So we’ve given him the opportunity to return kicks and a couple punts here. But the number one thing is taking care of the football. So that has to happen.”

The muffed punt followed a kickoff return earlier in the game that was bouncing on the ground as Ballard waved for a fair catch. Since kickoffs that have already hit the ground can’t be fair caught, the Buckeyes were given the ball where Ballard secured possession — their own six-yard line.

Day hasn’t been pleased with the kickoff return unit as a whole to this point, but putting the ball on the ground is a non-starter, which is one of the reasons they are re-evaluating things during their off week.

“We believe in who Jayden is, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to take care of the football,” Day said. “So we are going to evaluate it during this week and make sure that we’re doing the right thing.”

Center Of Calm

When former Alabama center Seth McLaughlin announced back in January that he was transferring to Ohio State, it was not met nationally with much fanfare. Within the walls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, however, the excitement was not a secret.

McLaughlin quickly won over the locker room and then won the position battle. Through two games, he has been consistent in every way. His two years of starting for Nick Saban at Alabama are evident in everything he does. It would seem OSU offensive line coach Justin Frye hit the lottery with McLaughlin.

“Yeah, he’s been a pro,” Ryan Day said. “Calms everything down inside. Even when Coach Frye or myself are barking at him like we will. He just has a calming presence. Like, ‘We got it. We’ll get this straightened out.’ And that’s a good feeling. That’s what you want to hear as a coach.”

McLaughlin has played in big games and been a part of big moments. Life at Ohio State has been pretty good so far, but he’s eventually going to run into those same high-leverage moments that he did at Alabama.

Ryan Day is confident he’ll be able to handle it.

“I mean, when you’re going at somebody and they look at you in the eye, like, ‘We’re going to get this thing straightened out,’ and they do, that’s when you know you’ve got somebody who’s a leader, who’s got poise and can kind of pull everybody together,” Day said.

He’s A One

Sophomore cornerback Jermaine Mathews was thrust into action in last week’s game against Western Michigan when senior starter Denzel Burke was ejected for a questionable targeting call.

It wasn’t the first time Mathews has been called upon in his career. He started a pair of games last year due to injured starters and has been an important part of this Buckeye defense every step of the way.

While some would consider it a luxury to have a starting-caliber player like Mathews coming off the bench, it is actually a necessity in today’s game if a team like Ohio State is going to reach all of their intended goals.

“Yeah, this is a long season,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “Strange things can happen. Unfortunate things. Depth is critical. Jermaine is in that area I’ve talked about before of guys who might not be a starter, but in our mind he’s considered one. You don’t blink when he goes in.”

Mathews would be starting this year if Burke hadn’t chosen to come back, so it’s no surprise that when he was given the opportunity to step up, he didn’t miss a beat.

“He’s a guy who has proven to be able to compete in the toughest games and situations,” Knowles said of Mathews. “He’s kept himself prepared with a good attitude and came in and did a good job.”

Performance Review Time

The Buckeyes don’t have a game this week but that doesn’t mean there isn’t work happening. Ryan Day has labeled this an “improvement week” for the players. Their position coaches are giving each of their players particular areas where improvement needs to happen.

Jim Knowles doesn’t have a position of his own as defensive coordinator, so he’s focused on getting himself better. When asked what he is concerned about after starting out 2-0 and having yet to allow a team into the red zone, Knowles had plenty of answers for areas that need fixed.

“I see a lot of things formationally,” he said. “I see things that maybe other people don’t. That’s really my biggest concern is just staying on top of things that maybe didn’t show up in the game, but I saw the possibilities for down the road and how other people are going to scout us.”

Knowles is working on plugging the holes in his defense before an offense has an opportunity to take advantage of them. He’s making contingencies for contingencies.

“Self-scouting and seeing what I called and how I can have more change-ups available when we need them,” he said of his areas of focus. “It’s just trying to look at every play and seeing what we did, which for the most part has been good. What are the other things that can come off of it? How are other teams going to look at us?”

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