Jermale Hines would like to remind us all that he started in 8 games at safety last year.

The loss of multi-year starters Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell at safety combined with a spring game featuring a secondary that looked lost at times gives Ohio State fans the perfect opportunity to be concerned about something.

During a summer with very few question marks on offense or defense, the secondary will certainly be a topic of conversation. But let’s face it, when half of your questions that need to be answered heading into fall practice involve your third wide receiver and running back, you are in pretty good shape.

So even though the holes at safety and the apparent inability of Chekwa or Torrence to reach shut-down corner status are mildly concerning, count me as far from worried about it.

Here are a few things that I learned this spring about the secondary.

The secondary was hit the hardest (next to the offensive line) from being split up in the spring draft.

It takes cohesion and teamwork in the secondary, and when your starting corners and soon-to-be starting safeties aren’t even playing on the same team with each other, can you really make a judgment about the secondary?

The answer is no.

Combine that with the defensive schemes being extremely limited and you have the ingredients for a bad showing from the secondary, regardless of the level of talent that you have.

Long story short, take everything you think you learned about the secondary in the spring game and throw it out the window.

Orhian Johnson was extremely impressive this spring.

Instead of focusing on the spring game performances, I think a better indicator of things to come is how early and definitively Orhian Johnson locked down the starting safety spot next to Jermale Hines.

What was supposed to be a battle in the spring quickly turned into a two man show. While Hines locking down a spot was not surprising, I expected the competition over the other safety spot to last the entire spring and into the fall.

That didn’t happen and all of the competition in the secondary quickly moved to the star position. A week or two into practice and the coaching staff didn’t even pretend that the safety spots were still up for grabs.

This indicates to me that Johnson was lights out, and hopefully we will see some big things from him this year.

Stop worrying about the cornerbacks.

Focusing entirely on football this spring should pay huge dividends for Torrence and the Buckeyes this fall.

It is difficult for me to understand exactly what people are worried about with the cornerbacks. We have two returning starters who are both seniors and who both played above average last year.

Neither of them really stood out, I will give you that, but at the same time, neither one consistently got beat either.

Most of all, I don’t understand people’s concerns about Chekwa.

Are we really still hung up on the fact that he got picked on by one of the best QB’s in college football over the past decade (Colt McCoy) in a bowl game two years ago?

I say get over it, our cornerbacks are experienced and should be two of the best in the Big Ten.

I can understand some mild worries about the secondary this summer, because really, what else is there to worry about?

At the same time, the defensive front seven is going to be the secondary’s best friend (just like last year), so even if there are issues (which I think are either non-existent or greatly exaggerated) they should be masked.

The secondary won’t be as good as the front seven next year, but that isn’t a fair comparison.

I predict that our defense is going to be very, very good next season, and the secondary might not be a major reason why, but they will certainly do their part.

The Buckeye Battle Cry will be counting down the Top 25 players of the past decade all spring/summer.  Every Monday through May and June, Jim will be announcing a new player.  Starting in July, we will be announcing new additions on Monday and Thursday.  Our #1 player will be presented on Monday, August 30th.  Three days later, the 2010 season officially begins.

Nate Clements (1999-2000)

Clements played for Buffalo from 2001 through 2006 where he established himself as one of the best in the NFL.

Clements is a player that is hurt by the fact that he just barely made it into the decade we are looking at.

Also hurting him are the teams he started on,which had the worst back to back seasons at  Ohio State in two decades.

Despite these setbacks, Clements was undoubtedly  one of the most talented players to wear the scarlet and gray over the past ten years, and a key player that helped establish Ohio State as a factory for first round cornerbacks.

Clements was named First Team All-Big Ten during his junior year in 2000, after which he declared for the draft. He was drafted 21st overall by the Buffalo Bills in the 2001 NFL draft.

A large part of Clements story over the past decade has been his NFL career. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2004, and in 2007 he signed what was at the time the largest contract ever for a defensive player in the NFL.

For his All-Big Ten season in 2000, his elite level of talent, and for representing Ohio State so well in the NFL for almost a decade, Nate Clements checks in at number twenty-three on our countdown.

Terrelle Pryor (2008-2009)

Pryor has already established himself as one of the best in 2008 and 2009, and the sky is the limit in 2010.

Terrelle Pryor hasn’t concluded his career at Ohio State yet, and the expectations for him are unbelievably high for the coming season. If things go as planned, he can cement himself much, much higher on any all-time greatest list.

As it is, his on the field exploits in 2008 and 2009 alone are enough to get him on this list, and if the criteria for selection were based purely on athletic ability, he would be ranked significantly higher.

Pryor has logged playing time in every game since the start of the 2008 season, including 23 starts. He has a record of 19-4 in those starts.

He was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2008, and has been named Big Ten honorable mention in 2008 and 2009.

Pryor already has the 10th most passing yards in Ohio State history with 3,405. In 2009, he had the 13th most passing yards (2,094) and the 8th most passing attempts (295) and completions (167) in a season at Ohio State.

The best running QB at Ohio State since Cornelius Greene in the 70's, and very likely will be the best ever.

Pryor saved his best for last in 2009 and his 266 passing yards against Oregon were the most of his career, and good for the 50th best passing game ever at Ohio State.

Pryor was named the Rose Bowl MVP for his exploits against Oregon, that alone is enough to at least earn a mention in this countdown.

On top of all of that, Pryor also led the Buckeyes in rushing in 2009 with 779 yards, and he has 3 career 100 yard rushing games, the second most for a quarterback at Ohio State behind Cornelius Greene who has 4.

Pryor has been able to accomplish some pretty amazing things so far in his young career, and we can only hope that he continues to achieve greatness. The best may be yet to come, but for 2008 and 2009 alone, Pryor has earned a spot at #24 on our countdown.

It’s the off season and that means it’s the perfect time to ponder some ponderables. For instance, who’s regime at Ohio State was (is) better, Jim Tressel’s or Woody Hayes’?

Ohio State football personified.

Before we start, I want to make it clear that Woody Hayes is Ohio State football and he always will be. I am not challenging that. What I would like to compare is which period of Ohio State football was “better”, the Jim Tressel era or the Woody Hayes era.

Another thing to get out of the way right now is that obviously the Jim Tressel era isn’t over yet. That only makes the issue more interesting as far as I’m concerned because it opens up the additional question: what does Jim Tressel need to do over his final seasons to surpass Woody Hayes?

And there is little question that Tressel is entering his final seasons.

The contender.

Tressel recently signed a contract extension through the 2014 season. There is much speculation that it could be the last contract extension he signs (there was speculation that he would retire when his initial contract expired in 2012 too, so take it for what it’s worth).

Even if Tressel does extend again, he has said he doesn’t see himself coaching as long as a Paterno or a Bowden, so I will say very roughly that he retires within the next ten years.

That leaves us with two questions: how do the two coaches compare now? and what does Tressel need to do over the final years of his regime to clearly separate himself from the Godfather of Ohio State football.

Let’s break it down. Ding! Ding! Ding!

Overall Record

Woody Hayes: 205-61-10 (.76087)

Jim Tressel: 94-21 (.81739)

Overall record is an obvious place to start.

Right off the bat it is clear that Tressel just can’t compete with Hayes in terms of years coached or number of victories.

The Shoe has been good to both coaches… or have the coaches been good to The Shoe?

Woody’s 28 years at the helm and 205 victories are both the most in Ohio State history, and it isn’t even close.

Tressel isn’t going to touch either one of those numbers.

On the other hand, Tressel’s winning percentage is higher.

In fact, Tressel’s winning percentage is the best of any coach in Ohio State history that lasted more than two seasons (Carroll C. Widdoes went 16-2 from 1944-1945).

Two more years of 10 (or more) win seasons and Tressel’s moves into 2nd place for total number of victories (passing up Cooper at 111).

Where does that leave us?

The winning percentage angle is an advantage for Tressel, and it doesn’t look like the 10 win seasons are going to be ending anytime soon.

Tressel will have the second most wins and the second longest tenure in the history of Ohio State football whenever he decides to hang up the whistle.

That by itself doesn’t mean much since he will be second behind Woody. But combined with the higher winning percentage and I think it creates a compelling argument. Is that enough to put Tressel over the top? We will see.

For now, 28 years, 205 victories. It is hard to see those number ever being broken or even approached.

Woody Hayes is the king of tenure and victories at Ohio State, and he always will be.

Tressel will most likely be the king of winning percentage and second in tenure and victories.

Which one is more impressive?

I will wait until the Tressel era is over before I come down with a final judgment on that one.

Big Ten Record

Woody Hayes: 152-37-7 (.80423)

Jim Tressel: 59-13 (.81944)

Once again this turns into a story of quality versus quantity, but in this case the quality is about the same.

Owned.

Tressel and Hayes both share about the same winning percentage, but Woody did it for a lot longer than Tressel has, so you gotta give the edge to Woody here, right?

Then again, they didn’t call it the Big 2 when Woody coached for nothing. Similarly, Tressel takes some heat for dominating a “down” conference.

Regardless, both coaches owned the Big Ten.

Record Vs. Michigan

Woody Hayes: 16-11-1

Jim Tressel: 8-1

Clearly Tressel has the edge here.

While no one could match Woody’s hatred of that school up north or the intensity of the rivalry during the Ten Year War, Tressel has done a better job racking up rivalry wins.

Chalk one up for the vest.

Big Ten Championships

Woody Hayes: 13

Jim Tressel: 6

At face value it looks like Woody has this one locked up with over twice as many Big Ten Championships as Tressel.

Upon closer examination, however, you will see that Tressel’s 6 titles in 9 seasons is a bit more impressive than Woody’s 13 titles in 28 season… at least from a purely statistical perspective.

It would be shocking if Tressel didn’t earn a few more of these before his time is over in Columbus, so I am going to give Tressel the slight edge here.

Bowl Record

Woody Hayes: 5-6

Jim Tressel: 5-4

You can’t really compare the two coaches in this area because of the restrictions on bowl game attendance that Woody faced which aren’t there today.

At the same time, it is clear that Woody struggled a bit in bowl games.

The last few years haven’t been so kind to Tressel either, but he still has a shot to turn that around (2010 Rose Bowl was a nice start).

