Keandre Jones set to transfer from Ohio State, per report

Jones enters the transfer portal

After a relatively quiet couple of days in Ohio State football circles, we got some news this morning, as ESPN’s Cole Cubelic reported that Buckeye linebacker Keandre Jones had entered the transfer portal.

Jones, a 2016 signee and close friend of Dwayne Haskins had been buried a bit on the depth chart, despite the starting linebackers leaving quite a bit to be desired. With that in mind, it’s pretty easy to see why Keandre might want a fresh start elsewhere, away from the incompetence that was Ohio State’s defensive staff last year, even with new coaches coming in.

The easy guess and likely answer for Jones’ landing spot is his home-state Maryland Terrapins. With Mike Locksley taking that job over, Jones has even more reason to head home, because he and the new head coach have a prior connection from Locksley’s last tenure in Maryland as OC and interim head coach.

With Jones out, Ohio State’s two deep in 2019 becomes a little more blurred. It still seems likely that Baron Browning, Malik Harrison and Teradja Mitchell win the starting jobs, but with Jones out, a younger guy, like Dallas Gant, may be able to find his way into the two-deep.

“In 2019, Ohio State could have once again had to choose between a Barrett or a Haskins/Jones. Except there weren’t three years of experience that could be the deciding factor. Day’s top loyalty was to the offense that had the best chance of producing a championship offense. It made the decision easy. Martell knew it as well.”

- Stephen Means, Cleveland dot com

I think that Tate Martell’s fit, or lack thereof, in Ryan Day’s offense is a topic that really hasn’t been hit on enough in the discourse around his transfer, and Stephen did a great job with it in this piece. No matter how many times Ryan Day says that his offense changes and adapts to talent, we know that isn’t how coaching works. Day’s system is air raid influenced, and leans heavily on accurate and smart passing.

Dwayne Haskins fit that system. Justin Fields fits that system. Matthew Baldwin fits that system. The last quarterback Ohio State recruited before Ryan Day took over the offense, Tate Martell, doesn’t fit. He never fit. He’s a relic of a system that very few in college football run in 2019, a quarterback that would star at Ohio State in 2013-16, but not now. Those days are behind the Buckeyes, and no longer is running ability priority number one on the must have list for quarterbacks.

Because of that, the divorce of Martell and Ohio State isn’t unfortunate. It’s necessary. Tate deserves the chance to play in a system that can use his strengths, and he should get that at Miami. Meanwhile, Ryan Day needs a specific kind of quarterback, and Tate just isn’t it.

“Ohio State erased an 18-point deficit with seven minutes left to force overtime and completed the comeback in the extra session, escaping with a 76-71 victory at Penn State on Thursday night.”

- Ohio State Buckeyes dot com

While the men’s basketball team enters a must-win game tonight against Maryland, the women’s team was in an even more dire situation last night. Sitting at 6-8 on the year, the Buckeyes had finally found some traction, winning two straight conference games and looked to continue that momentum. In front of them, however, was a road trip to Penn State.

For a while, it looked a lot like much of this season has for the young Buckeyes. The Buckeyes led at the end of the first half 37-35, but only after a Penn State comeback kept Ohio State from pulling away. An eight point lead for the Buckeyes early in the second half seemed to indicate that they were set to pull away, but Penn State turned that deficit into an 18 point lead with a devastating 28-2 run.

However, instead of faltering late after the big run like they have all year, Ohio State responded with a 22-4 run to tie the game and send it to overtime, with Carly Santoro, Janari Crooms and Dorka Juhasz helping to seal the win in the extra period.

This win may serve as a spark for the Buckeyes, who still have a chance at turning their season around and finding their way into the NCAA tournament if they can keep this hot streak going.

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