Caleb Downs Embracing Leadership Role, New Defensive Possibilities

Part of what makes Ohio State junior safety Caleb Downs so good is that from play to play he can shift from the last line of defense to the first.

He can swipe an ankle at full speed and make a touchdown-saving tackle in the open field or attack the line of scrimmage and drop a ballcarrier in the backfield before they even got a chance to tuck the football high and tight.

Downs can handle man coverage or zone, and never seems out of place regardless of where a play has taken him. He’ll be on every preseason All-American list this summer, and despite all of the gushing about how talented he is, there won’t be a single exaggeration.

Downs finished third in tackles last year (82) for the Buckeyes, and second in solo tackles (49), just two behind middle linebacker Cody Simon’s team high. In his two years of college ball, he’s become known for being one of the best tacklers in the sport. He flashes like a one-hit wonder, which is also a good description of his tackling ability.

It’s also something that has required a serious level of work.

“I feel like I’ve always taken time to work on my tackling, and that’s the thing that every safety has to do,” Downs said this spring. “I always watched Earl Thomas as a kid, he was a sure tackler, as they say, and I wanted to pride myself on that. I’ve been pretty successful at it and need to continue to work at it.”

Downs is also working on being more of a leader for the Buckeyes this year. He transferred in from Alabama last year as a sophomore and even though he immediately had the respect of his teammates, there were eight seniors in the starting lineup defensively that had the leadership aspect pretty well covered.

Now, however, the Ohio State coaches are looking to him, and Downs is ready for this challenge as well.

“It just pushes you into a new role, because you’re kind of the leader of the group now,” he said. “It’s a blessing to be in that position and be able to have guys looking up to you, asking you questions. It’s a great feeling to be a part of, to know that I can help develop younger guys that have the opportunity to play this year and next year, so it’s an honor to be in the position that I’m in.”

Caleb Downs was a First-Team All-American last year in defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ “safety-driven defense.” As the season went on last year, Downs was schemed to be more involved in the box, which allowed him to make more plays near the line of scrimmage. Knowles is now at Penn State, however, and new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia is next up in figuring out how to use Downs’ wide-ranging skill set.

Just like the new responsibilities as a leader, Downs is up for whatever Patricia has in mind.

“I mean, just being in new positions — the ability to play multiple positions in the secondary, play a dime and stuff like that. Being put in different positions that I wasn’t maybe put in last year to have different things on the field to do, I think that’s a great thing,” he said. “Always good to have versatility, and it’s something I pride myself on. So I’m looking forward to it.”

It won’t just be Downs who is moved around as his ability dictates, and his ability to play multiple positions will also allow different substitution patterns defensively. It’s all part of a larger plan that is still evolving.

“I think we have a lot of variability right now, being able to hop into different packages, different personnel groupings, and that’s always a good thing because it creates more that the offense has to deal with,” he said. “I’ve always prided myself on being a versatile player. So just the opportunity to do that, I’m very thankful for it.”

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