When asked about Caleb Downs on Wednesday, Matt Guerrieri used the word “special” three times in a row. defensive back Wednesday. He even slapped a “really” before two of them.
“He's special. He's really special. He's really special," the Ohio State safeties coach said. "First off, he puts the work in. You can take talent as a God-given thing, but the discipline and skill that you develop over time in your life, he’s been able to do that. He’s a really disciplined guy. He’s the same every day from a mentality standpoint, he’s the same every day from a work ethic standpoint."
Ohio State doesn’t intend to limit such a special player to one position on the football field. Despite arriving in Columbus this spring, Downs is already rolling through each of the three safety spots in the Buckeyes’ defense. He'll have all the versatility and power of a queen on Jim Knowles' defensive chessboard.
“He’s played a multitude of positions for us,” Guerrieri said. “He can handle that. We have different personnel packages where we can move him around and do different things with him. He’s got a wide variety of skills and it’s our job to highlight those.”
Downs has started to settle into his new home after transferring from Alabama to Ohio State this offseason.
“It’s always new just to be around different people, people that you haven’t spent time with,” Downs said. “Building relationships is a big thing for me, so just trying to grow my relationships with my teammates and trying to learn more about each of them.”
Anyone who follows the Buckeyes knows Downs’ reputation at this point. He had more than 100 tackles as a freshman at Alabama, earning first-team All-SEC honors in a rare first-year turn.
His work ethic and discipline are renowned by his coaches. Guerrieri said that Downs is in the film room “more than anybody on the entire defense.” Downs credits such an approach to his father Gary, who played running back in the NFL for seven seasons.
“Ever since I was a kid, my dad always instilled in me and my brother to work hard and just be around football,” Downs said. “Be around what we want to be good at. After (interviews) I’ll go watch more film, do a little schoolwork, then later tonight I’ll probably come back and watch some film again.”
That game knowledge and dedication to craft is why there’s an anticipation that Downs will make such an impact all over the field for Ohio State, as he did for the Crimson Tide.
“Every day, I take reps at all three spots,” Downs said. “It helps you understand and learn the defense from a new perspective. Being able to see the ball from the boundary safety, see the ball from the nickel spot, being able to see the ball from the dime. It helps you be able to see the whole game and understand everything that goes on around you.”
His primary spot in the scheme will be as “adjuster,” though, the free safety position in Knowles’ scheme. By playing Downs to the field, he can use his superior athleticism and range to make impacts in the run game, short passing game, deep passing game, wherever it may be.
Downs is confident in his tools no matter where he lines up.
“It’s the safety to the field, the safety playing in the most space. That’s what I’m used to,” Downs said. “I feel like I can play to the boundary, I can play the dime, any position. I can play nickel. At the end of the day, you’ve gotta make plays wherever you’re at.”
"He's special. He's really special. He's really special."– Matt Guerrieri on Caleb Downs
Downs also remains aware that he’s coming in to bolster a defense that should expect nothing less than to be the best in the country. Before scooping up the superstar the Buckeyes had the No. 2 scoring, No. 3 total and No. 1 passing defense in 2023.
Nine starters return from that unit, including the three cornerbacks and one safety flanking Downs in Denzel Burke, Davison Igbinosun, Jordan Hancock and Lathan Ransom.
“They were a very elite defense last year,” Downs said. “Watching all the film from last year and the whole season, they played a great season. They played a lot of good defense. I can only do my part. I can only do my one-eleventh, and do my job every play I can. I can’t try to do more than that, and every other player has to do his job and we’ll do what we need to do.”
Downs isn’t resting on his laurels entering his second season of college football either. He’s working to improve several areas of his game.
“Just being better in coverage, being better in the post, being better in my tackling, being a better communicator with my teammates,” Downs said. “All that I think I can offer to the team, but at the end of the day, it’s gotta be a team collective.”
Ohio State’s safeties room has been dinged up this spring, with Ransom, Malik Hartford and Ja’Had Carter all working back from injuries. Second-year Jayden Bonsu had to take first-team reps alongside Downs at Student Appreciation Day.
Downs will look to rotate around the field and lead the lot of them.
“It’s been great,” Guerrieri said of the safeties room. “It’s been highly competitive, I would say. “The film room is highly competitive, the field work is highly competitive. You’ve got a bunch of guys, a good mix of veteran and young guys. We talk about expectations being constantly on the rise and that’s what we’ve been able to do so far.”
