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The Ohio State football program is currently gearing up for the 2025 college football season, where they will attempt to defend their national championship trophy from a year ago. One of the big acquisitions of the offseason for the Buckeyes wasn't a player but a coach in Matt Patricia, who will step in to be the team's new defensive coordinator under head coach Ryan Day.
Recently, the Buckeyes' new defensive coordinator spoke on what he has learned in transitioning to college football from the NFL, where he has spent the majority of his NFL career.
“The biggest lesson I learned, I think, when I went to the NFL from college… Matchups and all that stuff are really important. That’s definitely important,” Patricia said, per Grant Grubbs of On3 Sports. “So some of that still carries over. But right now, for us, it’s just about, how do we improve fundamentally?
“We lost a lot of really experienced veteran leadership guys last year that are in training camps right now. So how do we get these young guys, who are super talented, up to speed? Get them the reps they need so they have that game-like experience?” he added.
Can Ohio State repeat?
Last year, Ohio State broke through and won its first championship since the 2015 season with a narrow victory over Notre Dame in the National Championship Game. While Ohio State lost quarterback Will Howard to the NFL Draft, they will be bringing back star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who played a huge role in securing the victory against Notre Dame down the stretch.
At the current juncture, Ohio State still hasn't named their starting quarterback for the upcoming season, as the battle rages on between Julian Sayer and Lincoln Kienholz. Whoever Ryan Day eventually chooses, he'll have some ultra-talented downfield weapons to throw to, even after the departure of Emeka Egbuka to the NFL Draft.
In any case, the Ohio State football season is slated to get underway on August 30 with a marquee playoff rematch against the Texas Longhorns.
