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Ohio State Football Insider: Is The Buckeyes' Safety Depth A Concern? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning from Monday, February twenty sixth Th'm your host,
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  Tom Moore. The Akron game is in one hundred and eighty seven days.
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  The game gets Michigan in two hundred and seventy eight days. Today you're going
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  to be hearing from one of the new members of Ohio States coaching staff that
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  his safety's coach, Matt Greary, and he is new this year, but
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  he's not actually new to Ohio State. Raray served as an analyst during Jim
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  Knowles's first season as a defensive coordinator back in twenty twenty two, spent last
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  season working as the co defensive coordinator at Indiana, and now he's back on
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  the staff helping Knowles once again, as he did in one of Knowle's previous
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  stops at Duke. So let's hear it directly from Matt Greary. We haven't
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  really gotten a chance to talk to him in the past based in his old
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  position, now we do, So here we go. Matt Greary. Very
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  hectic first week back in Columbus, transitioning back to life in Columbus at Ohio
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  State, also hitting the road immediately to go recruit and then ultimately land Safe
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  transfer safety Caleb Downs. Matt Greary, what was that first week back on
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  the t up? Like, I mean, I guess the transition back was
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  unique. Not a lot of times in college football do you go back to
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  a place that you were, you know, so you have the same realtor
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  you could have a you know, your wife living in the same area.
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  That kind of stuff is awesome. But Yeah, to be able to get
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  Caleb here was fantastic. And he hit the ground run and I came here
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  that Wednesday night, got here, had a team mean Thursday morning, hit
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  the road recruitment. So it's been fast paced, but that's how should be.
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  One of the nice things about being back at a place you already were.
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  In addition to the house hunting piece of it that he mentioned there is
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  you also get some familiar faces. So for example, Lathan Ransom, he
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  was a safety for Ohio State back in twenty twenty two when mcre grri was
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  at work against an analyst and now he's still at Ohio State when mc creary
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  is the safety's coach. So with someone like that, you just sort of
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  kind of pick up where you left off. Yeah, it's been great again,
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  familiarity, you know, to be able to know guys, know about
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  their families, they know you and your story, and be able to have
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  real authentic relationships. I think that helps you know, it starts with that.
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  If not, you're putting in a lot, a lot of work just
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  to get to know somebody. I see a lot of that is still happening
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  with new faces and things from there. But yeah, Lathon's doing great.
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  He's a guy who's the heartpe to that room and has been through hardship before
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  and continues to battle back. He's warrior. Mentioned earlier, this is not
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  his first time with Jim Knowles. It's not even his second time working with
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  Jim Knowles. He's worked with him a few times before. Now again,
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  what does that do? How beneficial was that to be back working with someone
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  who you've worked under multiple times before. Yeah, for sure. It's family
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  and Yeah, knowing Jim from the time I was I was a little D
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  two coach back in the day when I first started coaching, and Jim was
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  defense coordinator at Duke, And to be able to start that relationship and they'll
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  be able to coach safety and take over his his defense and calling it in
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  that system. But yet it's about real relationships and in any business, and
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  to be able to have a close one with him has definitely been awesome.
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  In addition to his experience we were working with Jim Knowles, Barry also has
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  some new experience working as that co defensive coordinator at Indiana last year. So
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  how did he benefit from that experience? Yeah, it was great again to
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  be able to see the Big Ten from a different lens, you know.
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  I think that's valuable to be able to do that. Tom Allen was great
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  to be able to work for and learn from a strong defensive coach and learn
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  his system. So I think there's a lot of value from mass standpoint.
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  And then yeah, you learn and you're able to apply so some ideas that
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  maybe you didn't know before and some that you can enhance that we're already you
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  know, in a system. So it was great to be able to learn
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  from him and be able to call plays in a Big ten. Anytime we
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  talk about the safeties or the linebackers or pretty much anyone on anywhere, anyone
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  on defense, everyone wants to know. Okay, Sunday styles, We're going
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  to talk about Sunny styles. What's going to go on with Sunny Styles.
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  Okay, well, here's that Matt Greery had to say about Sunny Styles.
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  His position still somewhat up in the air. So what are the factors that
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  are going to go into the decision as to whether he's a safety or a
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  linebacker or whatever. Yeah, I think it starts with a dynamic playmaker.
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  You guys have been able to see that on plenty of saturdays here from the
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  time that he first came in here was a had a starting role in that
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  Georgia game his first year, you know. So, Sonny's dynamic in what
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  he could do. He's a unique combination of ability to run, cover,
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  tackle, mentality, size, I mean, he's got a lot of things
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  and attributes from there. So yeah, without getting into specifics, I mean
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  we're to take a look at a number of different things for him and put
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  him in the best position for him to be successful on the team. To
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  be successful. Well, I'm sure James, Laura and Idis would love to
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  get Sunny Styles in the linebacker room. That would obviously leave something of a
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  hole in the safety room. So if Sunny Styles does move to linebacker,
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  does Matt Greary think he has enough guys left in the safety room and he
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  concerns there. Yeah, I've been impressed with the depth across the board.
