Expectations For The 2016 Season

[ScriptOhio]

Ohio State is the Favorite for the National Championship

The Buckeyes are on top once again. Well, at least according to the oddsmakers.

Ohio State made a jump to the top after Las Vegas betting site Bovada released its updated College Football Playoff National Championship odds on Monday.

When Bovada put out initial odds in mid-January, the Scarlet and Gray were listed at 12/1 to take home the national championship trophy. Now OSU has been bumped up to 6/1, ahead of both participants in last year’s National Championship Game, Alabama and Clemson, and everyone else.

This may come as a surprise to some as the Buckeyes are expected to go through a bit of a rebuild heading into 2016. Ohio State loses its leading rusher, its top three receivers, and four of the team’s top five tacklers from a year ago.

With the way Urban Meyer recruits and how the coaches have developed players over the last several years, it’s no surprise betters liked the initial 12/1 odds that likely drove OSU to the top.

The rest of the top contenders for the national championship according to Bovada are Alabama (7/1) Clemson (15/2), Michigan (15/2), Oklahoma (14/1), LSU (14/1), and Tennessee (14/1). The Scarlet and Gray will play both the Sooners (Sept. 17) and the Wolverines (Nov. 26) in 2016.

Entire article: http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Foot...is-the-Favorite-for-the-National-Championship

Apparently....

 

[ScriptOhio]

The Young Buckeyes Will Need to be Ready in 2016

The youth movement is upon us at Ohio State.

After the early departure of nine players from the 2015 team plus the standard senior class, Urban Meyer will have an 85-man roster that features 44 players with freshman eligibility in 2016.

“I call it the year of development here,” the Ohio State head coach said of next season.

“I wish more of the kids would have played this year, hindsight. But we were a pretty good team. I don't know if that's ideal. I'm not sure you want [44]. You want better spacing out than that. But sometimes that doesn't always happen that way.”

Meyer says that OSU doesn’t like to redshirt players, but since his arrival in Columbus there has been plenty of second-year players with no playing experience.

As of now, the Buckeyes will have 23 true freshmen [punter Drue Chrisman will gray shirt and enroll as part of the 2017 class] and 21 redshirt freshmen when the team begins Fall Camp in August.

This means the Scarlet and Gray will have to rely on plenty of freshmen to compete for playing in 2016.

“I hope 18 of them play,” Meyer said of the true freshmen on National Signing Day.

After a 2015 season that saw just four true freshmen play – Denzel Ward, Eric Glover-Williams, Jerome Baker, and Isaiah Prince – this will be a change for Ohio State.

“Last year was so hard because we were very loaded or older team,” Meyer said.

“I'm going to force to that issue with our position coaches. Sometimes position coaches, they protect themselves by saying the kid doesn't know what he's doing so I'm not going to give him those reps, so I'm not going to allow that this year.”

Entire article: http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Football/2016/News/The-Young-Buckeyes-Will-Need-to-be-Ready-in-2016

 

[Buckeye86]

One of the most talented teams in the country chomping at the bit with nothing to lose and something to prove, under the leadership of Urban Meyer with a proven and experienced QB?

Throw in a coaching upgrade on offense with Studrawa, which will keep Beck the hell away from play calling one way or another- and what will hopefully be an even trade or better with Schiano on defense...

I think this team can and will surprise some people... although Vegas has kinda let that one out of the bag with their odds, I suppose.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Eight Takeaways from Wednesday's Chat with the Buckeye Captains

On Wednesday we had a chance to talk to Buckeye captains Pat Elflein, Raekwon McMillan and J.T. Barrett, as well as strength coach Mickey Marotti. A lot was said over the two hours of total speaking time split among the four of them, some of which can be read here.

Upon sitting down and processing everything that was said, several things stood out to me, but for relative brevity's sake I'll keep this to eight items. We all have places to get to, after all.

1. This is a very exciting time to be at Ohio State.

The mood in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center is noticeably upbeat in spite of the notorious workouts that are currently going on. There is certainly a lot to be said for having a veteran team and the calm that comes with it, but the sheer amount of youth on this team essentially has everybody excited about the unknown.

When Urban Meyer compares this team to the 2014 team, he no doubt sees a resemblance in the eyes of his players, and the sheer hunger staring back at them. There are just so many jobs open right now and that has triggered the pangs of want among players young and old.

Every year is going to be laced with its own excitement, but there is a newness and a curiosity that was certainly missing last year with such a veteran team.

2. Even the players are curious to see how things turn out.

As mentioned, there is excitement surrounding the program, and some of that excitement belongs to the veterans as they talk about teammates who are going to finally get their chance to see the field. For Raekwon McMillan, he is happy that his fellow classmates Chris Worley and Dante Booker will finally get to play next to him.

Pat Elflein, meanwhile, doesn't yet know who will be playing alongside him, which is no doubt of interest to him. The workouts give the players glimpses of how things are going to go, and spring ball will clarify things even more.

