Matt Patricia will find gifted silver lining that only Ohio State could offer after unfortunate injury situation
The Ohio State Buckeyes are coming off a bit of a sluggish performance against the Ohio Bobcats, but the top-ranked team in the nation isn’t sweating much entering the bye week. Ohio was feisty, but the Buckeyes also played with their pray for too long before turning on the jets. One of those moments came […]
The Ohio State Buckeyes are coming off a bit of a sluggish performance against the Ohio Bobcats, but the top-ranked team in the nation isn’t sweating much entering the bye week. Ohio was feisty, but the Buckeyes also played with their pray for too long before turning on the jets. One of those moments came on the opening second-half drive when slot cornerback Lorenzo Styles Jr. allowed a 67-yard touchdown reception.
Styles never found the ball, and Chase Hendricks was able to outrun and break several weak tackle attempts by Styles as he scampered upfield for the team’s only touchdown of the game. Ohio State recovered with 24 unanswered points, but Styles later left the game with an injury.
Head coach Ryan Day peeled back the curtain on Styles’ injury status and how the Buckeyes can handle the depth at their nickel cornerback position.
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The Buckeyes are coasting into a bye week before heading to Washington for their first road game of the year, but they might be without one of their captains as Styles’ return is up in the air.
Day doesn’t know when Styles will return, but is confident in his backups. “We have some depth there, so we’ll take a look to see how Lorenzo is doing coming out of this week.” Day said Aaron Scott Jr. and Bryce West are guys who can help out at nickel alongside Jermaine Mathews Jr., who moved inside against Ohio with freshman Devin Sanchez taking his place outside after Styles went down. “Hopefully Lorenzo can heal quickly, but when it comes to that position moving Jermaine inside is something that we’ve been working on here in camp in terms of building depth.”
Scott logged only three snaps while West had two against Ohio, with Sanchez seeing 14 snaps in relief duty. The Buckeyes looked their best with the youngsters on the field, though. While Styles has been a core special teamer since joining the team from Notre Dame as a transfer, his lack of speed and fluidity in coverage has been apparent.
The third-year Buckeye was one of the worst-graded defensive players in 2024 by PFF, earning a great run defense mark, but was well below-average elsewhere. His grades have been bad again this season, and it’s reached a point where he doesn’t have the natural talent to see the starting unit.
Allowing only 14 receptions on 26 targets, the problem for Styles is his struggle to stay in the proper position because of his stiffness. 112 of his 176 yards allowed have come after the catch. While Sanchez, West, and Scott lack experience and physical development, each moves in a way that looks more in line with what we’re used to seeing.
Their pedigrees matter, and this is a good time for defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to hand the torch from a veteran to a trio of guys who represent the future of the secondary.