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  I think that there's guys that have played big roles. Obviously Caleb wasn't here,
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  but he is here. You've got Lee Harford, who you know started
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  games in true freshments. There's great depth I think across positions on the defense
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  here. That's our job is recruiters to be able to build that and uh,
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  yeah, Jim will get this in the specifics of schematics and things like
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  that, you know from there, But Ye're really excited about the playmaking ability
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  of a number of gus in the defense. The addition of Caleb Downs in
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  the transfer portal was a monster one for Ohio State. So what is it
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  that makes him such a different level of safety than just about anyone else in
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  the Yeah. I think when you look at safeties is how fast can guys
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  react? And there's two ways you do that. One is mentally, so
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  you guys have met with them already and you see how sharp he is the
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  way you can answer questions articulate them, and he's really special from a mental
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  standpoint. And then how fast you can react physically. So if you watch
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  him in agility drills. His body the functional movement skills are tremendous of him.
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  So if you have a guy that can can respond quickly from a mental
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  and a physical standpoint, I think you're a step up on guys from that
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  standpoint. So not only does he have great physical schools, but he can
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  use those in a really efficient way. You heard him talking about the physical
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  aspects of Downs' game and the mental aspects of Downs' game. And you know,
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  you've got a lot of incredible athletes at Ohio State or Alabama or anywhere
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  else at the top of the at the of the college football ladder nationally.
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  So is it really those mental tools that really set someone like Caleb Downs apart?
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  From an early standpoint, If you said, Okay, what's the most
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  important thing for a young player coming into a program like Ohio State to be
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  able to contribute, it's what's between the years. It's the mentality, It's
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  it's the way that they can process the game. So that's our job as
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  coaches to take the physical school skills be able to get them to that point.
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  But as a freshman to be able to do that's really impressive. Mentioned
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  earlier that Greary was here a couple of years ago working as an analyst during
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  Jim Knowles's first season is defensive coordinator Ohio State. What was his role that
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  year? What was he doing? My title was analysts, which I've never
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  been in one of those spots before off the field, but yeah, Jim
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  wanted me to be able to come here and help, you know, install
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  the defense with him and transition you know, with him from nastandpoint. So
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  I'll be one of his DV guys, you know, all along, and
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  I think my job was to help, you know, get guys up to
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  speed with what the defense was and what the system was, you know,
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  and then be able to you know, they were able to tailor that to
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  Ohio State's version of that. Greary has been with Knowles since Knowles was the
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  defensive coordinator at Duke, So how much has he seen Jim Knowles's defense change
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  over the years. Yeah, it's what makes him the best in the country.
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  He's able to adapt. You know, some guys have a great defense,
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  no want defense in the country, and then it stays the same for
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  a number of years and people start to catch up with a little bit,
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  right, It's hard hard to get a beat on him, you know,
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  and he spends a ton of time. He's probably sitting in his office right
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  now and studying with the next move is, you know. So I would
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  say that what makes him special is the way that he could teach and be
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  able to take a system and be able to make it very functional for the
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  guys. But yeah, his ability to adapt, you know, to ability
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  to change with those lots of changes means well, there's probably gonna be more
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  changes this year. So coming back into this system now after a year at
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  Indiana, what can Gerery maybe bring back to Ohio State in terms of tweaks
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  to that defense? Yeah, for sure, I think, yeah, there
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  are parts of systems that you like and you say, okay, this worked
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  really well. Obviously you stay familiar with the big ten. I know divisions
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  aren't the same, but you stay familiar with the big ten. And I
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  think something that's unique. And you know, Gym's been this way throughout his
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  career too, But being at a Duke or India, those developmental programs,
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  right, that's different than Ohio State being here a couple of years ago.
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  So if you're able to take the development piece of those places and continue to
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  apply that, I think you could have a really good product, which obviously
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  Ohio State has had year in a year out. The jump from Indiana to
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  Ohio State is a significant one in college football. Yeah, you got better
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  players, Yeah, you have a lot more resear sources. Yeah, you've
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  got a lot more expectations as well. So one of the areas where there
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  are a lot of expectations is in recruiting, and you obviously are recruiting a
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  different caliber of player at Ohio State, but there's a lot more pressure there.
