Khalil Mack disagrees with you 6'3" 250. He's not to that size yet but could probably work toward being a DE size wise if that's where the coaching staff wants to go with him. But when looking at the need for depth between LB and DE, that need is definitely LB. Especially if Shazier bolts to the NFL.
That sucks, although we won't need him until The Game in 4 weeks since he wouldn't see much of the field vs IL or IN as a starter due to scheme. Hopefully he'll be able to go by then.
Ohio State football: Linebacker gets serious in effort to improve
By Bill Rabinowitz
The Columbus Dispatch Thursday November 14, 2013
Joshua Perry credits better preparation for his improved play.
Joshua Perry cares about how he looks.
Although his Ohio State teammates might straggle to 5 a.m. workouts wearing sweatpants, the sophomore linebacker from Olentangy High School doesn’t want to look scruffy.
“I don’t think it takes that much to throw a shirt with a collar on, some khakis and some dress shoes,” he said.
Perry believes that if he looks good, he will feel good, even at dawn.
“I have more dress shoes than I have pairs of tennis shoes,” he said. “My dad (Jim) dresses with a little swagger to him, also. I picked that up from him. That’s just kind of my MO.”
What’s even more important to Perry than looking good in the mirror is looking good on the football field. That, he has learned, requires more effort, which he has put in and is finally paying dividends.
Perry started the season as the strong-side linebacker, but that was more by default. Ohio State lacks depth at that position, a continuing worry for coach Urban Meyer. Perry had much to prove, and through the nonconference part of the schedule, that still applied.
He hated feeling like a weak link.
“The week before Wisconsin (on Sept. 28), I just took a different type of preparation in my game,” Perry said. “I started taking things a little more seriously on and off the field. A lot of people said that I’ve got some tools that would be a shame if wasted. That kind of got in my head that I needed to play the way I can play and should be playing.”
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