I will call this one a wash for now, with the distinct possibility that Tressel can separate himself in the coming years.

National Championships

Woody Hayes: 3 (5)

Jim Tressel: 1

With a few more of these Tressel's resume would be tough to beat.

This is the major area that Woody is clearly better than Tressel as far as I’m concerned.

At the same time, it is also the area that Tressel can make up the most ground over the next few seasons.

Woody had championship seasons in 1954, 1957 and 1968 with two more kinda championship seasons that the school claims in 1961 and 1970.

To this point, Tressel has 2002 and several misses in 2006 and 2007.

While another national championship (or three) before Tressel retires will make this discussion worth having again, for now you have to conclude that with an untouchable number of wins, years coached, and an impressive 5 national championships, Woody Hayes is still the best coach in Ohio State football history.

If the last years of the Tressel era go as well as I am hoping they will, the story may change.

With a superb record against Michigan and an unbelievable run of Big Ten championships, another national title or two may make up for the fact that Woody coached for nearly twice as long as Tressel and racked up a lot more wins in the process.

It should be fun to watch.

Michigan Football

This is probably piling on, but hey, that doesn’t make it any less funny.

History’s taught us Rich Rodriguez will try to win now

First of all, what a title. I am glad that Rodriguez is going to start trying to win now… what was he doing in his first two seasons?

The whole article is humorous, here are some highlights:

You know it’s bad for a guy when Joe Biden can use your name at a memorial service and turn it into an applause line. An applause line! I’ve been to a few funerals and memorial services and I have never heard applause at the mere mention of a single person. With the departure of Matt Millen, Rodriguez has quickly become the least popular person in Michigan sports. And in some ways, you have to give him credit for a near-meteoric rise. On the field and off, almost all the Michigan Football news has been bad. And almost all of it can be attributed to him.

Yeah, that is pretty bad (if you don’t know what this is referring to, check out the 2:10 mark in this video).

1. He desperately wants to win.

2. He believes strongly that he has the right philosophy to win.

Supposedly Albert Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

I don’t know if he actually said that or not, but whoever said it, I think it applies nicely in this instance.

And finally:

So if this is a do-or-die season for Rodriguez, I have little doubt that he’ll treat it the same way that he treated his first two. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we all saw how those two turned out.

And with that, I am done covering the train wreck that is Michigan football for awhile (unless something particularly hilarious comes up, which seems to happen quite a bit these days).

Is it juvenile to laugh at them while they are down? Probably. But it is a long off season, and you can only rehash the same topics so many times before they become stale.

Michigan football will rebound (eventually), and the greatest rivalry in the history of sports will be restored, but for now let’s just sit back and enjoy the circus.

Also, for some administrative whatnot, I am going to try to start posting things on a schedule for the off season.

Position analysis on Mondays, recruiting updates on Tuesdays, some sort of historical analysis on Wednesday or Thursday, and then something lighter for the weekend (like some Michigan comic relief).

If you have any suggestion for things you would like to see just let me know.

John Clay looks forward to the new, "athletic" defenders that Michigan will be putting on the field.

After three years under Rich Rodriguez, Michigan still doesn’t know what the hell they are doing on defense.

link

While they are talking about being versatile and situational, the Wolverines’ base will be a 3-3-5 — three down linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs.

Well, at least it seems it will be a 3-3-5.

“You can say 3-3 whatever, but seriously, it’s like our own defense,” Michigan defensive lineman Greg Banks said after the spring game.

Yeah, well, you know, that’s just like, uh, your opinion man.

After losing their two best players (by far) on defense in Brandon Graham and Donovan Warren (who left after his Junior season and didn’t get drafted, point and laugh) the Wolverines continue to struggle to find a scheme to disguise their lack of talent.

We’re doing different things, I’m inside, I’m outside. We’ve got different guys playing different positions. When it comes to this fall, we’re going to surprise people.

I will be surprised if they aren’t worse than last year’s laughably pathetic squad.

Seriously, you just can’t make this stuff up.

“At first, everybody’s skeptical,” he said. “We’re all like, ‘Man, we keep switching defenses, we don’t know what we’re playing, we don’t have an identity.’ And this year we’re making our own, totally new defense that nobody has seen before.

So they’ve lacked an identity for the past two seasons on defense because of constant changes, they lose their two best players, they are moving everyone all over the place struggling to get the best (or the least awful) 11 on the field, and somehow their identity problems are going to be magically solved because they are “making their own” totally new defense.

So one more time, they lacked identity because of constant change, but completely changing the defense this year will give them identity… or something.

Point and laugh.

It seems the only thing consistent among the defensive players is that they don’t know what to label their defense.

Recruiting players to play defense is hard for Rodriguez, figuring out how to make the defense not suck with the players he does recruit is even harder.

I think it’s fitting us real well. We have some real athletic guys that aren’t maybe suited for the 4-3 or the 3-3-5, but because we have the mix-in, I think the guys we have at certain positions are best suited to their athletic abilities.

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Except in this case, the trade that Michigan is proficient at happens to be being undersized and “athletic”.

Apparently the strength of the defense is their ability to adjust to what the offense is throwing at them.

It should be fun to watch their “athletic” defenders adjusting to John Clay and any other team that has even the slightest hint of a power run game.

Wasn’t Rodriguez supposed to revolutionize the Big Ten with his fast paced spread attack that would leave everyone in the dust? A conference that lived and died with the power run game would never be able to adjust to such an amazing offensive scheme!

Now Michigan is installing a defense with three down lineman in the exact same “slow and plodding” conference known for its power run game.

I don’t know about you, but three down lineman seems like the worst possible way to stop a power running attack.

Ironic? or just stupid?

Everyone point and laugh.

Jim Tressel is working his magic on the 2011 recruiting class.

There wasn’t quite as much recruiting action over the weekend as I would have liked but Ohio State did pick up TE Jeff Heuerman.

While Heuerman’s commitment was unexpected, it is always nice when kids visit Ohio State and the coaching staff and instantly know that it is for them.

No other players have committed yet, but I think the possibility of a few more deciding within the next week or two is high.

The weekend also created a lot of positive buzz for some highly touted players that I had previously written off. I am still going to write most of them off, but it is good when people say nice things about Ohio State.

Anyways, here’s the breakdown.

QB

Braxton Miller

Braxton Miller will be a Buckeye. The only questions here are when will he commit and if Cardale Jones will get an offer somewhere down the line.

RB

Still nothing.

I have mentioned it before, but the 2012 class has Brionte Dunn, Rushel Shell, and Warren Ball in it. All are elite backs and I would be shocked if Ohio State doesn’t land at least two of them.

Also, there have been some rumblings about ‘10 Mr. Football running back Erick Howard transferring to Ohio State after a year at Fork Union.

I will believe that one when I see it, but the point is that Ohio State does not need a RB in this class anyways and next year is loaded, so no worries.

WR

Evan Spencer, Shane Wynn

I went with these two last week and I am sticking with them until I hear otherwise.

Someone that might be worth keeping an eye on is A.J. Sebastiano. He is close friends with Jeremy Cash and would commit to Ohio State in a heartbeat… if he had an offer.

It seems like Sebastiano is in a similar position to Cardale Jones and will probably have to play the waiting game.

TE

Jeff Heuerman, Ben Koyack/Nick Vannett

With the Heuerman commitment, Ohio State is looking for one more TE in this class and will probably be finished.

Interestingly, Vannett and Koyack did a little role reversal this weekend in terms of who I think will be a part of this class.

Vannett (who I had previously thought was a heavy Notre Dame lean) attended Ohio State’s spring game and came away impressed.

Meanwhile, Koyack (who has cut his list to Ohio State and Notre Dame, and I thought was an Ohio State lean) attended Notre Dame’s spring game instead of Ohio State’s and also came away impressed.

Some interesting goings on for sure, but the bottom line is that Ohio State takes one more TE in this class, and it will either be Vannett or Koyack (most likely whichever one decides first) and whoever doesn’t end up in scarlet and gray will probably be a domer.

LB

Trey DePriest, Conner Crowell

I hedged on linebacker last week by not choosing who I thought would be a part of the class, but what the hell, here are the two that I think will be Buckeyes (subject to change of course).

DePriest is the top target in the state of Ohio right now, and I am banking on the peer pressure from his fellow Ohio commits to bring him home. I am less than sure about that, but I am cautiously optimistic.

Crowell visited for the spring game and came away impressed. So much so that I am willing to call him a Buckeye lean at this point, or at least more of a lean then any other LB prospect at the moment.

There are plenty of other potential LB prospects out there, but right now these are the two that I am getting the best vibe about.

S

Jeremy Cash, Ronald Tanner

Cash is on board already, and Tanner is one of the guys that I think may commit within the next week or two (he says he wants to narrow his list by early summer).

There is still an outside shot that Wayne Lyons joins the class, but for now I will leave him off.

CB

DerJuan Gambrell, Doran Grant, Jabari Gorman

Gambrell is already on board, Grant will be eventually, and new to the list (at least the list of people I think will be a part of this class)  is Gorman.

I have mentioned Gorman previously as a possibility for this class, but recent updates are very positive for Ohio State and I think he will eventually be a Buckeye.

DE

Steve Miller, Kenny Hayes, Chase Farris

All three of these guys are already a part of the class, and unless something changes (which it obviously can) I think that is it at DE for this class.

Bigs

Chris Carter Jr., Antonio Underwood, Brian Bobek, Tommy Brown, Michael Bennett, Aundrey Walker

Walker and Bennett are the only two on this list that aren’t already committed.

Bennett (who has narrowed his list to Ohio State and Northwestern) is competing with Tanner to see who the next Buckeye commitment will be (I think).

Walker will do the usual Glenville thing and wait until late in the process before becoming a Buckeye.

Ohio State will take at least one more ‘Big’ in this class, but who it ends up being is anyone’s guess at this point.

Conclusion

That’s 22 guys, 10 of which are already a part of the class and the rest seem very likely to be (at least at the moment). There will be a few surprises before the ink is dried next February (like who the other ‘Big’ is going to be), but you have to like the way this class is shaping up.

I get the feeling that Bennett, Tanner, and possibly one of the tight ends  will commit within the next week or two (or three). If that happens this class will be in the homestretch (especially when you factor in the Glenville guys) and it isn’t even summer yet.

