Safety-Driven Defense Allowing Buckeyes To Get More Dangerous

In most worlds, safety is supposed to eliminate danger. In Jim Knowles’ world, however, a safety is meant to enable it.

As Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, Knowles has said that his scheme is a “safety-driven defense,” and right now safeties Caleb Downs, Lathan Ransom, and Jordan Hancock are operating like a precision stunt-driving team.

It’s controlled danger.

Hancock is in the slot, covering cat-quick receivers who are three inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter than he is while also blowing up screens to tight ends who outweigh him by 50 pounds. Hancock was also an effective blitzer in Saturday’s 45-0 win over Purdue, sacking Boilermaker quarterback Hudson Card after going head over heels on a block from a running back. But he immediately got up and in a very liquid-metal-terminator-like way, he went right back after his target without remorse.

Downs and Ransom can either be found in a two-deep tandem, or one in the box and the other in a single-high look. At times they are the last line of defense. And yet other times, they are the first line of defense and come attacking on a blitz.

The duo weren’t single-handedly responsible for last week’s win at Penn State, but they both knew what was happening on the game-saving fourth-down pass before the ball was ever snapped. Ransom immediately took away the first read to tight end Tyler Warren, then Downs eliminated the final read in the end zone.

They were all back at it again on Saturday against Purdue. Lathan Ransom again making a play in the corner of the end zone, this time an interception to help preserve the Buckeyes’ shutout.

These safeties do their jobs and you always know where to find them — unless you’re a quarterback.

They also allow Jim Knowles to get creative throughout the week when he’s putting a game plan together. Having a veteran defense gives him the ability to ask more of his players. Having three veteran safeties protecting the back end gives him the ability to find some things out in real time.

We saw that against Purdue when Knowles dusted off his beloved Jack and brought it back for the first time since the 2022 season.

In the first half it was fifth-year senior Mitchell Melton manning the hybrid linebacker/defensive edge position. It was junior CJ Hicks running it in the second half.

Like with all things that haven’t been run in a couple of years, there was some rust. The running lanes were wide against OSU’s 3-down linemen, and the Purdue offense had success running away from the attacking Jack ‘backer.

But you could see disruption from the position, which is much of the point.

And one of the reasons that Jim Knowles brought it out this week against an overmatched opponent is because he knew he could trust his safeties to make everything right.

While Knowles is experimenting in the lab, Caleb Downs, Lathan Ransom, and Jordan Hancock operate as the emergency shut-off operation. If something goes awry, his safeties are there to shut it down.

You shouldn’t have mixed these two chemicals, but it’s okay because Caleb Downs is an oxygen-suppression technician.

What’s that? We’ve got some microbes that have gotten loose? Lathan Ransom will kill it with fire.

That is the blessing of having a safety-driven defense with three guys who would be the best safety on just about any team in the nation.

The Buckeyes were able to try some things out on the fly in a live game and they got good data back.

Head coach Ryan Day demanded changes from this defensive attack following the one-point loss to Oregon a month ago. He has gotten those changes each week, and it looks like more changes will keep coming.

The benefit of having the three safeties that Ohio State has is that when those changes don’t go well, there is somebody there to keep the detrimental aspects from getting too far out of hand.

The Buckeyes are heading into their 10th game of the season, but just the fourth week of their new varied defensive attack. There are still going to be growing pains, but Downs, Ransom, and Hancock make it so that things aren’t as painful as they could be.

Jim Knowles has called his trio a luxury.

But you could also just call it a safety feature.

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