Ad Disclosure
Jim Knowles reflects on first spring at Ohio State: ‘I felt great about how far we had come’
By Keith Farner
Published:
Jim Knowles just finished his first spring at Ohio State, and he reported to the media this week that it exceeded his expectations as he aims to turnaround a trouble spot for the Buckeyes as defensive coordinator at OSU.
Knowles said the spring game performance did not show much in terms of scheme, and a comment that would warm the hearts of Buckeyes everywhere, he added that the defense may be further along than he expected it to be.
“Going into the game I felt great about how far we had come, what we accomplished, how much we got installed, how the players took to it,” Knowles said in his post-spring game press conference appearance, via Eleven Warriors. “It was as good or better than I could have wished.”
Earlier in the spring, Knowles praised the defensive front, and recently said the starting lineup doesn’t matter because so many will play. But after the spring game, he tossed bouquets to the cornerbacks.
“I was very pleased. We’re continuing to work on playing close to people, throwing punches, being aggressive with our coverage,” Knowles said. “And that may be a little bit of a change for them, and they’re adapting to it. We’re going against the best receiving corps in the country so I think it’s gonna continue to be a reason for them to get better because of who they see every day in practice. And we’re gonna continue coaching aggressive coverage.”
The foundation laid this spring, with the installation of a new defense, revealed something that Knowles is pleased to see — the Buckeyes want to be educated in the new defense.
“The biggest revelation of the spring was that regardless of talent, these players that we have, they want to learn. They soaked up everything I did,” Knowles said. “They’re just into it; into football, into us, into culture change and the way we run meetings. They picked it up. I mean, they picked it up at a high speed.”
Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.