Ryan Day issues yet another challenge to one of his top defenders as Big Ten play looms.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day clearly isn't happy with where his team is at as Big Ten play is right around the corner.
On Thursday, during his radio hit on 97.1 The Fan, he challenged his star cornerback, Devin Sanchez. Sanchez has been pretty stellar up to this point in the season, but Day wants more.
Day mentioned that he needs Sanchez to show that he can be a guy the Buckeyes can count on when it gets into crunch time. He commented that Sanchez has the athletic talent and ability, but he has to string together a bunch of good days, especially against Big Ten competition.
Sanchez has had an incredible responsibility this season. He took over for lockdown cornerback Davison Igbinosun, who was the Buckeyes ' shutdown guy for the last two years. Sanchez is next in a long lineage of superstar defensive backs who have worn the Scarlet and Gray.
To his credit, he has been good to start this season. He has two pass breakups so far this year and 10 tackles so far. He did that in two games against Ball State and Texas.
Now, solo tackles for a cornerback aren't always a good sign. That stat likely means that a completion was given up that set up a scenario where a tackle needed to be made.
Against Texas, he registered eight of those tackles and was consistently around the football against the best competition that the Buckeyes have faced so far this season.
The talent and skill are there; he just needs to work on being more consistent, and it is critically important this year. The Buckeyes' defense is structured differently this season.
For years, they have had a top-tier defensive line that made the lives of the opposing quarterback really challenging. In turn, that made the defensive backs' jobs much easier in defending the pass against a rushed quarterback.
This year, that pass rush does not exist, and the result is a pass defense that is going to fall on the shoulders of the defensive backs. Sanchez hasn't made a critical mistake at all this year, but the challenges are going to continue coming his way.
His head coach challenged him, and it is time that he responds. This week he will face some really good competition against Illinois, where he will be tested, and then it will only get harder during Big Ten play.
The Buckeyes need Sanchez to get where they want to go. Day needs to be able to rely on Sanchez when the moment is the biggest. He absolutely can do it, its all about stringing it all together.
