Quote:
Originally Posted by TheUndertaker
Im what you would call a pac 10 homer, I dont watch alot of Big 10/east coast football. I only watched a few games from the buckeyes last season (Illini, LSU, UM, Washington) I was wondering if anyone could give a strengths/weakness of the buckeyes without getting too partial about it.
And grade these positions try to be objective about it as you can:
QB-
RB-
FB-
WR-
TE-
DE-
DT-
CB-
S-
And lastly, how are they different from Ill, Iowa and Michigan?
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I'm no expert by any means and I'm sure someone else will follow this with something better, but this should help you a little bit.
QB- Moderate strength. Boeckman was the best QB in the B10 last year, maybe second behind Henne. During the season, before the Illinois game, he was outstanding, but it's unclear whether he regressed, or whether the competition just got better. I would expect him to be quite good next year. We also have outstanding depth with Henton (dual-threat QB) and Bauserman backing him up, as well as Terelle Pryor coming in.
RB- Huge strength. Beanie wells should be a Heisman candidate. We also have Brandon Saine (ran a 10.36 in HS i believe), Lamaar Thomas coming in (also a real burner), Mo Wells, who is very elusive, quick, and a great pass blocker, and finally "Boom" Herron who so far is having a great spring game, and I think we can expect great things from him.
FB- Weakness at the moment. We lost our starting FB and all of our depth there. However, hopefully we can get this up to a strength with perhaps some LB's learning to play FB. After all, last year our best FB (in my opinion) was a converted Center, so I think we can be pretty good there.
WR- Moderate strength? Last year I might say they would be a weakness, since we didn't have a whole lot of depth. However, we return everyone, we had a lot of young players, we get a few great additions, and our QB situation should be improved. Robiskie is a great player and typically Boeckman's go-to guy; Hartline is very fast (won states in the 110 hurdles in track in HS) and also has great hands; Ray Small is similar to Ginn in play style (but not as good). Sophomore Sanzenbacher has been compared to Gonzalez because he's clutch, has great hands, and has some wheels. We also have a few other guys who could be big playmakers coming in; Devier Posey and Stoneburner, both incoming freshmen, are expected to make a big impact- Posey is a great route runner and very fast, and Stoneburner is a guy who looks like a TE and runs like a WR.
TE- I don't really know how to classify them. We have great TE's, and judging by how good they are, I'd categorize them as a moderate strength. However, we don't throw to them a whole lot- maybe it's a QB issue, maybe they're not as good as I think, I don't know- but either way, I'd call them a moderate weakness.
DE- Moderate strength. Last year we were great there with Gholston; this year, we have Lawrence Wilson coming back from a broken leg, and he was our best DE at the spring game last year. We also have some good young guys coming in. Thad Gibson is real fast and reminds me a lot of some of the SEC DE's; smaller than we're accustomed to, and very quick.
DT- Last year, our biggest weakness (IMO). This year, could be a strength; They were all young and should hopefully improve a lot. We also have 3 DT's coming in this year, and that should provide us with a lot of depth.
CB & S: Both big strengths. We have an enormous amount of depth at these positions at the moment, although there could be a few attitude issues with a few players. We have Malcolm Jenkins returning, who would have been a top-10 pick. We have some hard-hitting safeties, speed everywhere, and hopefully should improve upon our turnover/INT skills (we had a LOT of dropped INT's last year, and a big goal of this squad is to improve upon that).
LB- Big strength. Skill everywhere, depth everywhere, speed everywhere, hard-hitters everywhere... Very similar to USC's IMO, but I think our depth is unmatched by anyone.
edit- just noticed your last question.
I'm not 100% sure how to answer this.. Illinois and Michigan both now run chiefly the spread offense, and Tressel doesn't have any set "scheme" that he runs, he fits his scheme to his personnel. And as for Iowa... We'll, we're a lot better :-p
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