Ohio Football: Bobcats should keep rolling in 2018

Defense

Jimmy Burrow serves as Frank Solich’s associate head coach, defensive coordinator, and safeties coach up in Athens, OH. Burrow is an original member of Solich’s Bobcats staff and his defenses have often carried the Ohio won-loss record. Ohio has produced two All-Americans and thirty-five All-MAC players under Burrow’s watch.

Solich knew from his time with the Cornhuskers that defense and a running game wins championships. The Bobcat’s defense finished 48th in the S&P+ in 2017 but lose three of their top five tacklers heading into 2018.

The defensive line has lost four leading tacklers on a defense that struggled to sack the quarterback in 2017. The Bobcats need to find their starting linemen for the front four in a hurry and how they’ll replace their eight sacks on a team that only had twenty-eight all season long. The linebackers have lost their top two tacklers in Quentin Poling and Chad Moore who combined for 185 stops in 2017. However, they do return junior linebacker Evan Croutch who logged 70 tackles himself a year ago.

The back four

The back four returns three of their four leading tacklers, but the Bobcats need to be more productive on the back end in 2018. They only intercepted nine passes all last season. That too must improve as you can’t have a lack of pass rush and a lack of turnovers in the passing game. Safety Javon Hagan made 85 tackles while cornerback Jalen Fox and safety Tyler Gullet combined for 73 tackles and three interceptions last year.