Ohio State must stop recent offensive slide
It had been nearly four minutes since Ohio State had made a field goal, and already the men’s basketball team was starting to press. Facing No. 9 Iowa inside Value City Arena on Sunday, the Buckeyes were trailing 15-9 and Duane Washington Jr. was trying to do something about it.
As he’s done with high frequency in recent games, the Ohio State junior eschewed a three-pointer, put the ball on the deck and drove the line. Near the rim, his layup attempt was met by Keegan Murray, a 6-8 freshman who got enough of the ball to force a miss. As the ball appeared headed out of bounds, though, Murray nabbed it and fired it off of Washington, whose momentum had taken him past the baseline.
It was Iowa ball. Washington offered a wry smile at Murray’s heads-up play and trotted back down the court. The team’s second-leading scorer would finish with a season-low seven points as the Buckeyes took a third straight loss in alarming fashion.
Three days after being held to 67 points in a loss at Michigan State, the Buckeyes would sputter their way to a season-low 57 points against an Iowa team that ranks 59th nationally in defensive efficiency and was allowing 73.1 points per game.
“I didn’t think the ball moved very
well (against Iowa),” Holtmann said after the game. “Iowa’s activity had something to do with that. We’ve got to take a look at it. The ball’s gotta move. We’ve got to take a higher quality of shot than
we took here today. We were really, really sloppy with the ball, as sloppy as we’ve been all year.”
He offered the requisite size to step into the position with a 6-foot-1 frame, but over eight games during the pandemic-shortened season, he gave up seven touchdowns, according to data from Pro Football Focus.
Largely covering slot receivers during the previous fall, he allowed only one touchdown, as well as a lower rate of completions.
“Wade just didn't have the cover skills playing outside that he did when he was in the slot,” Kiper said. “I think he's going to end up being an inside safety type or a slot corner, where he felt more comfortable, rather than being out on an island.”
Kiper expects Wade will be taken in either the second or third rounds of the draft, still offering teams versatility in the secondary.
The range is where offensive guard Wyatt Davis might also end up.
While Davis was a unanimous Allamerican last fall and discussed as a potential first-round pick prior to his fourth season with the Buckeyes, interior offensive linemen are less likely to land near the top of the draft, adding a hurdle in his path.
“Solid player all the way around,” Kiper said. “Guards are going to get pushed down automatically unless they're super elite.”
In two of the past four drafts, no guard was taken in the first round.
Other draft prospects from Ohio State have risen on draft boards in recent months, including linebacker Baron Browning and running back Trey Sermon.
But Kiper mentioned them as possible selections in the third or fourth rounds. Their stock seems likely to grow only so much.
All of that leaves Fields as the clearcut top prospect for the Buckeyes atop this spring's draft, though even the quarterback could slide a bit within the first round.
Kiper has slotted him as the No. 7 pick to San Francisco 49ers in a recent mock draft, while some analysts have left him outside the top 10.
In a more extreme case, NFL Network's Charley Casserly, a former general manager with Houston and Washington, projected Fields as the No. 24 pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A pair of multi-interception games against Indiana and Northwestern last season have been subject of conversation around Fields, but Kiper pointed to a larger body of work from 2019.
Over the full pre-pandemic season, Fields threw for 41 touchdowns and three interceptions.
“There is a huge range on Justin Fields,” Kiper said. “I don't understand some of the criticism. He had two rough games, and that was it. And in the championship game, he was hurt, coming off the Clemson game in which he got hurt. Two questionable games. I call them hiccups.”
Other qualities outweighed any lingering concerns about turnovers, such as Fields' arm strength and athleticism. He should perform well in individual drills at Ohio State's pro day on March 30.
Kiper also acknowledged his competitiveness.
“His passion for the game,” he said. “He loves to study the game, study film, study the opposition. He'll be the first one in, last one out of your building.” jkaufman@dispatch.com @joeyrkaufman