jack sawyer

Previously: Ohio State Offense

While Ohio State's offense has taken a statistical stepback, its defense has taken a huge step forward. By SP+, this is now the country's #1 defense, posing a massive test to the Michigan offense tomorrow. Get ready for a challenge:  

The Film: I charted the Penn State game when I was doing the Nittany Lions, but have also watched OSU's defense when I did Maryland and Purdue, in addition to a review of the Notre Dame tape. Just like on offense, lots of tape to run with here. 

Personnel: Click for big. 

Two familiar faces from last season return as the starting EDGE defenders for Ohio State, JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer. JTT was a starter last year, Sawyer a backup behind Zach Harrison, but both players are familiar and as juniors, have been around the block. The former 5*s have taken steps forward, still not described as NFL-level pass rushers but strong all-around players. Sawyer grades out better in the pass rushing department on PFF and drops into coverage a smidge more than JTT, who is perhaps best used as a crusher of tight ends and defeater of screens thrown at him. These two players log the vast majority of snaps at the EDGE spot but if they come off the field Kenyatta Jackson and Caden Curry will come on. They had some moments late in the game against PSU, but I do not expect them to see action much while a game is up for grabs. 

Ohio State lost the middling Taron Vincent off last year's defensive tackle spot, but returned the other three pieces from that positional group. Tyleik Williams has taken a step forward to have an excellent season, while the NT Ty Hamilton is a sharp run defender but not as strong in pass rush. That's where Michael Hall Jr. comes into play, who has been dealing with injury recently, so how healthy he will be for this game is a bit unknown. Hall is their best pure pass rusher at the DT position, with high-end burst, but sometimes that can put him in compromising spots for the run defense dimension. These three names soak up nearly all the snaps on the defensive interior, with a steep drop-off in usage to the likes of Jaden McKenzie and Hero Kanu. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: defense!]

Previously: Quarterback, Running Back, Receivers, Offensive Line

The Enemy, Ranked now shifts to the defensive side of the ball as we break down Michigan's opponents for the 2023 season. Today we start in the trenches, looking at the opposing defensive lines. While perhaps not quite as grim as offensive line, I can't say I came away from this exercise terribly enthused by the opposing defensive lines. Yet again you can partly chalk that up to the schedule, avoiding Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, but I also am not sure how great of a year for the B1G on the DL this is in general. Regardless, let's get going: 

12. Bowling Green 

Today we start off with a tight battle for the bottom of the list between BGSU and the team just ahead of them, but I ultimately opted to go with the Falcons in 12th place. Bowling Green's DL last season was a solid group, emerging as one of the strengths of the defense, but now they lose three of four starters and are in for a bit of a rebuild. To make matters worse, Anthony Hawkins, the one returning starter, graded out pretty poorly in PFF's data. We should note that it's not all bad though. DT Dontez Brown and JACK Demetrius Hardamon, who are now leveling up to the starter role, were rotational pieces last season, each logging >250 snaps. They aren't completely inexperienced and both charted pretty well in their appearances.

The other EDGE spot is pretty murky though. I listed Jordan Porter as the starter since he has played the most at Bowling Green, but it could easily be one-time Minnesota transfer Ali Saad or UTSA transfer Chace Davis. Those three are all pretty inexperienced and haven't done much when they've played. As a whole, this defensive line is not in a terrible position for a Gof5 unit, but it's not in a good spot either, with three new starters, multiple players taking on elevated roles, and no proven impact starters. They're not far off from being #11 but I narrowly opted to put them here. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: more defensive lines]