Denver Post
college football
Buckeyes breaking in linebackers
By John Henderson
Denver Post Staff Writer
Senior linebacker John Kerr (52) left Indiana for Ohio State, where a Big Ten rule keeps him from a scholarship. (AP / Terry Gilliam)
Columbus, Ohio - Ohio State's new linebackers aren't as good as last year's trio, all of whom are now making big coin in the NFL. However, here's a little warning for Texas: This trio could probably take last year's in a street fight.
Top-ranked Ohio State's new linebackers include the son of an internationally renowned pro wrestler, a black belt in taekwondo and a senior still fighting mad he wasn't a Buckeye four years ago.
Sophomores James Laurin- aitis and Marcus Freeman and senior John Kerr all show their fighting spirit in their own way. But if they want their names engraved in Ohio State linebacker lore, they have to come of age Saturday in the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular-season matchup in 10 years.
Just as Texas' 25-22 win at Ohio State in Week 2 helped propel the Longhorns to the 2005 national championship, the rematch Saturday in Austin could have the same implications. Ohio State (1-0) earned its No. 1 preseason ranking with one of the most exciting offenses in the country, but the Buckeyes also go into Austin with only two returning starters on defense.
And none at linebacker. Feel that Texas heat yet, guys?
"I don't know if we feel pressure from the media," Freeman said during the Buckeyes' media day last month. "We just feel pressure to perform at Ohio State."
Yes, there is a bit of a legacy here. The Buckeyes merely added to it last season with A.J. Hawk earning the Lombardi Award and going No. 5 overall to Green Bay, Bobby Carpenter going No. 18 to Dallas and Anthony Schlegel, a transfer from Air Force, going to the New York Jets in the third round.
The trio helped Ohio State win the Big Ten and vanquish Notre Dame's vaunted attack in a 34-20 Fiesta Bowl rout. This current crew has cut its teeth together only against Northern Illinois. Then again, they're Ohio State linebackers. How bad can they be? Well, they gave up 171 yards rushing to Northern Illinois' Garrett Wolfe. What could Texas' experienced offensive line do to them?
"I think we can be really good," Laurinaitis said. "We have a lot of good athletes. We're not going to be the same kind of core we had last year, where Bob could put his hand down and rush off the D-end, but I think we have three guys who can really get off the ball and run. And if you let us run around and make plays, we can do that."
To say they're green rookies is wrong. Laurinaitis played nearly the entire Michigan game and started against Notre Dame after Carpenter broke his ankle, and Kerr led Indiana in tackles as a freshman in 2002 before transferring. Only Freeman, who missed last season because of an infected knee, is truly inexperienced.
Laurinaitis learned plenty from his father, who coached him until his freshman year at Wayzata High School in Hamel, Minn. But his dad wasn't just any Pop Warner coach. He was the Road Warrior Animal in pro wrestling. Joe Laurinaitis was going to BYU to play defensive tackle until he got James' mom pregnant and went into wrestling to support his young family.
Turns out, he knew a little about playing linebacker, too.
"For the most part, he taught me everything I needed
to know about hard work," James Laurinaitis said. "I listened to him over anybody because, obviously, it worked for him." And what's it like having a pop culture icon as a father?
"It was awesome," Laurinaitis said. "Sometimes you get some mysterious friends who pop up because of it: 'Oh, your dad's The Animal, right? Let's hang out.' But it's fun because you get to meet a lot of cool people like Hulk Hogan, The Rock. You name them, I've met them."
Yes, they got in the ring a couple of times "but nothing serious." Then again, Laurinaitis would probably take his dad over Freeman, who earned a black belt at an early age and occasionally shows the difference to Laurinaitis after workouts.
"I sometimes go down to his level and do some fake wrestling," Freeman said.
His mother is South Korean, and she got him started early in taekwondo, a Korean martial art.
"You learn so much discipline and flexibility and respect out of that," Freeman said. "I don't know if you'd learn that in American culture."
Kerr has learned plenty, not all of it good. He was a lifetime Buckeyes fan growing up in suburban Cleveland, but the only Big Ten school to offer a scholarship was Indiana. He became a star as a true freshman. Psyched to the chinstrap for the Ohio State game, he had 17 unofficial tackles through three quarters and got yanked.
"I was flying high, a lot of emotions coming out because I was so angry (at Ohio State)," Kerr said. "They pulled me. I really had a tough time with that one."
However, he caught the eye of Ohio State. But because the Big Ten does not allow players to transfer within the conference, he cannot be on scholarship. He worked as a steakhouse valet to make ends meet, never telling any customers who he was, and still isn't even allowed at the training table. He never got off the scout team in 2004, and it wouldn't be until this season when he got out from Hawk's shadow that Kerr became a regular again.
Like the other linebackers, Kerr still feels he has something to prove.
"Absolutely," he said. "The past is the past. It doesn't mean anything. It's not helping me this year. People who really care about sports remember, but who cares? People forget. Quick. And they should."
For Ohio State, Saturday is the time the world starts remembering three new linebackers.
