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Football
Coverage Teams a Major Focus this Offseason
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS — The Buckeyes won 11 games last season, but it wasn’t always as easy. In fact, Ohio State found itself a handful of special teams plays away from a nine-win season, which is why they are talking major changes on the coverage teams this offseason.

The Buckeyes were 8-2 last November and in command against No. 10 Iowa with a 24-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Hawkeyes were on the road in a hostile environment and they were playing with a rookie quarterback—filling in for starter Ricky Stanzi—who had just thrown an interception to OSU linebacker Ross Homan to set up a 49-yard touchdown run by Brandon Saine.

The Ohio State defense had been dominant all game, and even Kirk Ferentz had to feel apprehensive about his team’s chances of a comeback.

It would take a lightning strike to get the Hawkeyes back in the game, and that strike came in the form of wideout Derrell Johnson-Koulianos. With his team trailing by two touchdowns, Koulianos fielded Devin Barclay’s kickoff at the one-yard line. Despite bobbling the initial catch, Koulianos took off down the right hash, breaking a pair of tackles before streaking his way down the right sideline and into the end zone for a 99-yard kick return.

“Last year was one of those things where as the year went on, guys got injured and our special teams didn’t do as well as we hoped,” said senior Brian Rolle, who was once a special teams standout for the Buckeyes before sliding into the starting lineup last season.

Rolle made 21 tackles as a sophomore in 2008 playing primarily as a coverage specialist. The 5-foot-11, 220-pound linebacker looked like he had been shot out of a cannon on the kick off team, and was usually the first player to reach the return man, or at least the guy to break up the wedge.

He was still playing on a few special teams last season despite the fact he had taken over for James Laurinaitis as the team’s starting middle linebacker, but that changed for the Rose Bowl.

“They took me off punt for the Oregon game because they knew Oregon ran a fast-paced offense, but that game was probably the game I was like ‘wow,’ you could truly see how we lacked guys that can actually cover,” Rolle said.

“Or at least guys who lacked experience covering.”

A big reason for that was the rash of injuries that hit a number of key special teams performers for the Buckeyes last season.

“We had four or five key special teams guys that were out,” Head Coach Jim Tressel said.

“Andrew Sweat (knee) was out for the year, Marcus Williams (knee) was out for the year, Tyler Moeller (head) was out for the year, Aaron Gant (knee) was out for the year, those were all guys that were big parts of our special teams, so I thought offensively and defensively we probably improved as the year went. I don't know that that happened in special team.”

It certainly didn’t look like it in the Rose Bowl.

With their defense stifling the potent Ducks offense and their offense doing enough to put points on the board behind Terrelle Pryor’s breakout performance, it was the coverage team that nearly let Oregon back into the game. The Buckeyes couldn’t find a way to bring down shifty return man Kenjon Barner, who racked up 150 yards on just five returns (an average of 30 yards per return).

“We had a couple punts in that game where they returned the ball 30-40 yards each punt return,” said Rolle.

Barner’s first two returns set up both of Oregon’s first-half scores, including a three-yard touchdown run by LaMarcus Blount after Barner gave the Ducks their best field position of the day at the OSU 30-yard line.

Ohio State went ahead 16-10 on Aaron Pettrey’s 45-yard field goal at the end of the half, but Barner set up another Oregon touchdown to open the second half with a 39-yard kick return that gave his team the ball near midfield. OSU re-took the lead on a Barclay field goal, but the Ducks were on the move again thanks to a 36-yard kick return by Barner when Blount fumbled the ball at the 18-yard line and then booted it out the back of the end zone.

That still wasn’t the end of it. Ahead 26-17 thanks to a DeVier Posey touchdown catch, the Buckeyes gave up a 42-yard kick return to Cliff Harris that set up a 4th-and-1 at the Ohio State 27-yard line. Oregon coach Chip Kelly opted to kick the field goal from 44 yards instead of going for it on fourth down, and Morgan Flint missed it wide to the right.

The Buckeyes held on to win 26-17, but it was far too close a call for Tressel and his staff. To have two critical games like Iowa and Oregon nearly be decided by the kick coverage team means drastic changes for 2010. They get Sweat, Moeller and Gant back from injuries, but it also includes putting Rolle back on nearly every coverage team.

“I love it.  I’ll play special teams and defense for 60 plays a game if I have to,” said Rolle, who also expects to see starting cornerbacks Chimdi Chekwa and Devon Torrence join him on the kick off team. 

It’s not an ideal situation for the Buckeyes, who would rather have young linebackers and defensive backs fill their special teams than starting seniors on their defense, but Rolle says some young guys need a change in mentality before they’re ready to contribute on coverage teams.

“There’s very few times in any college program where you’re just going to go in and start, so you have to start somewhere,” Rolle said.

“I tell Dorian (Bell) and those guys, ‘play special teams, what’s wrong with that? You can make tackles just like you can in a game.’ It’s just a one-play series. I think Dorian and Jordan (Whiting) and those guys are doing a good job of wanting to be on special teams rather than thinking it will take away from them playing on defense.”

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