Sabino's a great talent and will be a star here at
OSU, but at this point Spitler's the favorite to man the middle. No player on the team knows the position better than him, he's paid his dues, the coaches love him, and he's ready. Ask McGuffie.
If one of those guys wants the position over him, they're going to have the kind of offseason that Laurinaitis had between his freshman and sophomore years. Not to say that can't happen or that Spitler's a lock, but if Sabino, Moeller, Rolle, Hines et al. want to be the starter opening day against Navy, they've got their work cut out for them. Pretty sure I'm not the only one that heard this, but pre-bowl game, I heard the staff was considering moving Sabino to OLB to get the best 3 LBs on the field at the same time next year. No matter what happens, the coaches will put the best 3 on the field and at this point, Spit looks to be one of those 3.
That said, I think the guys are going to rotate a lot more in games this year than the last couple years, where Lauinaitis & Freeman saw the vast majority of the playing time at LB because how well they defended the pass. Looking forward to the battle this spring to see who is best in coverage out of those guys and sees the field when we're in a nickle defense (one could be Hines, but he too has to get better in his pass coverage). Also looking forward to the freshman battling to get into the two deep. I'm having visions of those guys flying down the field on special teams ala Sabino & Rolle.
I can't wait for spring. There's gonna be some hitting goin' on.