A lot of people are throwing shade at Hickman and a few others for some of their plays yesterday. But like anything else, if you aren’t set up for success it’s hard to overcome. Most players because of scheme and preparation, find themselves out of position all the time. As we continued to see this season, the scheme coming into each game was completely obvious. As one player from Oregon famously said “we knew exactly what they were going to do on defense and were surprised they didn’t adjust at all.” Which brings me to my second point, not only did we not have an advantage with pregame schemes but in the midst of these games, we made no in game adjustments. This is a recipe for disaster and in my 38 years of Buckeye football, this has been the worse defense in my opinion. Combs/Barnes were in over their heads playing big boy ball with no experience.

Enter Knowles……

A guy that if you have read his stories, is a bit of a mad scientist. He comes into the office early Sunday, shuts his door and may not come out until late Monday but has been watching film and formulating a plan and scheme on how to attack the next opponents offense. I’m looking forward to a defense that is well prepared and has multiple different looks to confused an offense. A defense that just doesn’t line up in a obvious alignment with the idea that “our better talent will beat your lesser talent”. Our coaches have become complacent on trying to solely win with talent. Saban has never had this mentality and always tries to win the game of chess during the game. I think we’ve also left a lot to be determined on teaching the X’s and O’s and struggle to development talent. I remember a day when we took 3/4 stars and made them into elite players. Or even bringing in 5’s stars and developing them into top 10 NFL draft talent. I think Knowles is “that guy” and with better talent to work with, he will bring back the Silver Bullets and bring this defense back to greatness.