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Written by Duane Long
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Friday, 24 July 2009 11:12 |
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I have a problem with offensive line recruiting. I am sure that is a surprise to all of you. I scratch my head with safety recruiting sometimes. No, a lot of times, especially right now with the fascination with Hagan, a Pennsylvania kid who does not have offers from Penn State or Pitt. But overall you have to look at the talent assembled and be impressed. That the Buckeyes are dominating the Big Ten in a way that we have only seen at one other time in the last 50 years or so is more than simply the conference being down. You still have to be good enough to take advantage of it.
I was looking at the roster today. JT has always maintained that he recruits bigs, big speed, speed and quarterbacks. He has transformed this team with that so very basic formula. Linebacker is what started all this. DHOS mentioned that the nations #1 linebacker, Jeff Luc, has set up a visit for the USC game. I started looking for how you fit him in and it struck me just how loaded we are, and just how versatile we are. That is where it really comes into focus how well this staff has recruited. We have the personnel to move from the 4-3 to the 4-2-5 and even to a 3-4 and never see a dropoff in talent. Look at the weakside/Star position. We have a team that spreads it out and throws it alot in front of us. We can throw Jermale Hines in there and his backup, Tyler Moeller, would be the starter anywhere else where they use the Star/hybrid, which is just about everywhere. A team like Wisconsin comes in and wants to run the ball. No problem. Homan, Sweat, Sabino and Spitler will trot onto the field. 3rd and 5 we don't want to go with lighter guys like Hines and Moeller, especially against a team like Wisky that would run in that situation. We bring in Rolle. In the wings we have Klein, Bell and Whiting with McVey coming in next year to play the Star.
Look at the front four. That is where the versatility really comes out. We can move between 4-3, odd man front, 4-3 stack, even 3-4 and 3-3-5 with the personnel we have right now. The problem for the offense is the versatility of the players on the roster makes it possible for us to come out of the huddle on successive plays in a different front without changing personnel. Lawrence Wilson gives us a true base/strong side DE. Fellows will bring the same thing to the table. Heyward and Worthington are the keys. Both can play tackle but also end in the odd man front or in a 3-4 or 3-3-5. Nate Williams is the biggest threat to keeping Gibson from being All-Big Ten. He is strong enough at the point of attack to play as a 4-3 end but we saw his speed last year. He could line up on the edge and cause all kinds of problems. Dexter Larimore is the most versatile of the tackles. He is not ideal sized for the position but he could play the nose in either the 4-3 or the 3 man odd front. We give away nothing with as far as our scheme is concerned with the versatility of the personnel.
Think about corners. Do you really ever worry about us at corner? We go with All-World guys and off the board guys. We always seem to find NFL caliber cornerbacks.
JT came into a tough situation at running back. He fixed it immediately. Clarett made a mess off the field but what a great runner he was. Our last 2 RBs landed in the NFL with one, Chris Wells, going in the first round and several NFL people thinking he will be Rookie of the Year. Jamal Berry was a national top 5 back and it looks like Carlose Hyde was going to hit the field first. The next great one is already in the fold in Rod Smith.
The best recruiting job, by far as far as I'm concerned, is quarterback. At least we have tradition at running back. We have a state that most of the time has at least one elite back coming out of the high school ranks. Not so with quarterback. No hunting grounds to speak of here. JT got Terrelle Pryor. He left the state and got the best player, the best quarterback, in the country. He comes back this year with the 800 lb gorilla of a sophmore to be starter at quarterback and reels in the hottest commodity in the country at quarterback in Taylor Graham. We are in line to solidify a traditional weakness next year with Braxton Miller. I think you have to have the quarterback position stocked at all times. Can you remember a time when the Buckeyes had 3 players of such caliber at quarterback at the same time? I can't.
I have major problems with OL recruiting and safety recruiting is like a David Lynch movie but overall the state of the talent level of this program, the versatility of the players on the roster, is what is making this program so dominant, not the fact that Big Ten is not a very good conference right now.
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Thought this guy needs to let this go. Was shocked
with upbeat and positive perspective on our roster.
Pounding J.T's staffs drum is noted. They have put
some talent in the mix.
After watching few replays of Bucks from last year -
Hines has to be on the field - he just makes plays
fast without hesitation. If that means getting him ready to play safety - let the best ones play.