Buckeye Blogger NetworkAs a part of the 2012 season, the Buckeye Bloggers Network is pooling their expertise to give Ohio State fans the most in-depth coverage possible for Saturday’s game.
This week tBBC looks at the Buckeye passing game against the Cal Defense. Be sure to check out the rest of this series via the links at the bottom of this post!
Buckle Up
Coach Herman is new to Ohio State, but I don’t get the sense that he’s one to lean on hyperbole.
So, when he tells his receiving corps that they will be challenged in ways that they have not yet seen, you’ve got to believe that this will absolutely be the case.
Much has been made of Cal’s “unique” defense- a Bear (seriously) look that emphasizes stopping the interior run game. It’s also been highlighted that this philosophy is dependent upon corners and safeties who have the ability to lock their men down for the evening. Given that Cal has been running this in a conference that can, at times, be a bit “pass happy”, it’s safe to assume that they might just know what they are doing.
And that’s just half the issue.
Coming into this season, one of the concerns that Ohio State fans and coaches each identified was the need for maturity and excellence from the receiving corps. Part of that was due to the issues that emerged last year- new coach, true freshman sharing time with a professional rocket launcher at quarterback, and an offensive philosophy that emphasize any number of plays as long as they were “Dave”. Losing their top playmaker for all but two games, and now losing him to graduation, it’s easy to understand why Coach Meyer came into the spring and fall looking to find out who would be the person he could count on.
I get the sense that, although we’re getting closer, they are still looking. Read More
Moving Forward
Before Buckeye Nation turned it’s eyes to shootyhoops on Saturday, the 2012 football team took to the field for it’s first full-pad practice of the spring. Here’s some of the things we’ve learned after three days under Coach Meyer:
Midweek madness in March… be sure to stick with us after the break to get insight into the personalities and ideologies of some of the new Ohio State coaching staff
Learning from the best
Buckeye 411
But the number that best explains his sophomore season is the dramatic decline in free throw attempts from his freshman year. He’s getting fouled about 20 percent less often this season than last, although he is most certainly being challenged by defenders in greater numbers and it would appear he is being contacted more. He is attempting and making roughly the same number of shots as last season, but he is getting fewer calls.
More contact, but fewer calls? That right there is all you need to know about the state of B1G officiating this season, just in case the conference player of the year possibly fouling out of a huge game and not being removed by the officials wasn’t enlightening enough.
Q: Who would star as you (in the movie adaptation of the book)?
A: We had that question asked at Ohio State. We had to do the profile thing during timeouts (at games), where they asked you who would play you in a movie. All my teammates said Denzel Washington. That wouldn’t work for me, though.
How about Zac Efron? We could turn it into a musical.
All I needed to read, though, was Greg Oden’s blurb for the cover-
“Mark Titus knows a lot of personal secrets of mine. If he revealed any of them in this book, I will kick him right in the testicles. I’m not joking.”
When you buy it, be sure to do so from Amazon- gives a little love to your favorite corner of the interwebs.
Today, Ohio States’ full coaching staff was available for interviews, including the newest members of Coach Meyer’s staff, Ed Warinner and Tim Hinton. These last two, most recently at Notre Dame, have been working with Buckeye recruiting over the past several days, but were only officially introduced and named today- they will also be a part of Coach Meyer’s introduction opportunity at halftime of the Hoosier Basketball game this Saturday.
Coach Hinton is a former Ohio State coach who’s career includes the following (from the press release):
Coach Hinton
Hinton’s 30 seasons of coaching experience includes 16 seasons in the collegiate ranks with positions at Ohio State, Wilmington, Ohio, Cincinnati and Notre Dame, and 14 years as a head coach at three Ohio high schools: Zane Trace (1987-88); Van Wert (1989) and Harding (1993-2003).
“I have always felt it would be an honor to have an opportunity to coach for and to represent Ohio State,” Hinton said. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to work with great people and great coaches at such a wonderful place.”
Coach Hinton will be working with the Tight Ends and Fullbacks- I’m sure Boren and Stoneburner are more than excited.
Coach Warinner doesn’t have previous Ohio connections, instead:
Coach Warinner
Warinner, who is 50, has coached at seven different schools: Akron, Michigan State, Army, Air Force, Kansas, Illinois and Notre Dame. In addition to his nine years in coordinator positions, he has spent 15 of the past 20 seasons coaching the offensive line. He has coached on teams that have won four national rushing titles, and earlier this season Rivals.com named Warinner one of the Top 20 “hottest assistant coaches” in the nation.
“I’ve always strived to coach in positions where I have a lot of responsibility,” Warinner said. “Serving as a coordinator goes beyond just coaching what my guys are doing. It is a thought process of attacking and moving the ball, and strategies and reading plays. There is a big picture as a coordinator that I am into and really enjoy, and it’s a position from where I think I can make a significant contribution to the success of a team.”
Coach Warinner will serve as co-offensive coordinator and work with the offensive line. Read More
Braxton's New BFF
We should have listened to our great commentators…
First, they told us how strong of a program Iowa State is. Then, they gave us the heads up that ISU’s offensive coordinator was someone to keep an eye on.
Well, they were right, and Coach Meyer (still fun to type that!) agrees, today hiring Tom Herman to be the quarterbacks coach at Ohio State. UPDATE: Herman will also serve as the offensive coordinator, as per Ohio State.
Here’s a bit from the CBS story on this-
Herman is relatively young (36 years old); he graduated cum laude from California Lutheran in 1997 and has been an assistant coach ever since. He has been Iowa State’s offensive coordinator for three years, as he was brought in with Paul Rhoads before the 2009 season. Under Herman, the Iowa State offense has scored 20.5, 23.7, and 23.6 points per game in those three years. Previously, Herman was the offensive coordinator at Rice for two years, and he spent time as an assistant at two other schools in Texas for the six season prior to that. Herman also spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Texas after graduating from college.
This hire is a bit surprising, although Herman is an up and coming coach and will fit well into Coach Meyer’s plan for the development of the program. Here’s something from an indepth look at his career and offensive philosophy.
Herman’s big on preaching to his players about trying to win “the double positive,” he explains of his biggest stat barometer.
“If you win the turnover battle and the ‘explosive’ game, stats say you win the game 97 percent of the time. We preach that to our kids daily. I think I read a study a few years ago about it and it’s certainly held up in all of my years as a coordinator.
Just awesome… a lot different than the former video editor quarterbacks coach. Now, we need to get him a good nickname… I’m guessing “PeeWee” ain’t gonna’ fly, what about the “Hermanator”?
At any rate- welcome to the Buckeye Family, Coach Herman!
UPDATE: Great video of his offensive philosophy-
