This week has been busy for Ohio State football news from the staffing perspective. With yesterday’s news breaking on Ohio State making multiple staff hires, today we focus in on the impact of the Buckeyes new Offensive Coordinator: Brian Hartline.

There’s many questions surrounding how this all will work. From who will be calling the plays, to how does new offensive line coach Tyler Bowen play into the offense, to how impactful will Ryan Day be in the play calling.

I’m here to answer those questions. For starters, I love the hire. It was the appropriate move for Day’s staff at this time. With Chip Kelly leaving big shoes to fill after a one and done National Championship, it will be tough to replicate the season we just saw offensively. However, it won’t be as big of a stretch to achieve as most might think. Ohio State’s offense was ranked 32nd in the country last year in average yards per game on offense. They were not even ranked inside the top 20 for rushing or passing yards per game. A large reason of that is due to Ohio State being on cruise control going into the fourth quarter of at least 4-5 games last season.

With that being said, Hartline has been the main coach leading the potent passing attack in the post season during this National Championship run. Hartline was asked by Chip Kelly to help him scheme every game in the playoffs in terms of how they wanted to attack each team from the opening script to where they were going to pick on secondaries during the games. Hartline focused in on the 2-3 zone bracket read that freed up Carnell Tate against Texas to exposing the 15 yard inside leverage cushion in the Oregon game that freed up Jeremiah Smith for a monster day as well as the final Smith call that was the dagger against Notre Dame. That was actually also identified by Hartline during the game from a sideline perspective. He made the call to the booth to let Chip know that’s where the ball needed to be going.

It’s no secret the pass game is Hartline’s strength, but what about the run game? How will Ohio State be able to address that concern as although the Buckeyes were not a top rushing team statistically, they were actually a top three team in the country in rushing efficiency. Day was well aware of this and that’s where Tyler Bowen comes into play. Bowen’s offense schematically is very similar to Chip Kelly’s in terms of inside and outside zone. It’s very difficult to coach 3 man pulling reads in college football which is something that Kelly had this past seasons offense running at a high clip and with efficiency. Bowen also runs the exact same pull schemes in zone reads and will be relied upon heavily to assist Hartline in those game plans.

Yes Hartline is the new OC but don’t think for a second this offense won’t be a by committee situation in terms of scheming every game. So the question everyone wants to know is who’s calling the plays and will Day still be operating as the CEO of the program? Yes Day will still be operating as the CEO as he did all season. Hartline will be the main play caller while Day will be helping him develop the scripts early on in the game alongside Bowen as well who will have a lot of input on the run game.

The other big factor here is Ohio State does not have an Akron or Youngstown State to warm Hartline up with. He will be thrown into the fire week 1 with a big game against Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns. I fully expect in that game for Hartline to lean on the experience of his receiving core early on and let it fly even with the likely new signal caller Julian Sayin at the helm.

In closing thoughts, I think there’s going to be some wrinkles early on but with the capabilities of Hartline and the year of development under Chip Kelly, I fully believe the time is now and Hartline answers the bell as a home run hire.