Very nice.

Where championships are won.

As I mentioned previously, the spring game is not a preview of the upcoming season. However, you can learn some things from it. Here are a few things that I learned about the offensive line.

Mike Adams will be the left tackle this year.

If the spring depth chart missing any indication of competition between Adams and Miller wasn’t enough, or all the talk about Adams being leaner and stronger during practice didn’t convince, the spring game erased any doubt in my mind about who the starter will be at LT.

Mike Adams wasn't perfect, then again, he won't be facing pass rushers like Nathan Williams very much next year either.

That is not to say that I think Adams will be dominant or finally live up to the Orlando Pace comparisons. I just think that he has clearly separated himself as the best left tackle on the roster.

I observed Adams getting beat off the ball without even getting a hand on his man on at least one occasion. I also watched as the scarlet team ran the ball almost exclusively to his side on a scoring drive.

The flashes of greatness combined with Andrew Miller failing to impress makes Mike Adams the clear starter at LT going into the summer. I am not the only one to think this.

If Adams can stay focused and continue to improve over the course of the summer and fall, Ohio State will have the answer to one of the very few questions facing the team heading into the season.

On that note, I would like to make a general observation about spring practice.

Has an Ohio State team ever had so few question marks heading into a season? On top of that, has an Ohio State team ever had its question marks so conclusively answered during spring practice?

LT is one of the few positions that might still be up in the air going into the summer (more on the others as we get to them) and I would hardly call it up in the air at this point.

I am extremely happy with the players who stepped up this spring, including Mike Adams.  All of the questions that I had at the beginning of the spring were answered, and relatively quickly.

This is good, because outside of the question marks, the rest of the team are proven starters returning from a Rose Bowl championship squad. On that note…

J.B. Shugarts is primed to have a dominating season.

If it doesn't get called it isn't holding. Shugarts was a rock at RT the whole scrimmage.

As I was watching the offensive line in the spring scrimmage, I couldn’t help but notice Shugarts. Time after time he stopped the pass rusher across from him cold in his tracks, including but not limited to bull rusher extraordinaire John Simon.

I was very impressed with Shugarts’ performance and look for big things from him this year.

I still think Marcus Hall will move to guard.

Even though he is #2 on the depth chart at RT and I think he will stay there this season, I don’t think his natural position is on the edge.

First, he appeared to struggle mightily with pure speed rushers off the edge, including on the very first play of the spring game.

He might not be a starter this year, but he will be soon enough.

Second, he is too good to keep off the field. J.B. Shugarts will still be around at RT next season, but Ohio State will be looking to replace Bryant Browning at guard.

It only makes sense for Hall to follow in the footsteps of his fellow Glenville alumni and replace Browning at guard in 2011. For now though, he is the best back up RT in the conference, and that’s not bad either.

Boren, Brewster, and Browning are solid in the middle.

They took care of business last year, they are going to take care of business this year.

With Shugarts coming into his own at RT and Adams apparently making strides at LT, this offensive line is going to be one of the cornerstones of Ohio State’s championship run next season.

This is going on tonight.

The NFL Draft is tonight at 7:30 ET on ESPN/NFL Network.

ElevenWarriors has a look at the Buckeyes hoping to hear their names called over the next three days.

A lot of Browns fans seem to want Eric Berry at 7 and Colt McCoy in the 2nd round, that would be just fine with me. Thaddeus Gibson in the 3rd would be too good to be true.

The Cavs play game 3 tonight at Chicago (7:00 ET, TNT). Will the

And this.

Bulls be encouraged that they played so well in game 2? or discouraged that they played so well in game 2 and still lost? We will find out tonight.

It should be a nice sports evening.

Also, the Buckeyes had their spring game ‘draft’ yesterday (photos).

Scarlet Roster

• They get Pryor, but how much will he play?
• How often will Pryor throw to Stoneburner when they are on the field together?
• Mike Adams and Marcus Hall playing tackle together should be fun to watch.
• Dorian Bell and Storm Klein together as linebackers is a glimpse of the future.

Gray Roster

• Loaded at running back.
• Sabino is worth keeping an eye on.
• Kenny Guiton will get a chance to show what he’s got.

Draft Order

• Mike Adams was the #1 tackle taken which is nice to see.
• Nate Oliver was taken over Orhian Johnson at safety which is interesting, possibly because of his versatility (ability to play safety and star)?

And don't forget about this on Saturday.

Branden Castel takes the time to break the draft down in much greater detail as well as taking a look at which team has the ‘edge’.

Tony Gerdeman brings us Tressel’s thoughts on the draft.

And the guys over at TheSilverBullet chime in with some thoughts.

Finally, check out the guys over at WaitingForNextYear throughout the day for plenty of thoughts on the Cavs game as well as the draft tonight (if you are interested in a Browns-centric perspective).

If all of that doesn’t get you through the morning and/or afternoon I don’t know what will.

Have a good day everyone.

Absolutely nothing?

Well, that depends on what you are looking for.

If you are a desperate fan base whose team hasn’t gone to a bowl game in two years, you might be inclined to look for glimmers of hope in the spring game.

Mr. "I threw an interception once every eight times I put the ball in the air" had a good spring, oh boy!

“Did you see how well [insert name] performed? We are going to be better this year for sure!”

If this is your attitude going in to the spring game, then yes, it is worth absolutely nothing.

How much can you really learn from the first team offense playing against the second team defense? Not much.

But when you are desperate, you will use anything to make you feel better.

If you aren’t following me, here is the take away: any Michigan fans making predictions about next year based on the spring game are full of it.

Rose Bowl actions speak louder than Spring Game actions (especially against your own crappy 2nd string defense).

Similarly, as Ohio State fans, we shouldn’t expect too much out of the Spring Game. Will it be entertaining? yes. Will I be watching? yes. Will it be great to see the scarlet and gray in the Shoe on a Saturday afternoon? absolutely.

But here’s the thing, Ohio State is going to be a great team next year regardless of what happens in the spring game. If Pryor throws 5 touchdowns, great. If he throws 5 interceptions? meh.

The point is, being overly negative or overly positive about the upcoming season based on the spring game is pointless.

The first team offensive line will be split up, the first team defensive line will be split up, Pryor’s favorite targets that he has been developing chemistry with all spring may not be on the same team as him.

So, as Ohio State fans, let’s enjoy the Spring Game for what it is (an exhibition) and not get all worked up over what it’s not (a preview of the upcoming season).

Like I said, Ohio State is going to be a great team next year, regardless of what happens on Saturday, because they were a great team last year and practically everyone is coming back.

Isn’t it nice knowing that? After all, relying on performances against the second team in an exhibition game is a pretty pathetic reason to be optimistic for the upcoming season, and just one more reason why we can all sit back and laugh at Michigan.

I am not saying we shouldn’t be excited about Saturday, after all, it is going to be awesome, but don’t expect to take much away from it.

Here is a nice rundown of what to look for on Saturday from Vico at OurHonorDefend.

Let’s enjoy the individual performances  and a chance to see some hitting, let’s enjoy seeing the scarlet and gray on the field once again, hell, let’s even get optimistic if it is warranted, but let’s not get too carried away.

With Jeremy Cash on board and a huge recruiting weekend ahead for Ohio State, now is a good time for a brief recruiting update.

QB

Commits: none

Likely Commits: Braxton Miller

Targets: Jerrard Randall, Cardale Jones (?)

The future?

There are still no commits at QB for this class but until further notice, it is Braxton Miller or nothing. Miller is one of the top prospects in the country and will be an outstanding ‘get’ for the Buckeyes.

The good news is that a lot of people (including myself) think it is a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ Miller will become a Buckeye. The extreme optimist in me hopes that he commits during the spring game and starts recruiting his peers who will be in attendance.

That may or may not happen, but Miller’s father has indicated that he would like to make his decision ‘early’, so hopefully we won’t be waiting too long to find out where he is going, even if he doesn’t commit at the spring game.

A lot of people are pushing for Cardale Jones of Glenville to get an offer, but we will have to wait and see on that one. Jones will be visiting Ohio State this weekend for the spring game, but it doesn’t appear that Ohio State is interested in more than one QB in this class, at least for right now.

Unless something happens late in the year that changes things, Jones might not even get an offer.

I like Jones a lot, but this is a case of trusting the coaches, we will see what happens.

RB

Commits: none

Likely Commits: none

Targets: Savon Huggins

There is still not a lot of action at RB in the ‘11 class.

Apparently Ohio State is showing a lot of interest in NJ running back Savon Huggins who is obviously a special talent, but I would be extremely surprised if he or any other running back became a part of this class.

WR

Commits: none

Likely Commits: Shane Wynn, Evan Spencer

Targets: Ja’Juan Story, Darius Jennings, Phil Dorsett, Brandon Phelps

There are no heavy Buckeye leans at WR at this point, but there are a few guys that are at the top of the list.

Shane Wynn

First is Shane Wynn of Glenville. Wynn is undersized but he is dynamic with the ball in his hands. He will be at the spring game this weekend along with a lot of other Glenville prospects, but a commitment anytime soon is unlikely.

Being from Glenville, Wynn will most likely wait until late in the process to commit, and will also most likely be a Buckeye.

The next prospect is Evan Spencer from Illinois. Spencer is the son of former Buckeye Tim Spencer, so the family connection alone makes Ohio State’s chances pretty good.

Here are some highlights of Evan Spencer.

Another player to keep an eye on is Ja’Juan Story of Florida. Story is an elite prospect who will be visiting Ohio State for the spring game.

Outside of the spring game visit, there isn’t much to indicate that Ohio State has a shot with Story, but anything could happen.

As of right now, Spencer and Wynn are the most likely players to become a part of this class, and everyone else is a long shot at best.

TE

Commits: none

Likely Commits: Ben Koyack

Targets: Nick Vannett, ?

It seems like Ohio State wants to take two TEs in this class.

Ben Koyack

The two main targets appear to be Ben Koyack and Nick Vannett. Koyack has legitimate interest in Ohio State and he has listed them as a leader from very early on.

I like Ohio State’s chances with Koyack and he has consistently said that how a team uses their tight end is a factor for him, but not the most important one.

