Ohio State football: Depth could boost beleaguered secondary

Credit: Michael Hickey

Credit: Michael Hickey

Secondary play has been a sore spot all season for Ohio State.

Finding a set lineup might help, and Urban Meyer sounds hopeful that is about to happen.

When asked if the staff has found solutions to its problems, he replied: “That’s what we practice Tuesday and Wednesday for. The good news is I think we’re going to be relatively healthy back there. We’ll have all three corners and some good depth now finally at safety.”

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Kendall Sheffield has started every game at one cornerback spot, but Damon Arnette missed Ohio State’s loss at Purdue on Oct. 20 because of an unidentified injury.

He returned last week, but Jeffrey Okudah was out with a groin injury.

Four different players have started at safety — Jordan Fuller, Isaiah Pryor, Shaun Wade and Jahsen Wint — this season either because of injury or suspension, and a fifth could join that group this weekend at Michigan State.

Meyer said sophomore Brendon White and redshirt freshman Wade will both see time at the safety position opposite Fuller with the starter to be determined by what happens at practice between now and then. Pryor, a sophomore who has seven starts this season but missed last week’s game with a shoulder impingement, is also in the mix.

To hear everything Meyer and Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said on the weekly Big Ten coaches teleconference, click below.

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