Ohio State’s most important cornerback is healthy and playing a role once used on a dominant 2019 defense: Buckeye Breakfast

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Anytime you’d ask someone within the Ohio State football program about the absence of Jordan Hancock during the 2022 season, they would talk about him as if so much was riding on his availability.

Hancock arrived as a top-100 recruit in the 2021 class. The Buckeyes flipped him from Clemson with the idea of him playing a role that served as one of the backbone pieces to a dominant 2019 defense. A hamstring injury suffered in fall camp kept them from unleashing that last season.

But it made its official debut in Saturday’s 35-7 win over Youngstown State, flashing the potential of what it can turn into.

“People forget that when I was getting recruited here it was for that nickel spot,” Hancock said. “I can get my hands on receivers from further away because I’m kind of lengthy and my athleticism plays a big part, too.”

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OSU’s starting nickel safety is Sonny Styles, the five-star homegrown product who has quickly started living up to all of the hype. But he does not play every snap at the position, even if the idea is that one day he can be the answer to everything.

In third-and-long situations, Styles comes off the field in favor of more of a coverage specialist. That role was supposed to be Cameron Martinez’s, and was to start both the Indiana and Youngstown State games.

But things didn’t go so well in Week 2 with the Penguins completing a 36-yard pass on a slot fade that set up their only touchdown of the afternoon. From that point on, the job was Hancock’s, and he did not give up another passing play of 20-plus yards for the rest of the day.

That was always the idea of how OSU wanted to use Hancock when they landed the nation’s No. 73 player and No. 5 cornerback out of Georgia, and it was why OSU didn’t give up when he first chose the Tigers.

At 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, he provides a skill set that makes him perfect for that nickel spot, especially against pass-happy teams like Saturday’s Week 3 opponent Western Kentucky.

“Smart, tough, he’s a physical player,” cornerbacks coach Tim Walton said. “He understands the game. Processes things well. He has good cover skills and he brings a toughness and competitive, disciplined attitude into the secondary.”

Typically Hancock is involved in a three-man outside cornerback rotation with Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun. All three have spent the offseason showing that the defensive back play might be returning to the standard we have not seen since 2019 when the person manning the spot Hancock is now playing was Shaun Wade.

He too was a big-time recruit from SEC country. The coaches saw him as deserving to play equal to the two eventual first-round draft picks in front of him, Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette.

That year, Okudah and Arnette played every meaningful outside snap. Wade manned the slot as one of the more valuable pieces to a defense that allowed a nation-best 4.13 yards per play.

Wade wanted to play outside, where he moved the following year, but he was maximized in the slot. His value to the unit was best shown during a 29-23 loss to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl when he was ejected for a targeting call in the first half. That play helped shift momentum in the Tigers’ favor.

But even on a play like that, you saw Wade’s value as a guy who could cover smaller slot receivers while also having the tenacity needed to make the big hits.

Hancock is no different.

“He’ll put his face in the fan,” Walton said. “That’s what we like about him. He has some toughness about him. He has some physical play. Very competitive. But he has an overall skill set to cover and he has a high football IQ.”

The perfect nickel cornerback is a player capable of shutting down a slot receiver while also not being afraid to lay out a few hits along the way. In Hancock, the Buckeyes may finally again have a guy with a skill set and mentality too be exactly that.

“I’m more than willing,” Hancock said with emphasis. “I will come and hit you.”

Key Dates

• Western Kentucky at Ohio State: 2 days, Saturday
• Ohio State at Notre Dame: 9 days, Sept. 23
• Penn State at Ohio State: 37 days, Oct. 21
• Michigan at Ohio State: 72 days, Nov. 25
• Winter transfer portal opens: 81 days, Dec. 4
• Early signing period starts: 97 days, Dec. 20-22
• College Football Playoff National Championship: 116 days, Jan. 8, 2024
• NFL Draft underclassmen entry deadline: 123 days, Jan. 15, 2024
• Regular signing period starts: 147 days, Feb. 7-April 1, 2024
• NFL Scouting Combine: 167 days, Feb. 27-March 4, 2024

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