To me, this is a direct response to other teams negatively recruiting against Ohio State and an indication that Koyack likes Ohio State enough to not be concerned about how many times the ball might be thrown his way.

That being said, it would be nice to get the TEs a little more involved in the offense this season to increase the chances of landing the elite TE prospects, including Koyack.

Vannett, on the other hand, appears to be infatuated with Notre Dame and primarily concerned with how the offense utilizes the TE.

I don’t like Ohio State’s chances of landing him at the moment.

Some other TEs that have recently received offers (indicating that the staff may feel the same way about Vannett as me) but it is difficult to determine their interest level at this point (some have even committed to other schools since receiving an OSU offer).

I am fairly confident that Koyack will be a Buckeye, but who they take as a second TE, if they take one at all (depending on what happens with Koyack), will be interesting to see.

LB

Commits: none

Trey DePriest

Likely Commits: ?

Targets: Trey DePriest, James Vaughters, Conner Crowell, Michael Caputo, Curtis Grant

It doesn’t look like Ohio State will end up taking very many LBs in this class. The primary focus right now is obviously Trey DePriest.

Alabama and Ohio State are at the top of DePriest‘s list, and he will most likely choose between the two. Ohio State may lose the top in-state LB to an out-of-state program two years in a row, or they might not. Stay tuned.

Other names of interest are James Vaughters, Conner Crowell, Michael Caputo, and Curtis Grant.

All have offers, all have Ohio State on their list, but it’s hard to tell where any of them are going at this point.

If I had to pick someone other than DePriest, Vaughters is probably the best bet to be a Buckeye.

Safety

Commits: Jeremy Cash

Jeremy Cash

Likely Commits: Ronald Tanner

Targets: Wayne Lyons

The recent commitment of Jeremy Cash will hopefully get the ball rolling with the Florida prospects, one of which is fellow S Wayne Lyons. However, the impact of Cash will probably be more important at other positions.

That is because Ronald Tanner is going to be a Buckeye, and between the two, Ohio State is set at S for the class.

There is an outside possibly that Lyons will be a Buckeye as well, which would make the Buckeyes really really set at S.

I don’t think there is any way Ohio State takes more than three in this class, and depending on what Lyons does, they may just take Cash and Tanner and call it a year.

CB

Commits: DerJuan Gambrell

Doran Grant

Likely Commits: Doran Grant

Targets: Dondi Kirby, Jabari Gorman, Damian Swann

Between Gambrell and Grant, Ohio State is set here.

Grant hasn’t committed to the Buckeyes yet, but he has consistently listed Ohio State as his leader, even after taking official visits to other schools. I would be surprised if he ended up somewhere other than Columbus.

Any of the other targets choosing to come on board would be icing on the cake.

Gorman is one of the Florida prospects that Cash might start recruiting, but that is only speculation.

I think Ohio State lands Grant and possibly one of the targets and calls it a year.

DE

Commits: Steve Miller, Kenny Hayes, Chase Farris

Chase Farris

Likely Commits: none

Targets: Ryan Shazier, Ray Drew, Anthony Chickillo, Aaron Lynch, Ishaq Williams

Ohio State has one of the best DE classes in the nation already with Miller, Hayes and Farris, so you can’t complain.

There are still offers out to some elite out-of-state prospects, but the chance of any of them becoming Buckeyes is pretty slim.

I think Ohio State is finished at DE for this class unless one of the targets surprises me, which would be a very nice surprise.

Bigs

Commits: Chris Carter Jr., Antonio Underwood, Brian Bobek, Tommy Brown

Aundrey Walker

Likely Commits: Michael Bennett, Aundrey Walker

Targets: Angelo Mangiro, Kevin McReynolds, Joel Hale

Ohio State has done really well with the bigs up to this point, and they are in great shape with Bennett and Walker.

In addition to those two, I think Ohio State would like to sign at least one more big for the class. As of right now, it seems like Hale is the most interested, but Mangiro took an official visit last weekend so there might be a realistic shot at landing him as well.

McReynolds will most likely stay on the east coast, possibly at UNC.

Conclusion

This is what I think the class will look like.

QB: Braxton Miller

RB: none

WR: Shane Wynn, Evan Spencer, ?

TE: Ben Koyack, ?

LB: ?

S: Jeremy Cash, Ronald Tanner, ?

CB: DerJuan Gambrell, Doran Grant, ?

DE: Steve Miller, Kenney Hayes, Chase Farris

Bigs: Chris Carter Jr., Antonio Underwood, Brian Bobek, Tommy Brown, Michael Bennett, Aundrey Walker, ?

That’s 17 players plus 5 (or so) spots that I think will be filled by one of the targets replacing a question mark.

That’s my best guess as of right now, which is subject to change of course, new prospects are always coming into the picture.

Outside of the question marks and possibly Koyack, I am confident that the 17 I listed will be a part of the class.

Ideally, several players will commit this weekend at the spring game, making the recruiting picture even clearer.

The 2011 class is off to a great start and should finish strong.

Extra early prediction, the 2012 class is going to be pretty damn good too.

You may or may not have noticed the series of posts below that went out in rapid succession.

They are slightly updated versions of the ‘way too early looks’ I wrote prior to spring practice.

Don’t worry, I am not being lazy, I just needed to transfer them over to the new site so that I can link to them in the “Football Analysis” section at the top of the site.

Like I mentioned, they are slightly updated, but I plan on doing a much more comprehensive second analysis once the spring game wraps up and the long and lonely summer begins.

Another update for each position will be posted during fall camp and then one more once the season starts (a total of 4 at each position).

Each new post will be linked to in the “Football Analysis” section at the top of the home page so that by the time the season rolls around, the progression of the team from spring practice to the fall to the season will be well documented… that’s the plan at least.

Remember that I wrote the original posts below prior to spring practice, and prior to the release of the official spring depth chart.

I left my original depth chart projections the same for fun, I was right sometimes and wrong most of the time.

Also, some of my depth chart projections didn’t transfer over, but that is alright now that the actual depth chart has been released.

That is all.

GO BUCKS!

Last season the defensive line was the anchor of the team, and one of the best (if not the best) units in the entire country. In 2010, the line will look to continue the dominance they established in 2009, but will be missing a few key players as well as a lot of quality depth.

Luckily, there are also lots of young players in the pipeline itching to get on the field, giving Buckeye fans some competition to look forward to in the spring.

Perhaps most importantly for the line, Cameron Heyward chose to pass up NFL dollars and is staying in Columbus for one last go around in scarlet and gray. Heyward was the best player on a great defensive line last year and his return is a huge steps towards continued excellence on defense.

Best case scenario? Heyward pulls a Ndamukong Suh in his senior season.

That is setting the bar pretty high, and I don’t really expect Heyward to be in the running for the Heisman, but a Suh-like level of domination is certainly within the realm of possibilities for him.

Yeah, his decision to return is a pretty big deal.

Outside of Heyward, Ohio State has a a few other players returning from the rotation last season, and a few young guys with a ton of potential looking to get on the field for the first time. Join me after the jump for an in depth look at each position along the defensive line and the players that will be playing them.

I guess we will start with a quick breakdown of how the Ohio State defensive line is organized.

Over time, the line has moved from a straight 4-3 style defense to a hybrid system where one of the defensive ends doubles as a pseudo-outside linebacker. This position, as far as I can tell, is known as the LEO.

You could see this move towards a hybrid system as far back as 2002 with Will Smith dropping back into coverage from his end position. In 2005 Bobby Carpenter took the LEO position to a whole new level. He was the first player who was primarily a linebacker to be used in this role.

The coaches seemed to like what Carpenter brought to the position, and since 2005 the hybrid end has become more and more a part of the defensive scheme for Ohio State.

This move towards a hybrid system has resulted in two distinctly different defensive ends. On the strong side are your bigger, stronger defensive ends while on the LEO side you have smaller, quicker players that are primarily pass rushers and athletic enough to drop back into coverage.

Now that we have that covered, time to move into the positions.

Strong Side End

Strong side end happens to be the primary position of the previously mentioned Cameron Heyward, so there is little question about who will be starting here.

Last year, Heyward recorded 46 tackles, including 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. While those numbers might not be overwhelming, games like Penn State (11 tackles, 3 tfl, 2 sacks) showcase the level of dominance that he is capable of achieving.

Heyward will be getting a lot of attention from apposing offenses next season and will most likely be the target of many double teams. At the same time, he has the versatility and size to play inside or outside along the line. Based on these two things, it will be interesting to see 1.) how effective Heyward is against double teams and 2.) if Ohio State can move him around on defense in a way that minimizes the ability of offenses to focus their blocking schemes around him.

After Heyward, things get interesting. Long time members of the defensive line rotation Robert Rose and Lawrence Wilson are gone, leaving an opening for some young players to step in. The most likely candidates to back up the strong side are Keith Wells and Melvin Fellows.

Wells will be a redshirt junior. He has been in the program for several years but has yet to see significant action in games.

Fellows is a redshirt freshman who suffered an injury last season that cost him the entire year.

Both are relatively unknown commodities at this point, so they are worth keeping an eye on during spring practice to see if either establishes themselves as a part of the line rotation. Also worth keeping an eye on is incoming freshman Darryl Baldwin.

Baldwin has a huge frame at 6′7″ 250 lbs. which is the ideal size to be a strong side defensive end.

That being said, unless something goes bad ahead of him, Baldwin will most likely redshirt, leaving the depth chart looking something like this.

Update: the spring depth chart has Melvin Fellows listed ahead of Keith Wells.

LEO

As I mentioned, the LEO position features a smaller, quicker defensive end.

Last year Thadeus Gibson played the LEO position and played it well. Following the season, Gibson decided to take his game to the next level, however, meaning that the Buckeyes will be looking to replace his 45 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, and 4 sacks this season.

Replacing Gibson’s production at the LEO position is nothing to take lightly, but the Buckeyes have Nathan Williams waiting to do just that.

Williams has been a consistent part of the line rotation since he (somewhat surprisingly) broke onto the scene as a true freshman in 2008. He had 18 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks that year in only 9 games. Not too shabby.

As a sophomore last season, Williams played in all thirteen games (including one start) and recorded 26 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks. So while losing Gibson is a hit, Williams is primed to step in without much of a drop off.

