Ohio State football recruits find role in Jim Knowles' defensive scheme

All Jermaine Mathews wants is to make an impact on the football field.

Ahead of his senior season at Cincinnati Winton Woods High School, the 2023 Ohio State cornerback commit says he expects to do a bit of everything. He’s planning to play a little safety and cornerback and a lot of nickel in the defensive backfield, while maintaining his presence on offense and special teams.

“That’s just me,” Mathews said. “I just want to have that impact on the game, make sure we don’t lose nothing.”

This is the basis of the defense Jim Knowles is implementing at Ohio State.

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He wants players that are versatile for a scheme that emphasizes disguise. He wants players who are fast, athletic and physical, forcing opposing quarterbacks to hold onto the football for as long as possible.

“I just like to see the coverage executed enough so that the rush can go home,” Knowles said.

It’s the style and scheme that sent Knowles to Ohio State in the first place, tasked with turning around a defense that has allowed more than 20 points per game for the past two seasons.

But it’s also a style and a scheme that’s been the center of Ohio State’s pitch to recruits and commits in the 2023 class, describing to them what Knowles, safeties coach Perry Eliano and cornerbacks coach Tim Walton’s defense will look like starting Sept. 3.

Here's what Ohio State's defensive coaches pitched to 2023 recruits

St. Xavier High School running back Charles Kellom is chased down by Malik Hartford of Lakota West during a football game at Ballaban Field in Cincinnati Aug. 20, 2021.
St. Xavier High School running back Charles Kellom is chased down by Malik Hartford of Lakota West during a football game at Ballaban Field in Cincinnati Aug. 20, 2021.

It’s one of the first things Malik Hartford heard about the defense he is set to join in January.

The 2023 four-star safety out of Lakota West said he’s seen quite a bit of what Knowles has brought from his last stint at Oklahoma State, sitting through position meetings and seeing the basic outlines of his scheme put into practice.

In it, Hartford sees potential for his position especially, seeing the same variety coach Tom Bolden expects out of him in the defensive backfield at Lakota West.

“It’s definitely a good scheme for safeties,” Hartford said. “They really get to do a lot on the field, and I love to be able to do that. I love to be the regulator or the general of the defense. That’s kind of what I do here.”

Watching Ohio State learn its new defensive scheme, Hartford said he saw a safety position that will have to do everything, balancing man and zone coverage, playing down and close to the line of scrimmage while also disguising looks from his traditional spot in the backfield.

With all of the responsibilities a safety in Ohio State’s defense will have to juggle, Hartford said communication pre-snap will be vital to make sure everyone is on the same page.

“You really have to do all those things in order to be successful and in order to play,” Hartford said.

The changes don’t stop at the safety spot.

From his first conversations with Walton and Knowles, Mathews remembers the coaching staff pushing the importance of multiplicity through the same defensive shells, even at the cornerback position.

“You got to be versatile,” Mathews said. “That’s what they really liked. They liked versatile dudes, dudes that can do a lot of things.

“It’s just something I like to do. I think it just fits my play style. It’s something I think I can thrive in.”

Ohio State's 2023 commits expect raised standard for defense

Ohio State’s pitch has had trouble catching on in some high-profile defensive recruiting battles in 2023.

Knowles and the Buckeyes fell short after being finalists for three top-10 linebackers — Tackett Curtis, Troy Bowles and Raul Aguirre — before securing a commitment from in-state four-star Arvell Reese. Ohio State also came up short for five-star safety Caleb Downs, who committed to Alabama, while four-star Florida cornerback Dijon Johnson decommitted from the Buckeyes' 2023 class.

There are a handful of defensive players that see the picture Knowles and the rest of Ohio State’s new defensive staff is attempting to paint, including four-star defensive lineman Jason Moore, four-star cornerbacks Kayin Lee and Calvin Simpson-Hunt and four-star safety Jayden Bonsu, who committed to the Buckeyes Sunday afternoon.

“I feel secure with all the guys that we have,” Hartford said. “We have a special group of guys. The rankings, for me, they don’t really matter. I think that we still have the best recruiting class in the country.”

Jermaine Mathews Jr. of Winton Woods reacts after a play against Turpin at Turpin High School on Friday, October 8, 2021
Jermaine Mathews Jr. of Winton Woods reacts after a play against Turpin at Turpin High School on Friday, October 8, 2021

Hartford and Mathews haven’t gotten the full picture of what Ohio State will do this fall. Neither know the game plan for what the Buckeyes will do Sept. 3 against Notre Dame.

Mathews only knows that it’s different from what the Buckeyes did last season. And for him, that’s enough.

“Everybody knows the defense last year was probably down to the standards of Ohio State,” Mathews said. “They were just trying to get the standard back up and just preaching that like, ‘This is going to be Ohio State football going forward.’”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jim Knowles new defensive scheme and how Ohio State recruits fit in