Ohio State taking open-minded approach to malleable nickel position

The summer offseason is in full swing, and Lettermen Row is trying to survive it with our annual Position Week breakdowns. By the time all nine units and coaching staff at Ohio State have been covered, training camp and media days will nearly have arrived, and the return of football in the Horseshoe will be just around the corner. We’re continuing with our ninth and final positional week with the Buckeyes cornerbacks unit.

COLUMBUS — Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles wanted to have the back seven of his 4-2-5 system set last year, his first with the program.

This time around, though, he’s welcoming ambiguity.

“I think you get to The Ohio State, and you realize there are a lot of guys with a lot of skills that you should find roles for,” Knowles said in late May.

In addition to dissecting the Buckeyes’ late-season defensive collapse in 2022, the longtime DC has spent this offseason searching for ways to maximize the talent he has at his disposal.

Part of that equation is figuring out the hybrid defensive end/linebacker “JACK” position. But maybe an even more intriguing area of focus is the “nickel” safety position in the back end.

Head coach Ryan Day, Knowles and the rest of the Buckeyes defensive staff have a different mindset when approaching the nickel role this year. It’s no longer being grouped with the “adjuster” (middle safety) and “bandit” (boundary safety) positions.

“I think what we’re looking for in that nickel position is different than the safety position,” Day explained in March. “So we have our two safeties and then we have that nickel. That nickel really should be similar to a corner. I think that’s important.”

The Buckeyes’ pass defense was exploited at times last season, especially down the stretch of the year, and the nickel position was occasionally the culprit. Oklahoma State grad transfer Tanner McCalister was there most of last season after finishing 2021 as a strong safety for the Cowboys. Day noted that, because of an array of injuries to the Ohio State cornerback room in 2022, the Buckeyes simply didn’t have the depth to play a corner-type player inside.

Ideally, though, Day would like the nickel to be manned by the team’s “third-best cover guy,” particularly in pass defense situations like third down.

Day added: “And then also maybe on 3rd-and-long, taking out one of your linebackers and going to a dime package is certainly something that we’ll be considering.”

Personnel best fit for first and second down might not be optimal for third down, essentially. Knowles said he actually loves the “interchangeability at safety.” After all, opposing offensive formations change, he said, so the more flexibility, the better.

“How much tight end or close formation are you getting to the field?” Knowles asked, posing a hypothetical. “Does the nickel need to be more like a corner or more like a strong safety?

“That can be week-to-week, play-to-play.”

Ohio State rolled out several players at nickel this spring: some safeties, some corners. Safety Sonny Styles repped at all three positions, but, when he was at nickel, he hovered around the line of scrimmage as a run defender. Cornerbacks Jyaire Brown and Ryan Turner both got snaps inside after playing outside their first year with the Buckeyes. Syracuse transfer Ja’Had Carter — like Styles — practiced at adjuster, bandit and nickel and, notably, took a good chunk of second-team reps at nickel.

Then there’s safety Cameron Martinez, who took most of the first-team reps at nickel. But Martinez doesn’t really see himself as a safety, anyway.

“I’m really an inside corner, and I’m just playing from off,” Martinez said this spring. “That’s kind of the way I simplified it, especially learning it. Now, there are sometimes I will be able to play safety as well and rotate. But my main job is stopping the man in front of me. That’s the first and foremost thing, and that’s how it was on the outside as well.

“There’s a lot of stuff that correlated with that, and I feel like that was an easy transition for me being on the inside.”

Martinez, a senior and former high school quarterback star at Muskegon in Michigan, spent time at cornerback early in his Buckeyes career. As he alluded to, that experience has helped him live up to the Buckeyes’ expectations at nickel this offseason.

Ohio State cornerbacks and secondary coach Tim Walton complimented Martinez’s quick feet and change of direction skills. Walton also stressed the importance of positional flexibility in the secondary.

“It’s different,” Walton said of the nickel position, compared to corner. “It’s a different skill set that you have to have because of the quick area. [You’re] close to the ball. Guys’ change of direction is really important. But we need to have that, we need to create the multiplicity of guys.

“You have to be able to do multiple things.”

Brown has embraced that mentality. In fact, he described his adjustment to balancing both nickel and corner as a “good time” this spring.

Brown played the most defensive snaps of any Buckeyes true freshman in 2022. He stepped up for an injury-riddled cornerback room and made his first career start against Wisconsin in Week 4.

Although his first year in Columbus was at corner, the Lakota West product said he played nickel in 7-on-7 competition before college. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to increase his value as an Ohio State defensive back.

“It was brought to me,” Brown said of the idea for him to play nickel. “So I just got a hold of the opportunity. … Wherever I can play on the field, I’ll get there.”

Buckeyes safeties coach Perry Eliano was asked this spring about what’s more significant when evaluating the nickel position, run defense or pass defense?

“Both,” Eliano said. “I mean you can’t have one without the other just because the offense can dictate, depending on a specific set, what that guy’s job responsibilities and description is. So they gotta be able to do both.

“It’s not the easiest, but you don’t come to Ohio State for easy. You come to Ohio State to be the very best, especially at ‘BIA’.”

Having defensive backs practice two, and sometimes three, positions comes with challenges, as Eliano mentioned.

But Ohio State keeping an open mind about the position allows the Buckeyes to let their personnel dictate their defense and, in turn, create better defensive matchups when it matters most.

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