Williams has plenty of experience and is clearly the favorite to start at LEO next year, but like the strong side, the players looking to back him up do not have much game experience. The main contenders to back up Williams will be Solomon Thomas and Jonathan Newsome.

Thomas is a redshirt junior who has played in 13 games over his career, including eight games last year. In those eight games, he recorded 6 tackles. So yeah, not exactly extensive experience, especially in terms of production, but not exactly green either.

Newsome is a sophomore who played in 5 games last year as a true freshman and recorded 5 tackles. So once again, pretty inexperienced but not entirely.

Also in the mix are some incoming freshman. J.T. Moore, David Durham, and Jamel Turner are all possible candidates for the LEO position.

Before practice gets underway, it is safe to assume that the older guys will get the first crack at the position and the younger guys will redshirt (unless they really impress), leaving the depth chart at LEO looking something like this (which, of course, is subject to change once practice gets under way).

Update: Newsome hasn’t practiced all spring (probably due to academic issues) and is listed on the depth chart at strong side linebacker, replacing him on the LEO chart is Stewart Smith.

DT

Unlike the ends, there isn’t much of a destination to be made between the two tackle positions. Having said that, I would say that one tackle is used as more of a run stuffer in the middle (Dexter Larimore style) while the other plays further on the edge and takes on the roll of a 3-4 end when the LEO drops into coverage (Doug Worthington style).

That may have been a scheme to fit the personnel, however, and with the graduation of Doug Worthington who knows what we will end up with this year.

The two best players will be on the field, and the schemes will match the personnel. So a scheme designed for Worthington may be scrapped in favor of another scheme that fits the current players better.

Another thing to consider when it comes to the defensive tackles is that they are one of the most rotated positions on the team. So while there are technically two ’starters’ who literally start the game, in reality there are 3 or 4 players who could be considered starters at tackle based on the playing time that they receive.

So, because of these two factors, I am going to list the tackles on one combined chart rather than break it down into two separate positions.

At the top of the chart is returning starter Dexter Larimore.

Larimore has played in a lot of games so far in his Buckeye career. 35 games with 8 starts to be exact, including 9 games and 5 starts last year in a season cut in half by injury. His injury kept him out of 4 whole games in the middle of the year and limited his ability to contribute in several others.

Larimore did return to start in the Rose Bowl, and he should be 100% for next year. So yeah, Larimore has been around the block in the Big Ten and he should be an anchor on the interior of the defensive line.

After Larimore, the loss of long time contributors Doug Worthington and Todd Denlinger will be felt. Worthington was a multiple year starter while Denlinger was player 1A behind Larimore, and when Larimore was injured Denlinger was the starter in his place.

Like defensive end, the experience of the backups is lacking, but there is no lack of talent.

One player that isn’t lacking in experience is John Simon, who is the clear number two behind Larimore heading into the spring. Simon played in 12 games last season as a true freshman, recording 15 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks. Simon is a monster in the weight room and as the year progressed became more and more of a monster on the field.

Based on his performance as a true freshman, I think that Simon has the ability to be one of the best tackles Ohio State has had since 2002. That all depends on his ability to continue to improve however, so keep an eye on that.

Garrett Goebel is the next guy in the rotation and probably the first guy off the bench this year. Goebel played in all 13 games last season, so he has been on the field. It will be interesting to see what he does this year, especially since he is the most natural fit to replace Worthington.

The fourth spot is between redshirt freshman Adam Bellamy and true freshman Johnathon Hankins. For right now I will go with Belamy first since he has had a year in the system, leaving the depth chart looking something like this. However, the fact that Hankins is one of the few true run stuffing style tackles on the team means that he has a chance to move way up depending on how he does in practice.

Update: this matches the spring depth chart exactly, with Goebel listed behind Larimore and Bellamy behind Simon. Jon Lorenz, Dalton Britt, and Don Matheney are also listed.

Conclusion

I am confident that between Cameron Heyward, Dexter Larimore, Nathan Williams, and John Simon, the starting defensive line for Ohio State will be very good in 2010. On the other hand, behind these four are some serious question marks. Losing five guys from the line will create question marks, even at Ohio State.

But this is Ohio State, and there are plenty of talented young players ready to prove themselves on the field, they just haven’t had a chance yet.

The depth won’t be as good as last year, especially at the beginning of the season. How good the line will ultimately be is in the hands of the young players and how well they perform.

The battles between the young guys will be something to keep on eye on throughout the spring. Hopefully some of them can emerge, and maybe there will even be a few surprises. The line will be good in 2010, but depth is a real concern… at least for now.

Long time readers (if there are any of you out there) know that linebacker is my favorite position, so this should be fun. Adding to the fun is the absolutely ridiculous amount of talent that the Buckeyes are packing in the linebacking corps right now.

Ohio State has depth, experience, talent, youth, and probably a few other things at linebacker going in to next year.

The only loss from last year is fifth year senior Austin Spitler.

Spitler was a solid performer for the Buckeyes last season (38 tackles, 5 tfl, 1 sack), and he did have some great moments, but there are several players waiting in the wings to take his place, and if there is any drop off at all, it should be minimal.

It can’t be overstated how much talent Ohio State has here. So rather than getting out a thesaurus and trying to find some creative adjectives, I will simply jump right in.

Join me after the jump for an in depth look at the 2010 Buckeye linebackers.

First, I want to say that out of all of the positions, linebacker is one of the more difficult ones to guess what the depth chart is actually going to look like next year. The two returning starters are pretty easy to place, but outside of that, the competition for the third spot as well as who will be the primary back ups is going to be intense this spring and will continue right up until the first game and probably beyond.

The good news is that high levels of competition makes everyone better, the bad news is that it is hard to predict who will end up where (and that is just me being selfish, there isn’t really any bad news about that).

Throwing an extra kink into the process is the willingness Ohio State’s coaches have shown to move each player from position to position until they think they have the absolute best group of players on the field.

Exhibit A for this willingness to shuffle linebackers is Brian Rolle. Heading into the spring last year, no one predicted that Rolle would be playing middle linebacker all season, but the coaches experimented and tinkered, tried out different players at different positions, and 95 tackles later, I would say we found a pretty damn good middle linebacker.

While I don’t anticipate anyone making a similar move this spring, especially considering we have two returning starters, it makes guessing the back ups quite difficult. So, I am going to make an educated guess, put everyone somewhere just so I can talk about them, and go from there.

First up, the middle linebackers.

Middle Linebacker (Mike)

Brian Rolle is the obvious starter here. As I mentioned, his move to the middle was pretty experimental last spring, but Rolle performed exceptionally well all season (95 tackles, 37 solo, 7 tfl, 1 int) and solidified himself as the starter.

Rolle isn’t as big as your prototypical middle linebacker (5′11″ 221 lbs.), but he more than makes up for his lack of size with explosive quickness that allows him avoid blockers at the line of scrimmage and cover the field from sideline to sideline.

I expect Rolle to be one of the best linebackers in the Big Ten, and the one thing that might hold him back from some serious national recognition is teammate Ross Homan (more on him later). The media will probably choose one or the other to gush over, so one may have to play the role of Bobby Carpenter to the others A.J. Hawk.

As I mentioned, beyond the starters things probably won’t get settled for awhile. For now, I am going to put Storm Klein on the depth chart behind Rolle. Klein played in all 13 games last year as a true freshman and recorded 10 tackles.

Klein has ideal size for a linebacker (6′2″ 230 lbs.) and the fact that the coaches put him on the field in every game as a true freshman says a lot about his ability. The future is bright for Klein, and even if it isn’t in the middle, he will see the field a lot next year.

For the third slot (it’s probably going to be more like 2a and 2b in the spring) I will go with Dorian Bell.

Bell was a 5 star recruit coming out of high school who was redshirted last season (sick ridiculous depth at LB and all that). His combination of size and speed is outstanding and I think he could end up being a slightly taller version of Rolle (which is why I put him in the middle).

I think Bell will get a crack at the middle due to his similarities with Rolle. Regardless of where, it is hard to imagine Bell not getting on the field next season, and like all of the backups, he will most likely be shuffled around a lot until the coaches find a way to get him on the field the earliest.

Update: The spring depth chart has Jordan Whiting as the #3 guy in the middle and Dorian Bell is the #2 on the weak side behind Ross Homan. Even that is not set in stone at this point though.

Weak Side Linebacker (Will)

The other returning starter at linebacker is Ross Homan on the weak side. As I mentioned, Homan and Rolle will battle each other next year for media attention, and honestly, they both probably deserved more attention than they received in 2009.

Just for fun, here are two stat lines.

One is from James Laurinaitis‘ 2006 season, the other is from Ross Homan’s 2009 season. Not much of a difference… is there?

Laurinaitis was a 1st Team All-American in 2006 and was named the best defensive player in college football, Homan wasn’t even 1st Team All-Big Ten.

So ummm…. yeah, Homan had a pretty good year despite not receiving much media attention (and in all fairness, you can’t really argue with the players that were selected 1st Team Big Ten last season).

Regardless, Homan is a tackling machine with a knack for the big play and will be looking to build off of an excellent season in 2009.

The first person off the bench on the weak side will most likely be Andrew Sweat (update: Sweat is listed at #2 on the strong side on the spring depth chart).

Sweat received playing time in the first seven games last season before an injury ended his year. In those seven games, he tallied 15 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 interception.

Like all of the linebackers at Ohio State, Sweat is extremely talented and will see the field plenty next season.

Finally, there is incoming freshman Scotty McVey. Even though it is extremely likely that McVey will redshirt next year, I am going to put him here because he is a natural fit for the weak side (great in space and a sure tackler) and it is probably where he will end up playing when he does see the field.

Update: As I mentioned, I got this one pretty wrong. Sweat is listed at #2 on the strong side, Dorian Bell is listed at #2 here, and Jim Hastings is listed at #3 (even though McVey isn’t on campus yet, so it’s only natural that he’s not on the depth chart at this point).

Strong Side Linebacker (Sam)

This is the spot vacated by Spitler, so the competition to see who plays here will be fierce. I don’t want to rule out any of the linebackers from earning this spot because every single one of them will probably be given a shot here in the spring. At the same time, there is a pretty clear favorite heading into the start of practice.

