Outside of Chase Young, Ohio State didn’t have many players who brought quarterbacks down every game last season.
Rather, the Buckeyes put forth a pass rush centered around Young, with a variety of others – defensive ends, defensive tackles, linebackers and more – complementing him. And it worked. Young broke the program’s single-season record with 16.5 sacks despite sitting out two games while serving a suspension, helping Ohio State set the school record by racking up 54 sacks.
Never before had the Buckeyes collectively accumulated more than 47 sacks in a season.
As they look forward, in order to have a similarly productive pass rush in 2020, they’ll need quite a few players to step up now that Young, DaVon Hamilton, Malik Harrison and Jashon Cornell are gone to the NFL.