Mum is still the word about position battles that aren’t at quarterback for Ohio State.
Malik Hartford and Jaylen McClain have fought all offseason to start at strong safety next to the best defensive player in college football, Caleb Downs. But no one is naming a leader.
“I think they’re both ready to play,” Ryan Day said on Monday. “I think they're both doing well. We tackled, again, a decent amount here in the preseason, it felt like they're playing faster. I think they do, being with Caleb, they do play faster. There's a certain level of confidence that you see, too, back there. I think that's good.”
One thing has been clear since the spring, however: Both men are going to see the field. And lately it seems that both will see it plenty.
“Great competition back and forth,” defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said. “I think both of them have really made great gains. Certainly with the communication, I think that's one of the biggest things in the back end. Tying together the coverage, whether you're talking to the corners outside or down to the linebackers in front of you. There's some things in there communication-wise that are really critical and both of those guys have done a good job.”
Hartford and McClain were the backups last year for the starting deep safety tandem of Downs and Lathan Ransom. McClain, then a freshman, was one of Ohio State’s fastest-rising freshmen in 2024 after making waves in the offseason and becoming the third member of his recruiting class to shed his black stripe. Hartford saw playing time as a freshman himself in 2023, but nagging injuries and McClain’s surge kept him from making much of an impact last year.
Safeties coach Matt Guerrieri said Tuesday that he views both men as starters. It’s the latest tidbit to fuel the discussion that both will see the field regularly after being seen with the first-team defense, with Downs sliding to nickel, during the first few practices of preseason camp that were open to the media.
“100 percent, I view them as guys who are game-ready,” Guerrieri said. “Game-ready is how I view it. That’s the term we use. Who’s game-ready? Because the reality of it is, first play of the game, let’s say somebody came out in a heavy personnel grouping, you might not have one of your starting corners in the game. Sometimes that term (starter), I get it, but sometimes it gets blown out of proportion a little bit.”
Patricia put the emphasis on both Hartford and McClain’s communication above, and that’s the top area where Guerrieri has seen them take leaps this year.
“Safety, it’s their job,” Guerrieri said. “They’ve gotta direct traffic. They have to be able to articulate, communicate, get everything lined up. So I’ve seen the biggest growth from them in that area.”
Now, if both men are to play together in various personnel packages – or even possibly, though not probably, both as starters – it raises the question of where each will be deployed. Patricia pointed to some differences in their skill sets and indicated he could get creative with positioning on his end.
“Maybe there’s a little bit of a difference in play with those guys in the positions that they’re in,” Patricia said. “But we're still making plays out in the field, which is good. I think it's been great for us to have some tackling, some live tackling out there, too, which has been good to see those guys in those spots. So, it's been a good competition, really. We'll have some things, obviously, where we can play a lot of guys and get a lot of people on the field, especially at the safety position.”
Guerrieri believes the duo is similar enough to deploy at either safety spot, but there are unique ways Ohio State intends to utilize its strengths. Nothing that he’s willing to give away, though.
“They have some similarities, so I wouldn’t say they’re radically different players as far as one needs to be near the line of scrimmage or deep,” Guerrieri said. “Or sometimes you say, ‘Hey, this guy is more of a box-type safety or more of a free-type safety.’ So I think there are similar traits to be able to do that. I wouldn’t say radically different. Is there nuance, sure, but without giving away too much, there’s enough similar traits to be able to go play the safety position.”
Regardless of who wins out to start at strong safety, both Hartford and McClain have grown to be key pieces of Ohio State’s defense, filled with new faces like theirs this year. It’s impressing the veterans.
“They’ve had a lot of improvement,” Downs said. “We’ve been pushing everybody to be better, not just them, but every position to compete and play at a high level. And they’ve played exceptionally well. I’m excited for both of them to see what they do on the field.”