That favorite, as far as I’m concerned, is Etienne Sabino.

Sabino is heading into his third season as a Buckeye, and hopefully he is ready to step into the starting lineup. By most accounts, he is an amazing athlete with all the tools necessary to be an outstanding linebacker. Unfortunately, the mental aspect of the game has apparently been holding him back.

Many people thought that Sabino would play the Mike position when he came to Ohio State, but when Rolle earned the starting spot last season, Sabino moved to the strong side and was the back up for Spitler (who was also supposed to play Mike heading into the season but moved to the strong side as well).

The Sam linebacker spends a lot of time close to the line of scrimmage and their primary role is to stop the run. Sabino is the ideal size for this roll (6′3″ 232 lbs.) but he also has the speed and athleticism to play in space if needed. This versatility is something that Spitler lacked for the most part last year so it should be interesting to see how the coaches utilize Sabino next season.

Also in the mix on the strong side is Tyler Moeller.

Update: wrong, Moeller is being used primarily at safety or star in the spring.

Moeller’s season was over before it began last year due to some extremely unfortunate circumstances. Before the incident, he was a favorite to earn a starting spot and in the spring game he was by far the most impressive defensive player.

He is a bit undersized (particularly for the strong side) but his tenacity against the run and as a pass rusher makes him a ideal for the position no matter how big he is. If Moeller is healthy enough to play (at this point I don’t see why he wouldn’t be, but head injuries are very serious and I wouldn’t want him to return if he is not completely cleared to do so) he will jump to the top of the list of linebackers looking for playing time.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that if Moeller does come back, he will very quickly become a fan favorite when he is on the field.

Finally, there is Jordan Whiting.

Whiting redshirted last season, so there isn’t much to talk about in the way of stats. But by most accounts, he has an outstanding attitude on and off the field and will compete no matter where he ends up at.

Update: Once again, I was wrong here outside of Sabino, who does look to have the starting spot locked down. Moeller is playing DB this spring, Whiting is listed at #3 in the middle.

Andrew Sweat is listed at #2 on the strong side even though he has been limited by injuries so far, with Jon Newsome and Tony Jackson listed at #3 and #4.

Conclusion

So there you have it. This is one of the deepest and most talented linebacking corps in all of college football. If the defensive line can fill in some holes and continue what they started last year, Ohio State is looking at an outstanding front seven on defense.

It should be fun to watch.

Stay tuned for spring ball, these nine linebackers are going to be putting on a show to try and earn playing time.

The DBs were hit pretty hard this year with the graduation of Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell.

On the other hand, both starting corner’s return as well as Jermale Hines, who started at safety and the star position in a total of eleven games last season. So while the Buckeyes did lose some starters and some depth, things aren’t exactly bleak either.

Speaking of Jermale Hines, he has the versatility to play either safety position as well as the star position (I will explain what that is more later), and he will probably start and play at multiple spots throughout the year. So yeah, I would just like to thank Mr. Hines right now for having the versatility to make the depth charts for DBs relatively meaningless right from the start.

Despite the uncertainty of the depth charts heading into spring, I am still going to attempt to put them together, so stick with me and as more information comes out in the spring I will certainly adjust them.

There is going to be a ton of experimentation here (particularly at safety), so I fully expect the actual depth charts to look nothing like the ones I put out there now.

Update: there actually appears to be a lot less experimentation at safety then I expected, Jermale Hines at free and Orhian Johnson at strong appears to be pretty set, there is some experimentation going on with the star position though.

Now that I have that covered, let’s move on to our in depth look at the 2010 defensive backs!

I guess I will start with a basic overview of the relatively new position of “Star Back” and go from there.

Star Back

In order to counter the proliferation of spread offenses around the country, Ohio State has developed a hybrid linebacker/safety/cornerback position known as the star. The star comes on the field in place of the sam linebacker in most situations and is used in a similar fashion to a nickel back (a third cornerback).

Unlike classic nickel backs, however, Ohio State is looking for a star back that can not only cover a third receiver in pass defense, but can also provide excellent run support like a linebacker. The ability of the star to defend against the pass as well as against the run is an excellent counter to the spread attack that many offenses have begun to utilize (Michigan, Oregon, ect.).

The question then becomes, who has the versatility to play this position? Until recently, Ohio State hasn’t recruited players specifically to play the star (Chad Hagan is a nice example of a player that was probably recruited specifically to play star) so it is not always clear who will end up here.

Fortunately for Ohio State, Jermale Hines has proven to be the perfect player for the star position the last few seasons. However, with the departure of both safeties, Hines may be will be spending most all of his time at safety next season rather than at the star, which leaves Ohio State in search of a player to fill the void.

From early reports out of winter conditioning drills, one player Ohio State is considering for the star is Tyler Moeller. I previously discussed Moeller in my look at the linebackers, which is was his natural position. However, it appears that he has been working out with the safeties during drills, which means that the star position is most likely in his future.

Based on the information out of winter conditioning, I am going to put Moeller as the starter here, with Hines as the primary backup (even though I am also going to put him as a starter at safety, versatility and all that), and throw incoming freshman Chad Hagan at the third spot just for kicks, which leaves us with a depth chart for spring that looks something like this.

Update: I don’t have the depth chart saved from my original post, so I am just going to start over. While it still looks like Moeller will be in the running as the starter, Hines is completely out of the picture and in his place Nate Oliver and C.J. Barnett are competing.

Safety

Moving on to the safeties, Jermale Hines is once again the primary focus here. He started at free safety in eight games last season, so you have to think he is the favorite to start there again this year. Then again, he might move over to strong safety. For right now, we’ll just stick with free safety to keep things simple.

At strong safety I am going to pencil in 5^th year senior Aaron Gant as the starter for now. Gant’s career has been sidetracked year after year by injuries, but all indications are that he is focused and ready to contribute in his final season. I am going to put him as the starter based on seniority alone and wish him good luck.

Update: it looks like my wishes of good luck weren’t enough, Gant is buried on the spring depth chart and doesn’t appear to be a factor for playing time.

Behind Hines and Gant things get pretty crazy, so I am just going to throw some names out there and on the depth chart and wait until spring when things will become a little clearer.

Nate Oliver, Orhian Johnson, Jamie Wood, and Zach Domicone are all in the running at either safety position. Making things even crazier, guys like Corey Brown or incoming freshman Bradley Roby could find their way into the discussion at safety as well.

Lots of names, not a lot of information yet, so I am going to split up the players (based mostly on size) and throw them on to the depth chart (based mostly on seniority) and wait until spring before saying too much more about who will start where.

In summation, the safety position is worth keeping an eye on in the spring because it will certainly be one of the places with the fiercest competition over starting time… but for right now there is not much to say, so just sit back and enjoy the show.

Update: As I mentioned, Jermale Hines and Orhian Johnson appear to have the starting spots locked up. Zach Domicone and Tyler Moeller are listed as the primary backups, with guys like Nate Oliver and C.J. Barnett still in the mix but primarily competing for the star position.

Cornerback

Finally, it’s time to look at the cornerbacks. Heading into last season, who would play cornerback was probably the top concern right behind who would play left tackle. Thankfully, the question marks at cornerback were answered in a much more satisfying manner than the tackle situation.

Returning at cornerback for next season are senior’s Chimdi Chekwa and Devon Torrence, who both stepped in as starters and played admirably well last year. So well, in fact, that you didn’t really hear anything about them, which is a good thing when it comes to cornerbacks.

Having two senior returning starters at a position is pretty nice by itself, but toss in the fact that Torrence might not even be close to reaching his full potential (just recently began focusing on football after playing minor league baseball in the spring and summer his first two years at Ohio State) and you can’t help but feel pretty confident heading into next season.

There will be a lot of competition to see who will be the primary backups next year with plenty of young players looking to see the field. Donnie Evege, Travis Howard, C.J. Barnett, Corey Brown, and Dominic Clarke are all in the pipeline, not to mention incoming freshman Christian Bryant and Bradley Robey.

Like I said, plenty of young players here, so it will be interesting to see who separates themselves from the pack in the spring. Early reports from winter conditioning indicate the Dominic Clark has been working hard and is one to keep an eye on (which is enough to put him 4^th on the depth chart for now).

Update: Donnie Evege has also been getting rave reviews this spring and is listed as the primary backup for Torrence with Clarke at #3.

Travis Howard and Corey Brown are listed as the primary backups for Chekwa on the other side.

Summary

So there you have it, the defensive backs heading into spring practice. The group has a nice mix of returning starters to go along with a group of talented youngsters that should be fun to watch in the spring.

Losing Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell were certainly hits in the leadership and experience departments, but this group has the potential to be excellent next year behind the leadership of Hines, Chekwa, and Torrence.

There will be competition in the spring for starting spots and back up rolls, which will be enjoyable to see and read about once practice begins, but there is also plenty of experience here and with three returning starter there is no reason to expect anything less than continued excellence from the DBs in 2010.

The offensive line is probably the most publicized position at the moment due to missing out on three prospects on signing day. Update: not so much anymore, but LT is still one of the most interesting position battles this spring.

Those signing day disappointments also makes depth along the offensive line an area of concern for many Buckeye fans. Throw in the fact that Ohio State only loses one lineman (Jim Cordle) from 2009 and only gains one (Andrew Norwell) heading into 2010 and I would call the offensive line an ideal place to begin our look at next season.

Oh yeah, and the line is going to be good next season, maybe really good.

Many fans were disappointed to the point of calling  the 2010 recruiting class a bust due to the high profile recruiting misses last week. Well I am here, as always, to inject some optimism into the conversation for this season specifically, and for the future of the offensive line in general.

First let’s talk about the 2010 season. Ohio State has four returning starters along the offensive line, which is nice by itself. These four helped pave the way for well over 200 yards rushing per game over the last five contests of the 2009 regular season, which is even nicer.

Throw in the fact that the Buckeyes have quality young depth from the 2009 recruiting class and things look pretty good… at least to me… at least for the 2010 season.

In fact, I would even say that the 2010 offensive line could be the best of the Tressel era. The best in the Big Ten? Possibly. The best in the country? We can only hope.

The key to the offensive line achieving greatness? Two questions need to be answered. Who will play at left tackle? and can the line stay healthy?

