A year ago, Matt Patricia walked into Columbus facing a rebuild nobody envied. Eight starters gone, the entire defensive line out the door, and a program coming off a national championship with sky-high expectations attached to whatever came next.
He replaced them all, led the nation in scoring defense, and finished as a Broyles Award finalist.
Now he gets to do it again.
This spring, Patricia is working with a defense that lost another eight starters, including four projected first-round picks in Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese and Kayden McDonald.
The names are different, the challenge is the same: rebuild an elite unit from the inside out, fast enough to compete in a Big Ten schedule that punishes anything less.
What spring practice has shown is that Patricia is approaching it the same way he approached year one — fundamentals before scheme, confidence before complexity.
“If you throw all of it at them at once, sometimes you’re doing a bunch of different things but you’re not real confident in one thing,” Patricia said recently. “The key is to get them confident in one thing first, then build from there.”
That sounds straightforward. It is harder than it looks when half the roster is new to the program entirely.
The 2026 Rebuild Challenge
Last year’s rebuild had one advantage Patricia won’t have this spring: the players who stepped up were already Ohio State guys.
They knew the building, knew the standard, had absorbed the culture through years of practice reps. This group is different. A heavy reliance on the transfer portal means Patricia is simultaneously teaching football and teaching Ohio State.
“With guys coming into the program for the first time, not only are you trying to catch them up on all the football scheme and all the rest of it, but you’re also trying to catch them up on everything else,” he said. “This is how we work. This is how we do things. This is the standard.”
The returning pieces are real. Kenyatta Jackson anchors the defensive line for a second year. Jermaine Mathews returns as the top cornerback. Jaylen McClain is back at safety with a full season of starting experience behind him.
Those are players who have already lived through Patricia’s system once and carry that institutional knowledge into a room full of newcomers.
What Patricia has to develop quickly is everything around them. The edge rush group, the linebacker depth, the safety picture after Downs’ departure — all of it is more open than it was a year ago.
The Standard Doesn’t Move
One detail from a recent spring practice is worth noting. After Jeremiah Smith caught a touchdown pass in the closing team period, the entire defense — coaches included — had to run sprints.
Never mind that replay showed Smith had stepped out of bounds before the catch, making the score void. The gassers happened anyway.
Patricia ran them with his players.
It is a small thing and also not a small thing. Ryan Day has built a program culture where accountability runs in both directions, and Patricia has absorbed that from day one. The coaches don’t watch the consequences from the sideline.
That cultural consistency is part of what makes the rebuild feel less precarious than it might look on paper. Patricia stepped into a staff that already had Tim Walton, Larry Johnson and James Laurinaitis in place.
Day designed it that way — he wanted a coordinator who could lead the defense without dismantling what was already working. Patricia has never needed to.
“The tape is so clean,” Patricia said, referencing feedback from NFL contacts who reviewed Ohio State’s recent film. “That means you’re operating at a high level.”
The 2025 defense allowed 8.2 points per game, the fewest of any FBS team in 14 years. Nobody expects this group to match that immediately.
Patricia doesn’t either. What he does expect is for them to meet the standard of how Ohio State practices, how Ohio State prepares, and how Ohio State plays — every day, from the first spring rep to the last.
The rebuild is underway. He’s been here before.
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