Ohio State Football: 7 Pieces of Advice for Luke Fickell

Luke Fickell's been thrown into a tough situation without question, as in his first-ever season as a head coach he must help the program rebound from a major coaching violation and the departure of his starting QB.

He no doubt has a difficult task in front of him, but he also without question has one of the more talented teams east of the Mississippi River.

Fickell has to find a new QB, which according to The Plain Dealer's Doug Lesmerises, seems to be narrowed down to Joe Bauserman and Braxton Miller.

But even with the turmoil and the roster turnover that Ohio State has, there is a chance for Fickell's first and possibly only year as head coach to be a successful one.

And here are seven things that could help him during the season.

1. Don't Be Afraid to Get Aggressive

If Luke Fickell needs a model of the type of style he should follow, look no further than Les Miles, except for the part about eating the grass from the field.

Fickell shouldn't be afraid to be aggressive on either side of the ball and go after it.

He has the horses to play a fast-paced type of game, especially defensively with the athleticism and speed the defense is loaded with.

Offensively might be a different question with the uncertainty at QB, but they have plenty of talent at RB and the OL to help make up for that deficiency, but only slightly.

2. Trust in Your Young Players

Ohio State finished the 2011 recruiting cycle with Scout.com's No. 5 recruiting class.

Five of those players, including QB Braxton Miller and LB Ryan Shazier, enrolled early. Both of those players are in good position to see the field from day one.

The Buckeyes have a large amount of young, albeit unproven, talent that has had some time to learn from experienced veterans.

For Fickell, this season is a good time to use the young talent, especially since the situation of having four seniors under suspension basically demands it.

This season is just as good as any to turn the young guns loose.

3. Move on from Jim Tressel Completely

As much as Luke Fickell takes from Jim Tressel considering the Vest was his coaching mentor for several seasons, the time has come to depart from his mentor almost entirely.

The university took a step to depart from him after his resignation by demanding their freshmen players return wristbands honoring the departed, yet disgraced coach.

Fickell so far has taken smaller, more subtle steps to deviate from his old coach by opening up a large amount of practices to fans and the media, something that rarely happened under Tressel.

The biggest way he can separate himself from his former boss is to eliminate his oldest and most notorious strategy: Tresselball, the art of ultra-conservatism against teams you are much more talented than.

As mentioned earlier, the best way for Fickell to win favor among fans and the administration is to put the pedal to the metal early and often this season, something rarely seen from Tressel.

4. Know What You Do Well and Do It

As a player in the late 1990s, Luke Fickell played the game the only way he knew how: as tough and relentless as humanly possible.

To him, he never knew the meaning of the phrase "taking it easy."

So far, it seems he is carrying over that message to the football team, and an example of that message is what fans have seen from the OSU defense in the past three seasons.

His defensive players fly to the football, hit hard and make aggressive plays to force turnovers. That should not and probably will not change just because he is not just the defensive coordinator.

Whether he will carry that over to the offense remains to be seen, but expect Fickell to get his guys excited and ready to play every single snap for 60 minutes.

5. Feed into the Us Against the World Mentality

No program has had to deal with as much scrutiny and controversy as Ohio State has had since the start of the calendar year, although Miami's football transgressions, if true, blow OSU's out of the water.

But the scandal cost Ohio State its head coach and its most talented playmaker whose NFL future is still up in the air.

The negative cloud around the program has served as the motivation equivalent of a case of 5-Hour Energy shots that has them fixated on silencing their critics.

And for Fickell, if he feels his team is practicing very stagnantly, he has almost a never-ending supply of clips to get his team energized once again.

His trick is to harness that well to last for a full season, especially considering that 2011 seems much like a retooling year rather than a reloading year.

6. Trust in Your New Assistant Coach, Mike Vrabel

One of the first things that Luke Fickell did after being named full-time coach was to bring in an old friend to help fill his vacated spot on the defensive staff.

His friend is none other than a three-time Super Bowl winning LB and an unstoppable red-zone threat in Mike Vrabel.

Vrabel has already looked to be a very active coach as reports from sites including The O-Zone have stated.

One of his most studious pupils is blue-chip LB Curtis Grant, who was an unexpected but great get for Ohio State on National Signing Day.

It doesn't hurt when you're a 5-star player coming out of high school and your position coach has won three Super Bowls.

Odds are good that they will listen to what he has to say, and that experience gives Vrabel a chance to be a really good coach for the Buckeyes.

7. Get Some Revenge Against Wisconsin and Michigan

No schools have taken more joy from Ohio State's character criticisms more than Michigan and Wisconsin, the latter of which is Ohio State's biggest challenger in the Leaders Division.

Michigan's new coach, Brady Hoke, has undoubtedly done a lot of talking trying to spark the Michigan fanbase and yet irritate Ohio State more than the stories around the program have done.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, has become the trendy favorite to win the Leaders Division, and deservedly so after winning the Russell Wilson sweepstakes.

Ohio State's players, especially after Hoke's talking and the upset loss at Wisconsin a year ago, should no question have those two games circled on the schedule.

The best scenario for Fickell is to win both games, especially if they are decisive victories by double-digits each. Obviously, doing so against Wisconsin is much less likely than it will be against Michigan.

But without question the most important thing Fickell needs to do when it comes to on-field goals is to get some revenge against both teams because they are both without question two of the three biggest games for Ohio State this season. 

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