The beauty of the early season games against the likes of Oregon State, Rutgers and now Tulane is Ohio State’s ability to both rest its starters more than usual and allow the first- and second-year players who might not have had many opportunities to play in front of 100,000-plus fans to get valuable game reps.
Plus, it allows players on the periphery of playing time to translate their practice reps into plays on the field, thus increasing the trust of the coaching staff. Ohio State played 71 players against Oregon State and 79 against Rutgers, but only 56 players in its tightly contested matchup with TCU.
With the Buckeyes expected to cruise to their third blowout win in four games on Saturday, here are some of the freshmen and sophomore who might be able to take advantage of increased playing time in the second half.
Defensive back Shaun Wade
When the Buckeyes landed Shaun Wade out of Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida, the expectation was the former five-star prospect would find his way on the field early in his career.
Last season as a freshman, though, he did not take a snap in the Buckeyes secondary. Wade, who was ranked the second-best cornerback in his class behind fellow Ohio State second-year defensive back Jeffrey Okudah, battled an abdominal injury that eventually ended his season.
“Shaun's really intelligent. He picks things up quickly."– Greg Schiano
In the first game this season, Wade played nine snaps on defense. But, that number steadily rose to 27 snaps against Rutgers, then 39 snaps against TCU. He has played more snaps than Okudah in each of the past two games.
“More reps, you either have more chance to make a mistake or more chance to make a play,” defensive coordinator Greg Schiano said. “And the guys that are ready, it's more chance to make a play. Shaun did that when he got more chances. He kept making more plays.”
Those chances might not come at cornerback, though. Wade has played both cornerback both on the outside and as a nickelback in games, but he might get a chance to play safety on Saturday.
“It’s in the works,” Schiano said.
The possibility of Wade playing safety has existed for a while, but the more Isaiah Pryor and Jahsen Wint struggle and the better Wade plays, the higher the likelihood of Wade playing the position becomes.
And with Penn State looming in just a little over a week, the Buckeyes cannot afford to risk not having fixed their issue of giving up big plays. If there’s a chance Wade can be the fix alongside Jordan Fuller at safety, there’s a good shot Ohio State will give him reps at the position against Tulane to see if what Schiano and Alex Grinch have seen in practice can translate to games.
“Shaun's really intelligent. He picks things up quickly,” Schiano said. “So, nickel and corner are very similar. When you go to safety, there's several different responsibilities that come up. We've been impressed how fast he's picking stuff up."
Defensive ends Tyreke Smith and Tyler Friday
With Nick Bosa sidelined indefinitely with a core muscle injury, Chase Young and Jonathon Cooper have the unenviable job of replacing the production of possibly the best player in college football. But the starters will have help from a pair of true freshmen, along with redshirt junior Jashon Cornell, who was converted from defensive tackle in the spring.
Both freshmen Tyreke Smith and Tyler Friday, former top-100 prospects who committed to the program in January, will join Cornell as backups for Young and Cooper. They each have a single tackle through three games, but with Bosa out, they’ll have take a larger role off the edge.
“(Defensive line coach Larry Johnson) always has a way of winding somebody in there, and they rise to the occasion,” Greg Schiano said. “So (Young’s) repetitions may go up a little bit, but I think some of the young guys will step up.”
In his first-ever regular season game, Smith accompanied Bosa, Young and Dre’Mont Jones in the Rushmen package. His snap count has jumped around from 17 in the season opener to 33 against Rutgers before taking just six snaps against TCU. Friday played fewer than 20 plays in both the first two games and didn't play against the Horned Frogs.
Quarterback Tate Martell
As long as Dwayne Haskins wears an Ohio State jersey, Tate Martell will not be Ohio State’s starting quarterback. But that does not have to mean the electrifying dual-threat won’t have a role in the offense.
He took at least 20 snaps at quarterback in his team’s blowouts of Oregon State and Rutgers before not entering Saturday’s win against Tulane.
"It was just a hard one to get him in last week with the other guy playing so hard,” Urban Meyer said on his weekly radio show.
Meyer hopes to get Martell into the game early against Tulane. If Meyer inserts the second-year quarterback early in Saturday’s game and Ohio State jumps out to a significant early lead, Martell could conceivably take close to as many snaps as Haskins.
That’s certainly not inconsequential considering he would be taking snaps in Meyer’s first game back from suspension. And with Meyer’s affinity for quarterbacks who can threaten defenses with their feet well-known, it’s possible the head coach could ensure Martell has a role even in more competitive games.
Considering Martell didn’t take the field against the Horned Frogs, it remains likely that he won’t factor into Ohio State’s plans against Penn State. But he offers a completely different look to defenses than Haskins, a pocket passer, so it can’t be completely ruled out, especially if he impresses Meyer in his first game of the season back on the sidelines.
Defensive tackles Haskell Garrett, Tommy Togiai and Taron Vincent
Given Bosa’s injury situation and starting nose tackle Robert Landers being ruled probable for Saturday’s game with an unknown injury, there’s no reason to play the starting defensive tackles extended snaps if, in fact, Ohio State blows out Tulane. It’s in the Buckeyes best interest to be as healthy as possible for the Penn State game, especially since they won’t have Bosa.
Haskell Garrett, Tommy Togiai and Taron Vincent were each top-70 prospects in their respective classes, but have played sparingly. None of them have played more than 15 snaps in a single game this season and only Garrett entered Ohio State’s game against TCU. Against Tulane, that should change.
No matter how well any of the trio of first- and second-year defensive tackles play, they won’t unseat Jones or Landers. But an opening remains for someone, especially either Garrett or Vincent at the three-technique serving as the backup to Jones, to grab a larger share of rotation snaps.