Left tackle has been a question mark since the beginning of last season. With an extra year of experience under their belts, hopefully the two main contenders to fill the position can solidify their spot in the starting lineup, extra bonus points if they solidify it early in the spring. Update: Mike Adams appears to be relatively solidified as the starter, but Miller is still getting reps with the ones.

Health is the other major concern for the line. Last year injuries ravished the line early in the season, and the resurgence of the run game at the end of the year may have been simply due to the starting line returning to full strength.

Can the line stay healthy in 2010 and continue the momentum they established at the end of last season?

If they can… happy times.

Join me after the jump for a closer look at the each position as well as a look at the depth situation and possible future recruiting targets. Update: I took out the recruiting update, there will be lots of posts focusing on the recruiting after the spring game, also, Ohio State signed four offensive lineman between the time I posted this and now.

It all starts up front, and as cliche as it is, I will continue to say it because it is so true. Question number one for Ohio State in 2010 is who will start at left tackle? So let’s start there.

Left Tackle

Going back to last season, left tackle was a two man battle between redshirt junior Andrew Miller and sophomore Mike Adams. Both ended up starting a few games, but by the end of the year journeyman Jim Cordle had settled in as the starter for the last half of the season.

With the graduation of Cordle and the lack of a certain all-everything high school talent in the mix, we are back to a two man battle between Miller and Adams heading into 2010.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

While the inability of either player to emerge as the clear cut starter over the course of last season is a cause for concern, it might not be as bad as it appears.

For instance, a major factor that kept Miller on the sidelines for the last half of the season was a serious illness midway through the year that caused him to drop a significant amount of weight.

Adams’ inability to crack the starting line up is a bit more difficult to understand. By most accounts, his physical gifts are unmatched, but there is something else that is going on that is keeping him from reaching his potential. Whatever it is, the two game suspension at the beginning of last season was probably a result of his off the field issues.

Additionally, Adams suffered a knee injury in the middle of the year that kept him out for three games, cutting any chance of him returning to the starting line up short. By the time he recovered, Ohio State had a pretty good thing going with Cordle, keeping Adams on the sidelines.

Will Adams finally be able to get over the injuries that have limited his game time two years in a row? and if he can stay healthy will he be able to overcome his apparent off the field issues?

According to this article from the Dispatch (which is a really good read on the left tackle situation) he has been “doing a lot of extra work” so that is a good sign. Being the optimist that I am, I will go ahead and predict that Adams will be able to finally break through and earn the starting spot early on and keep it.

Update: There has been lots of additional indications that Adams is in the best shape of his life and is ready to go at LT. Happy times if true.

Backing up Adams will be Andrew Miller. While Miller lacks the athleticism of his counterpart, he performed well at the beginning of last season before illness sidelined him. At the very least Miller provides solid depth at the position, and if Adams falters for whatever reason, I am confident that Miller will be able to step in without too much drop off.

Also in the mix at left tackle is sophomore Marcus Hall (more on him later) and incoming freshman Andrew Norwell. Ultimately I think that Hall will stay on the right side and Norwell will probably redshirt. Based on that, I am going to throw redshirt senior Josh Kerr in as the third string LT right now due to his experience.

We will find out a lot during spring practice, and like I said, hopefully someone locks down the position early and keeps it. With the returning talent along the line, establishing continuity and familiarity among all five offensive linemen could lead to great things.

Fingers crossed on that one. Here’s a nifty table with my guess at what the depth chart will be at left tackle for next season.

Disclaimer: I am allowed to change these depth chart tables at any time for any reason and you aren’t allowed to remind me if I was wrong… deal? Okay good.

Update: The spring chart has Sam Longo listed as the #3 LT with Kerr as the #3 RT.

Right Tackle

Right tackle was a question mark heading into last season… not so much anymore.

J.B. Shugarts emerged as the starter over the course of the season in 2009 and never looked back. He is a punishing run blocker but could use some more work in pass protection. If he is able to continue to improve Shugarts is going to be very good.

Pushing for the starting spot will be  Marcus Hall. Hall logged significant playing minutes last year as a true freshman and even started against Iowa due to an injury to Shugarts.

The amount of playing time Hall received as a true freshman is a testament to his talent and he is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Ultimately I think Hall will slide down and play guard once Bryant Browning graduates. I think this because when you have two guys as talented as Hall and Shugarts, it doesn’t make sense to keep them both at the same position with one not being on the field. It will be interesting to see if Hall gets any playing time at guard this year because of this.

Between Shugarts and Hall, it is pretty safe to say the right tackle is in good hands for the 2010 season.

Also in the mix is incoming freshman Andrew Norwell. I think that Norwell will probably redshirt, but I am going to throw him onto the depth chart because I am not sure who else to put there (possibly Jack Mewhort).

Update: As mentioned, Josh Kerr is listed as the #3 RT, but Norwell isn’t on campus yet.

Left Guard

Left guard is in solid hands this year with returning starter Justin Boren. Boren was the best lineman on the team last year, and he has a chance to be one of the best in the conference and possibly the entire country in 2010. He is a tenacious run blocker with a mean streak, and honestly he scares me a little bit (look at his picture)… but that is a good thing for an offensive lineman.

While Boren is the unquestioned starter here, who is behind him on the depth chart gets a little hazy.

Corey Linsley received a lot of good reviews during practice last year but did not see any game time due to being redshirted. He will probably get some time at guard this year.

Also in the mix is Andrew Miller. Miller has played guard in several games throughout his career, and if he is not starting at tackle, he will provide depth for both positions. I am not going to put Miller on the depth chart here since he already is on one, but he is definitely in the mix, particularly if there is an injury (knock on wood).

Guys like Scott Sika (RS Senior) and Even Blankenship (RS Junior)  will also get a shot at both guard positions, and I will put Sika on the depth chart here because of seniority and the fact that he played in five games last year to Blankenship’s one.

Update: I mixed up the sides on this one. Connor Smith is listed at #2 here while Linsley is listed at #2 on the right side. Also, Chris Malone is listed as the #3 LG.

Right Guard

Right guard is also in good hands this year with returning starter Bryant Browning. In 2008 Browning struggled mightily on the edge at tackle. Fortunately, his transition to guard last year was a resounding success. His weaknesses in pass protection are diminished on the inside, and his strength as a run blocker is easier to appreciate when he is not a turnstile for pass rushers.

If Browning builds off of his performance last season, an All-Big Ten type of year is not out of the question.

Backing up Browning will be Connor Smith. Smith came to Ohio State as one of the best offensive linemen in the Midwest, but he has failed to live up to expectations, possibly due to injuries. Smith played in eight straight games at the end of last season, including the Rose Bowl.

Will Smith challenge for the starting position? probably not, but if he can stay healthy he provides quality depth.

Finding a third guard is pretty tough. Once again there is Evan Blankenship available, but the fact that he only logged minutes in one game last season doesn’t give me much confidence in his ability to contribute. So instead I will go with Sam Longo.

Longo, like all of the other lineman from the ‘09 recruiting class, performed well in practice last year while being redshirted, so I am going to give him the nod for the third spot, due to his size, Longo could also be a candidate to get time at one of the tackle positions as well.

Update: I was right about Longo at tackle, and mixed up the sides with Linsley and Smith for the #2 spots at guard. Listed at #3 behind Browning and Linsley is Jack Mewhort and Evan Blankenship (who has also been getting time at DT).

Center

Returning at center is Mike Brewster. Brewster started every game at center for the Buckeyes in 2009, and started a significant number of games during the 2008 season as well, making him one of the most experienced Buckeyes along the line.

That is important for several reason, mostly because the center is the leader of the offensive line and the player responsible for making adjustments to the  blocking schemes. With so much experience at the position, hopefully Brewster has mastered this art, and situations like the Purdue game can be avoided.

Brewster played most of the 2009 season with a bum ankle, and trouble with signals aside, he performed admirably well all things considered. A healthy Brewster in 2010 is yet another reason to be optimistic about the potential of this offensive line and yet another lineman that has the potential to earn All-Big Ten honors.

Backing up Brewster will be Jack Mewhort. Mewhort has the versatility to play almost any position along the line, so you could pencil him in on most of these depth charts. I put him here because he has experience at center, but he might log minutes at a number of positions.

The third spot is once again tough to come up with. Long time backup Andrew Moses has finally graduated, meaning that beyond Brewster and Mewhort, there aren’t many lineman with experience at center. For the purposes of the three person depth chart, I am going to throw in Chris Malone mostly because of seniority.

Update: I was right about Brewster and Mewhort at #1 and #2, Corey Linsley is listed at #3, and Scott Sika is listed at #4 (mixed him and Malone up on positions, but I was still pretty close).

Conclusion

Like I said, this has the potential to be the best offensive line in the Tressel era as well as in the Big Ten and possibly the country for next season. With four returning starters on the line and a backfield that is absolutely loaded, you can’t help but get excited.

Once again, the difference between a good line and a great line will be left tackle (and staying healthy). If Mike Adams (or Andrew Miller for that matter)  comes into spring practice and kicks some ass, things will be looking great.

With the versatility of some of the younger players, it should be interesting to see where everyone ends up on the depth chart once spring practice gets underway, but as long as the five starters are locked in place by the spring game (locking at you left tackle), I will be happy.

I actually don’t enjoy writing about the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers as much as I enjoy writing about other positions (which is why I have been putting it off until last). This is mostly due to the large amount of coverage already heaped on these players. It becomes difficult to say something that hasn’t already been said… over and over.

At the same time, when you think ahead to next season, what jumps into most people’s minds are visions of Terrelle Pryor decimating defenses in the air and on the ground, Boom Herron and Brandon Saine bursting through the line for big gains, DeVier Posey and Duron Carter hauling in deep bombs over helpless defenders, and a host of other exciting offensive plays that make for sweet highlight reels.

So while I don’t necessarily enjoy writing about these positions as much as I do others for fear of being unoriginal, I do think I have some interesting things to say (so read it anyways!).

And I have to admit, even for a “the games are won in the trenches” devotee like myself, the skill positions should be pretty damn exciting to watch next year.

So join me after the jump for an in depth look at the offensive skill positions!

The obvious place to start here is at quarterback, so that’s what I will do.

QB

Terrelle Pryor.

