CHICAGO - One of the first moves Ryan Day made as head coach was the hiring of 49ers secondary coach Jeff Hafley. The two worked together previously in San Francisco in 2016, so Day jumped at the opportunity to bring on a defensive mind such as Hafley’s to his staff.
With only six months in the books, the co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach is already making an impact on the Ohio State defense and its players.
As the coaching staff looks to rework the defense following the defensive woes last season, few have worked with Hafley as much as Jordan Fuller has, and the senior safety has taken a liking to his new secondary coach.
“He's great. Nothing but positives about Coach Hafley. He's a coach that cares,” Fuller said. “He's somebody that's so knowledgeable. He has an answer for every question you have. And he's a Jersey guy, too. So that's why I like him even more.”
Hafley brought over 17 years of experience coaching in the secondary and has coached some of the greats like Ronde Barber and Richard Sherman during his career. Fuller said that Hafley’s knowledge is one of the reasons he loves working with him.
“Any question I have he has a great answer for. He definitely listens to us as well. If we have a concern about something, we ask him about it and he asks us what we’re thinking. It’s not always that way with a coach,” Fuller said. “It could be, ‘No, you’re doing it my way.’ Sometimes, he’ll let you do your own thing because it works best for you. He’s also giving the leaders ownership in the room. We don’t feel like we’re being talked at. We feel like we’re all a part of it together.”
Players and coaches working together is one of the key points Ryan Day hit on during his Big Ten Media Day address, emphasizing the brotherhood and culture he wants to instill in the program, and Hafley is already fitting in.
While we’re still weeks out from the Buckeyes coming out of the tunnel for the first time this season, Hafley is already developing a rapport with the players on the field.
“I’ll be sitting next to Jeff in the meeting and we’ll be going over something in film and then I can just like nudge him and be like, ‘Hey, if I see that in the game, I’m going to give you this.’ So I don’t have to yell in the game,” Fuller said. “ I can just like, we have some non-verbal communication and the same thing he’s hearing in the meeting, I’m hearing the same thing. So we don’t have any wish-washy words or anything confusing us or anything. So it’s all just one message.”
With the retooled defense this season, it will be imperative for Hafley to establish communication between himself and the secondary players, which was often missing last year.
The biggest change from last year will be the new bullet linebacker/safety hybrid position that Hafley, Greg Mattison and Al Washington are all working to integrate into the defense. Safety Brendon White has received the most action at this position so far in the spring, but the exact scheming with the bullet in play is still up in the air.
“The coaches are still figuring out exactly what everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are,” Fuller said. “Coach Hafley is so smart. He puts guys in the best position for them to succeed.”