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  So what is that going to be like for Matt Greary be on the
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  road recruiting for Ohio State this year? Yeah, for sure. I think
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  it starts with relationships, real authentic relationships. You know, I think there's
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  a lot of flash of different things that happened from a recruiting standpoint, but
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  it's about building real authentic relationships. You know, your job as a coach,
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  the old stage coach, right, is it took someone from where they
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  worked to a desired destination. It starts in the recruiting process. Are you
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  able to build authentic relationships and trust and be able to take that young man
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  who's a freshman or sophomore in high school and be able to over time get
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  them to where they want to be able to be. And obviously internal hot
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  state gets through where they want to be able to be. So I think
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  real authentic relationships is where it starts. Earlier, you heard Greary talk about
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  working very closely with cornerbacks coach Tim Walton. Tim Wilton obviously has really made
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  a name for himself in terms of recruiting and development at Ohio State since coming
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  back to Columbus a couple of years ago. So what has it been like
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  to work so closely Tim wall Yeah, og as we call him in the
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  building end and publicly he's great. He's the best secondary coach in college football.
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  He's a guy that's played at the highest level at Ohio State, that's
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  coached at the highest levels in college and of the pro has been a coordinator
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  in college and of the pros, you know, some we start talking about,
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  you see what he's able to do recruiting wise and the development here,
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  right, So he's one of those guys that there's not a box that he
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  doesn't check. I mean he checks every single box. So from me from
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  a guy to be able to work hand in hand with him. What a
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  great honor and opportunity. We talked a bunch last year about the fact that
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  it was year two of the Jim Noles system, so you'd kind of gotten
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  through the early the learning phase, the worst parts of the learning curve,
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  get guys a little more up to speed, and you're having kind of different
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  conversations in year two than you were in year one. So all right,
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  now we're in year three. So how different are the conversations year three now
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  of the Jym Noles defense at Ohio State compared to the last time Gerer was
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  here in year one back in twenty twenty two. Yeah, I think it's
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  different when you put the film on. When he first came here, it
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  was Oklahoma State film. Right now, that's two years of hot state film.
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  So when you start talking about what does it look like, these guys
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  are watching themselves on film, and it makes a big difference when you say,
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  okay, what does it look like for those guys? And then what's
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  the application to the Big ten? Right it changes based on when when Jim
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  was in the acc or the Big twelve with the Big ten. That changes
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  over time. You've seen his defense morph to be able to match the conference
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  and to be able to win those matchup pamps. The players are not the
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  only ones who know a lot more about the Jim Noles defense than they did
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  before. Garary also has had to sort of adapt as well. This is
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  now him coming back to a system he knows very well, having worked with
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  Tholes at a couple different stops. Last year when he moved to Indiana,
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  he had to learn from scratch, basically a new defense. So how different
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  is it to come back to a system, you know, like this one
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  compared to somewhere where you had to start basically from square one last year.
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  Yeah, if you're learning from scratch, that's a lot of hours by yourself
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  at night, you know, don't know if you're studying for a test.
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  Okay, I know this and I got it and I could apply it,
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  because to teach it, you better really really know. You know, if
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  I said, I pride myself on doing anything as teaching, right, So
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  you better we know that like the back of your half, you know.
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  And so that was a lot of hours. You know, when guys are
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  going home and hanging with their families, you know, you're not, you
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  know. And yeah, so no matter what the job is. I think
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  there's different challenges every single place you put the work into, be a master
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  of your craft, and we'll be able to apply that all right, So
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  that'll do it for Matt Gerary for today. I hope you guys enjoyed that
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  one. We are hoping to get some more interviews coming up this week,
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  but if we don't, well, good news. Spring ball starts in just
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  one week, so you won't be waiting long for much more new coverage from
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  inside the What he Hates Athletic Center. Lots of stuff gonna be interesting to
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  talk about, hopefully talking to some returning players, hopefully talking to some new
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  players, maybe talking to some additional assistant coaches. There's gonna be a lot
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  of great stuff coming out and over the next month, month and a half
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  as we count down to the spring game on April thirteenth, And you can
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  do all you can be a part of all that conversation, all that fun
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  at bucke huddle dot com. That's where Tony Kevin and I covered the team,
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  our covers recruiting at our whole team of exus and knows gurus. It's
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  a really fun, active community on the huddleboard, presented by presented by Jeff
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  Ruby Steakhouse all at buckeyehuddle dot com. Also make sure you check us out
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  at YouTube YouTube dot com slash Buckeye Huddle. We're gonna have a bunch of
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  interviews, we're gonna have a bunch of practice footage, all that kind of
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  good stuff coming for you in the next just just over a week now,
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  so make sure you are subscribed at YouTube dot com slash Buckeye Huddle to get
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  all that great coverage all there and all of buckeyehuddle dot com. That will
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  do for today. I thank you guys all for joining us. Have a
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  great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.