This is one of those situations in which it is difficult to write something that hasn’t already been said.

I will say that last season was quite a roller coaster ride for the Ohio State offense in general and Pryor specifically. Many, including myself, expected great things from Pryor early and often last year, and that didn’t quite happen.

The early season roller coaster ride hit absolute rock bottom in West Lafeyette, a game that all of us would like to forget (so I am not even going to talk about it beyond that). Fortunately, Ohio State bounced back, established the run game over the last half of the season, took a little bit of pressure off of Pryor’s shoulders and bam! Rose Bowl MVP.

The Rose Bowl game was obviously the highlight of Pryor’s young career, and if it is even possible, the pressure on Pryor will be even greater next season as people everywhere will expect him to duplicate his efforts in the Rose Bowl every game next season.

How well Pryor builds off of last season is obviously a huge question mark going into next year, and I am sure it will be written about… over and over.

While the Rose Bowl leaves a nice memory in everyone’s mind and gives us all a ton of optimism for next year, I would like to return to the early season struggles briefly to suggest something that I think is relatively original.

Many like to place the success or failure of Pryor as a quarterback on Pryor himself and the coaches. And while that is certainly a large part of the equation, something that I think a lot of people forget is that Ohio State had a brand new receiving corps at the beginning of the 2009 season.

Pryor struggled at times as a true freshman QB, but that is to be expected. One thing that masked his struggles was Beanie Wells in the backfield and two extremely experienced NFL caliber receivers to throw to in Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline.

All three of these players were gone in 2009, along with their ability to mask some of Pryor’s deficiencies (or at least inexperience) as a QB.

What is the point? Simply that an inexperienced receiving corps may have contributed to Pryor’s early season struggles more than anyone originally thought. Running the wrong routes, not being exactly where the quarterback expects you to be, not reading the defenses correctly are all things that a young receiving corps might have done to seriously limit Pryor’s effectiveness early in the season.

Pryor certainly progressed as a passer as the year went on, ultimately leading to the MVP performance in the Rose Bowl, there is no doubt about that. But perhaps the progression of his receivers throughout the season and the cohesion that was developed between the person throwing the ball and the people catching it was more important to the passing game than Pryor’s development as an individual.

That being said, I am optimistic that Pryor’s development over the course of last season (his decision making and footwork in the pocket in particular) will pay huge dividends over the course of this season. He has been through the fire, he has been under the lights and he has performed, and that has to give him confidence that he didn’t have at the beginning of last season, and that is good.

Update: Pryor is looking good, you can probably keep up with him without my help.

WR

And since we are talking about the receivers, might as well do them next.

Ohio State losses are minimal here (Ray Small, who’s contributions were occasional anyways) and the returning talent is significant.

Throw in the year of additional experience between the guys catching the ball and the guy throwing it to them and anything less than a large improvement in the passing game in 2010 would be a disappointment.

The headliner at receiver is DeVier Posey and like Pryor, his game in the Rose Bowl was one of the better performances of his young career (8 receptions, 101 yards, 1 TD) and a reason for optimism heading into 2010.

Posey’s route running and awareness on the field obviously improved over the course of last season, and if he can continue to develop as Pryor’s go-to target, a big year in 2010 could be in the making.

Behind Posey is quintessential slot receiver Dane Sanzenbacher, who runs great routes and isn’t afraid to go across the middle. He also boasts surprising, if not elite speed, and if teams decide to focus on Posey Sanzenbacher has the ability to do a lot of damage. He is reliable, experienced, and should be one of the leaders on the offense.

Battling for the third spot will be Duron Carter and Taurian Washington. Both of their stories are summed up nicely in two articles from theozone.net. The story of Carter’s academic troubles at the end of last season and his response is covered nicely in this article while Washington’s struggles to get on the field and his rededication to contributing in his senior season are covered in detail here.

Beyond these four is a lot of unproven talent, maybe in the spring someone will jump out and turn some heads, but that would just be icing on the cake.

Posey, Sanzenbacher, Carter, and Washington make for a good to great group of receivers so the Buckeyes are in excellent shape here for 2010. And with an extra year of experience and work with their QB under their belts, who knows how good they can ultimately end up being.

Update: Carter hasn’t practiced, Chris Fields and Grant Schwartz have been impressive.

RB

The final piece of the skill position equation is the running backs. The headliners here are the pair of Brandon Saine and Daniel “Boom” Herron.

While neither player emerged as a true workhorse in the backfield last season (Herron battled ankle injuries for several games), between the two of them they put up 1339 yards and 11 TDs, so the run game turned out to be relatively strong, especially in the final half of the season.

I expect Saine to be option 1A heading into the spring with Herron being option 1B. If both can stay healthy, the two will be one of the best one two punches in the Big Ten (throw in what Pryor brings to the running game and have fun with that Big Ten defenses).

While the pair of Herron and Saine will be getting the majority of the action this season, the real story may be in the spare (Tressel goes with a pair and a spare at running back, get it?).

The Buckeyes boast an obscene amount of talent all competing to be the spare. As of right now, Jordan Hall has the inside track due to the experience he got last season. Right behind him is Berry, who very well could have switched places with Hall last season if he wasn’t battling a nagging hamstring injury the entire year.

Hall and Berry are smaller, quicker backs. Is that not your thing? Good news, we also have early enrollee Carlos Hyde in the mix who spent the fall getting his grades in order at Fork Union Military Academy.

Is five deep still not enough at RB for you? Alright, incoming freshman Roderick Smith is in the mix at RB as well. Smith is a smooth, long striding big man who reminds me a lot of a certain RB that played for the Bucks back in the mid 90’s.

Still not enough for you? Throw in Jermil Martin who smashed through Minnesota last year and you’ve got one more option.

So what does that leave us at? Seven deep at running back (not even counting Archie Griffin’s son  Adam who could play RB along with multiple other positions) and you have a backfield to be envied.

Oh yeah, and just real quickly, at FB you have Zach Boren, who’s improvement in run blocking can be directly correlated with the increased success of the running game in the second half of last season. He will only be a sophomore and will be smashing open holes for these running backs for a long time.

There really isn’t much more to say, it is embarrassing how much talent Ohio State has at RB and the competition for playing time will be intense this spring which gives us fans one more thing to get excited about in spring practice.

Update: A lot of backs have been battling minor injuries throughout the spring, but if anything that just highlights the depth and talent at the position with players filling in seemlessly.

Summary

Everyone is coming back. Everyone has a year of experience under their belts. The running backs are ridiculous behind an offensive line with four returning starters. The offense should be good, really good

Update: Oh yeah, tight ends. Reports from practice indicate that Jake Stoneburner has been impressive, whether or not that translates to games remains to be seen. The primary backup is Reid Fragel, who has the size to play tackle.

I like the combination of Fragel’s blocking with Stoneburner’s ability to stretch the field.

We will see if anything comes of it.

The switch over to the new (old) site has set us back a little bit. So here are a bunch of links for your browsing pleasure.

The usual suspects check in once again with practice reports and various other updates.

First up, the practice reports.

Ken Gordon from the Dispatch has his usual notes from Tuesday’s practice.

The good folks over at ElevenWarriors.com were lucky enough to make some observations from Tuesday’s practice as well.

Finally, Tony Gerdeman from theozone.net continues their fantastic coverage of spring ball with his observations from Tuesday.

And for a summary of the summaries, Vico over at OurHonorDefend.com does a fantastic job breaking everything down and highlighting the most interesting bits.

At the end Vico talks a little bit about the recent stir concerning Ohio State ’stealing’ Oregon’s signals in the Rose Bowl. Other folks have reported on this as well.

My thoughts? If Oregon is too stupid to disguise or change their offensive signals enough over the course of the season so that other teams can’t pick them up from watching game film, that is their problem. Also, what Vico said.

Everything else:

Ken Gordon  has a report on Duron Carter and his status this spring.

TheOzone.net has: an article on waiting your turn to play at Ohio State, Etienne Sabino and his progress this spring, Tressel Talks Pryor’s Spring Progress, and Sanzenbacher and his thoughts on the passing game.

Whew, TheOzone.net bringing it strong like usual.

ElevenWarriors.com has a transcript from the Big Ten spring teleconference (at least the Jim Tressel parts of it).

Finally, our very own Jeff Seemann checks in with a boatload of material from Fox Sports Ohio.

I think that about does it. Sorry if I missed anything. Hopefully now that the move is over we can stay on top of this a bit more and provide our loyal readers with some original material instead of just links.

Stay tuned!

Oklahoma (7-5, 5-3 Big 12) vs. Stanford (8-4, 6-3 Pac 10)

December 31st, 2009 2:00 PM ET

Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas

The Sun Bowl is apparently sponsored by BRUT… who knew?

In one of the more interesting non-BCS match ups this year, an underachieving Oklahoma team minus their Heisman winning quarterback takes on an overachieving Stanford team featuring the Heisman runner up (who probably should have won).

Watching Gerhart run against Oklahoma should be one of the more enjoyable things to watch this bowl season, at least if the Oklahoma defense comes to play.

To play hard or not to play hard, that is the question.

Outside of that, both of these teams have been oddly hit and miss. Oklahoma hasn’t won more than two games in a row the entire season, Stanford beats Oregon and demolishes USC, then loses to California the next week.

Who knows how well either team will play in this game. I have to give the edge to Oklahoma, however, because good defense beats good offense (hear that Oregon) and Stanford’s power run game plays right into the teeth of the Oklahoma defense… at least in my opinion.

On the other hand, Oklahoma’s offense has been wildly inconsistent behind

Who didn't enjoy watching Gerhart steamroll Notre Dame?

freshman QB Landry Jones, who had the unenviable task of replacing Bradford. If Jones turns the ball over (he threw five interceptions against Nebraska) and puts the Sooners defense in a bad spot too many times, it could be a completely different ball game.

Also, Oklahoma’s best defender DT Gerald McCoy is heading to the NFL, so will he risk injury to play hard in this game? Who knows.

Like I said, it is a tough game to call, but that isn’t going to stop us from trying.

Who Are We Picking?

Mali: Oklahoma

Eric: Stanford

Jeff: Stanford

Jim: Oklahoma

The picks are split down the middle once again, highlighting the uncertainty of the game. It should be a fun one to watch on new years eve.