Ohio State defensive coordinator made quite the first impression last year when he arrived at Ohio State.
Ohio State's defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, made quite the first impression on the Buckeyes last year when he arrived as the defensive coordinator.
Caleb Downs spoke about the first defensive meeting on his podcast, Downs2Business, with his brother Josh and podcast guest former quarterback Cam Newton.
Downs acknowledged that Patricia's reputation when he first got hired was a little weird. The hire that Ryan Day made seemed like it was off the beaten path a bit, and he was taking a major risk on a guy when he had his pick of the entire country.
Patricia's reputation didn't grow any when he got into his first meeting last year and immediately put every player to the test.
"First day he got in the meeting, and he said, 'Hey guys... I want you to write the best five players on this defense and the worst five players on this defense. If you say yourself and the coach doesn't say you, you're lying...' There were a couple of dudes sitting there like 'ohh!'"
That is one way to make a first impression on your new defense with new players as you have to beat the "bad hire" accusations.
It became very clear when the Buckeyes started playing in the fall that Day couldn't have made a better hire than Patricia. He was by far and away the best defensive coordinator in the country. The way that he deployed each and every Buckeye was just perfect, and because of it, the Ohio State defense was the best in the country.
For Downs, he was able to get true NFL safety experience with the way that Patricia used him last year. Just as the top safeties in the NFL are asked to do, Downs was asked to do everything for the Buckeyes last year.
He was asked to play at the line of scrimmage, he was asked to cover in the post, play man on receivers, play man on tight ends, and everything else that the top safeties are supposed to do in the NFL.
Because of that, he was selected as the 11th overall pick and has the opportunity to be a very key piece to the Dallas Cowboys' defense, who have their eyes set on making a run in the playoffs.
Regardless of how Downs' career begins in the NFL, he will always be able to hang his hat on the player that he was at Ohio State. The only thing that I would have loved to see was his answer on the sheet.
Did he have the courage to tell the truth and say that he was the best player on the defense? He wouldn't have been lying if he did.
