COLUMBUS, Ohio - Following the departure of several key contributors from 2019, the loss of spring practice due to the quarantine was not ideal for an Ohio State secondary that was trying to reload for 2020.

Despite the unusual alteration to the norm, Ohio State's defense is preparing to maintain the standard set by last year's group, and the best way to accomplish this task is to focus on individual improvement. In this uncertain time, there is still a need to improve and maintain the competitive fire in order to be ready for the players' heightened roles in the fall.

“I think there's a lot of them that are going to have bigger roles,” Kerry Coombs said. “I mean you've lost three starters, so we would have every expectation that every one of those kids that were competing at the front end of spring, you know, Sevyn Banks and Cam Brown and Marcus Hooker and Josh Proctor and Marcus Williamson and Tyreke Johnson are all going to have bigger roles, have every expectation of getting a lot of guys on the field.”

Replacing the likes of Jeff Okudah, Damon Arnette and Jordan Fuller is no easy task. In 2019, Ohio State's pass defense ranked No. 2 in the country with only 148.1 passing yards allowed per game.