Matt Patricia describes how his defense will be different at Ohio State

Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles shocked Ohio State fans last season when he left the program and joined Penn State. Alas, the Buckeyes didn’t slack off with their replacement hire, bringing in former NFL head coach Matt Patricia.

Despite his outstanding résumé, Patricia will have a hard time filling Knowles’ shoes. After all, Ohio State finished last season with the No. 1 defense in the country. On Friday, Patricia revealed how Ohio State’s defense this year will differ from last season.

“We have great coaches that are here, that were here last year, and I think it’s my job to really kind of make sure I’m adapting and learning to what we did really well last year because, obviously, it was great,” Patricia said. “We have great coaches that coach these guys really well and develop these players at a high level.

“From that standpoint, there’ll be some things that are very similar to what everybody’s used to. I maybe teach a little bit differently… It’s more conceptual and big picture and things like that, which gives us a little bit more position-flex and multiplicity, from that standpoint, to put guys in different roles.”

There are few, if any, assistant coaches in college football with more impressive backgrounds than Patricia. He was the New England Patriots’ defensive coordinator from 2012-17 and is a three-time Super Bowl champion.

Additionally, Patricia was the Detroit Lions’ head coach from 2018-20. Most recently, Patricia was the Philadelphia Eagles’ senior defensive assistant. While Patricia wants to replicate Ohio State’s success from last season, he’ll also use his NFL experience to make small changes to the Buckeyes’ defense.

“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. “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?”

Ohio State’s defense won’t have any time to ramp up once the regular season starts. On Aug. 30, Matt Patricia and the Buckeyes will square off against Texas at noon ET. The game will air live on FOX.