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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Everyone is talking about Ohio State’s secondary. Devin Sanchez, Jermaine Mathews and a safety group that has legitimate All-American potential. The Buckeyes’ back end has been the centerpiece of nearly every defensive conversation heading into the 2026 season, and rightfully so — on paper, it has the makings of one of the best secondaries in the country.
But on the latest episode of Buckeye Talk, Andrew Gillis offered a perspective that reframes the entire defensive conversation: what if the defensive line isn’t just a complementary piece to the secondary — what if it’s the thing that makes the secondary truly special?
It’s the irrational confidence segment of the show, and Gillis leaned into it with a point that’s actually more rational than it might initially sound.
“The defensive line might help the secondary more than we think.“
This isn’t a revolutionary concept in football theory, but in the context of Ohio State’s roster construction, it’s an interesting angle. The secondary — led by Sanchez and Mathews — has the talent to be elite in coverage. The question has always been whether they’ll have to perform in coverage against quarterbacks who have all day to throw. If the defensive line can change that equation, even slightly, the ceiling for this entire defense rises significantly.
Gillis spelled out exactly how he sees it working.
“If you can just heat them up a little bit — whoever that quarterback, Arch or Maiava or Hoover, whoever you’re going to play — you give Germaine and Devin and those safeties like — you give them the knowledge that like they don’t have to hang on in coverage for a little while.“
That’s the crux of it. Coverage schemes break down when quarterbacks have time to go through progressions, reset their feet, and find the second or third option. Even the best corners in college football become vulnerable when they’re asked to stay in man coverage for four or five seconds on every third down. But a defensive line that can generate consistent pressure — not necessarily sacks, just heat (use italics or quotation marks for emphasis in published copy) — fundamentally changes what the secondary is being asked to do.
Ohio State has the pieces to make that happen. Kinyatta Jackson, coming back for his fifth year, is being put in positions to win one-on-one matchups by design. The transfer additions of Qua Russaw, John Walker, and James Smith provide depth and versatility that the Buckeyes haven’t had at this position in years. Zion Grady is stepping into a larger role. Eddrick Houston — when healthy — is a potential top-40 NFL Draft pick who brings a rare combination of size and athleticism to the interior.
None of these players have to be dominant pass rushers to make Gillis’ theory work. They just have to be disruptive enough, often enough, to give Sanchez and Mathews a fraction of a second that turns a good coverage rep into a game-changing one.
Stephen Means took it a step further on the episode, noting that while the secondary will likely still be the more celebrated unit, the gap between the two groups might be smaller than most analysts are projecting — and that the defensive line could actually be what elevates the secondary from very good to historically elite.
The interconnectedness of defensive football is something that doesn’t always get enough attention in position-by-position breakdowns. Buckeye Talk’s state-of-the-program series is doing the work of connecting those dots, and this particular dot — the relationship between the Buckeyes’ defensive line and secondary — might be the most important one on the entire roster.
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