COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football daily nuggets: 3 things you need to know about the Buckeyes today.
By Tim Bielik, cleveland.com
1. After sliding from defensive end to defensive tackle early in his college career, Dre'Mont Jones is ready for more.
Jones had to fill in for the injured Tracy Sprinkle following the first game of the 2016 season. He more than held his own and became an impact presence at DT with 52 tackles.
For his second season, he’s welcoming more challenges.
“I want double teams. I want you to run the ball at me. I want you to have lack of confidence in me because all of that makes me a better player,” Jones said.
Jones’ athleticism allowed him to make the move inside. DL coach Larry Johnson said he met with Assistant AD for Football Sports Performance Mickey Marotti about what Jones’ ideal playing weight could be. They concluded that with his body type, 290 pounds would be a good weight for him.
The OSU website lists Jones at 295.
“It’s like having a defensive end playing a 3-technique. That’s what Dre’Mont is,” Johnson said. “He’s a really fast, twitchy guy playing a 3-technique who can get one-on-one battles with the guard. And that’s what you want.”
It's not something unique to Johnson, as Doug Lesmerises wrote about in cleveland.com's Middle Men series in 2015. Johnson has had a history of moving defensive ends inside to the 3-tech, like Jordan Hill and Jared Odrick from his days at Penn State.
The move inside presented some different challenges for Jones. Moving closer to the ball ramped up the pace of the game for him initially.
“I wasn’t used to rushing that fast. Everything’s happening so fast at D-tackle, where everything’s like a second quick. So now I’m getting used to the pace of the game,” Jones said.
Jones redshirted in 2015 after he suffered a torn ACL during a basketball game in his senior year of high school.
2. Jones' breakout season in 2016 has already earned him some recognition in early NFL mock drafts. CBSSports.com's R.J. White has Jones going No. 23 overall in his mock draft from Aug. 1.
As far has his potential future is concerned, that’s not something that’s on Jones’ radar at the moment.
“I’m grateful for the looks and the interest. But I’m just worried about now. I can’t get wrapped up into the future yet,” Jones said.
3. With Jones slated to start at one DT spot, Robert Landers and Tracy Sprinkle will be battling for the second spot.
Landers, a redshirt sophomore, played in all 13 games last season and recorded 7.5 tackles for loss in a rotational role. At just 6-foot-1, Landers brings a much different dynamic up front compared to his taller teammates on the line like 6-foot-4 Tyquan Lewis, 6-foot-5 Sam Hubbard and 6-foot-5 Jalyn Holmes.
But he considers his shorter stature an advantage.
“I’m a little shorter for my size, for my position,” Landers said. “But some aspects I have is I have a good get off, and I’m good with using my hands. With the leverage that I have, it makes it difficult for a lot of offensive linemen to really handle me up front.”
Heading into his second year, Landers believes he understands more aobut his role is up front. And he has a good understanding of the impact of what OSU’s deep defensive line provides.
A lot of rotation, which works for Landers.
“With the way Coach Johnson rotates, it’s also a blessing because we’re always fast up front,” Landers said. “The tempo of the game is always changing. Each one of us has different aspects that we bring to the game. It will make it difficult for offenses to really gameplan us all the way across the board.”
Recent Ohio State daily nuggets
Sprinkle, a defensive wrinkle, Young’s twinkle
Weber's crazy rushing goal, Williams' future
McCall's move to H-back, return game
Arnette’s second chance, Sheffield’s presence
Ward's ridiculous speed, more special teams notes
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