Offense gets revved up under Wilson

Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson spent almost 14 minutes on Wednesday giving mostly non-definitive answers about the state of the Buckeyes’ offense.

That’s not surprising, considering he is still new to his job and 15 spring practices aren’t really sufficient to make any iron-clad judgments. Wilson took pains to say that offense is a collaborative effort. He wants to fit in and facilitate, rather than force his imprint on the offense.

But one of the Buckeyes’ defensive coaches against whom Wilson matches wits left little doubt about the impact the former Indiana coach has already made.

“The tempo is different,” Ohio State cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs said. “The tempo is faster. Kevin has a really good feel and a really good sense of what he wants to try to do to the defense, and how he wants to try to manipulate the defense through tempo and formation. That’s obvious.

“He’s going to take advantage of the things that you give him. He’s not going to try to beat his head against a brick wall.”

Coombs said that the quarterbacks under Wilson and new quarterbacks coach Ryan Day are not afraid to give receivers a chance to make plays.

“A guy might be covered, but they’re throwing it anyway and they’re giving those talented receivers a 50-50 chance of going up and getting the ball,” Coombs said. “Because you’re doing that over and over again, the receivers are learning to catch them. That part of spring has been just extraordinary.”

Wilson estimated that the Buckeyes completed about 40 percent of deep passes during the spring. That’s an impressive percentage, especially considering their futility on such throws last year.

Wilson had success at Indiana and previous stops as offensive coordinator at Northwestern and Oklahoma by finding ways schematically to exploit holes in defenses.

“I’ve always felt you needed to work the field with a physical running game,” he said. “You need to be physical and (pass) protect, and then the ball has to get horizontal and vertical. You need to make the defenses defend the width of the field and the length of the field.”

Wilson said he also wants to put pressure on defenses by having playmakers at every position, including his own position group, tight ends.

“We’re a long way from there, but that’s where we’re trying to get to,” he said.

Wilson said that he and Day became more comfortable with players and fellow coaches as spring practice unfolded.

“It has been invigorating,” he said. “Every day, you have to bring your best to the table, whether you’re working with the players or with the staff.”