J.T. Barrett has no idea how the receiver rotation will turn out, but he's excited about the potential. He's also interested in seeing how the backup quarterback battle goes, and he's trying to bring both Joe Burrow and Stephen Collier along with him.

There are tons of unknowns right now and even those smack dab in the middle of the program can't wait to see how things turn out.

3. 'Welcome to the Land of the Wolves' is a lot easier to swallow than 'Embrace the Grind'.

If you haven't heard, the Buckeyes are adopting the mentality of the wolf this winter. Either be part of the pack and succeed, or die off as el solo lobo. It even comes with a cool howl. Now compare that to last year's mantra of 'The Grind'. There's no fun there, and the only sound effect that you can make is a whirring sound of like a meat grinder or something. That's no battle cry. That strikes fear in no man.

A captain's howl at the middle of the field during a coin toss is effective. J.T. Barrett staring down Michigan linebacker Ben Gedeon and making a whirring sound will probably cause one of the referees to ask if he is having a stroke.

4. It's hard to be hungry when you were completely sated the year before.

Entire article: http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Foot...rom-Wednesdays-Chat-with-the-Buckeye-Captains

 

[ScriptOhio]

Buckeyes Finally Admit 2015 Lacked the Necessary Hunger but Say it's Back Now

There is a reason you rarely see repeat champions in sports.

“It’s harder to stay on top than it is to get to the top.”

While that specific quote is attributed to Ohio State center Pat Elflein, it’s not a new thought and it’s something that was brought to the attention of the 2015 Buckeyes.

One year ago, the vast amount of returning talent from a national championship winning team resulting in praise, followed compliments, followed by more praise in Columbus.

“Being the national champions began in January. We didn’t stop getting praise about it until after the second game [of the next season],” OSU quarterback J.T. Barrett said.

“Until then we were the talk of the town.”

After dispatching of Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oregon on the way to the national championship and with all the talent returning the following year for Ohio State, there was little reason to think 2015 would be anything but another coronation year.

As the season progressed and the Buckeyes weren’t the juggernauts the team was scripted to be, questions began to mount. Chief among them were was there too much pressure on that team, were the expectations too high to be met, and was the 2015 team not hungry enough.

Those questions were consistently shut down, almost as if they didn’t belong in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. But with the season done and time to reflect, those questions are now being answered honestly.

“After you win the national championship, or any type of championship

and you are considered the best in your league or whatever the case may be,” Barrett began, “it’s kind of hard to continue to have that chip on your shoulder being that you beat everybody to be the best and we had a lot of guys coming back, so it was kind of ‘We’re going to do it again.’ We didn’t have that same hunger that we had.”

The talent was there and Ohio State knew it. Not only had they heard about it all offseason – something most players denied paying attention to – but they had lived it. Nearly every player on the field in 2015 was also there when the Buckeyes rolled over the Badgers 59-0. Those players knew what it was like to defeat Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide and they all saw the confetti fall after beating the Ducks.

The Buckeyes knew they were the best and no one had to tell them, but that made it hard to play how they did when they climbed to the mountain top.

“It was hard to get guys mentally to challenge their focus to, ‘In order to get where we want to get again, we’ve got to have that same fight.’ That was just hard to do being we had so much praise,” Barrett explained. “We put it on ourselves, I put it on myself as a leader on the team, that I wasn’t able to get that mindset back like in 2014.”

Entire article: http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Foot...ked-the-Necessary-Hunger-but-Say-its-Back-Now

 

[Buckeye86]

You really should copy and paste less of those articles in my opinion @ScriptOhio so people go to those sites and get the writers the hits they deserve for their work.

 

[ScriptOhio]

You really should copy and paste less of those articles in my opinion @ScriptOhio so people go to those sites and get the writers the hits they deserve for their work.

I could be wrong; however, it was my belief that if you just post a link most people will ignore it. If you post enough of the article to "wet the reader's appetite", create some interest, and/or show them the site is worth going to; they will then go to the site to read the rest of it (i.e. the writers ultimately get more hits).

 

[Zurp]

I think a lot of us believed that one of the problems in 2015 was the lack of the "home run" threat we had with Devin Smith.
It didn't seem to exist in Mike Thomas, or Jalin Marshal, or Dontre Wilson, etc. I find it hard to believe that those guys couldn't run the deep routes, or catch the deep pass, or whatever the issue was. But do we have anyone coming in who can fix that? If not, I don't see 2016 being any better.

 

[ScriptOhio]

I think a lot of us believed that one of the problems in 2015 was the lack of the "home run" threat we had with Devin Smith.
It didn't seem to exist in Mike Thomas, or Jalin Marshal, or Dontre Wilson, etc. I find it hard to believe that those guys couldn't run the deep routes, or catch the deep pass, or whatever the issue was. But do we have anyone coming in who can fix that? If not, I don't see 2016 being any better.

I offer these 2 recent O-Zone articles:

1) Also posted above...Asked who has made him say 'Wow' during workouts, J.T. Barrett mentioned freshman receiver Austin Mack. He said Mack has "a little fight in him" when workouts are getting tough. Mack has seemingly always been ahead of the game and ahead of his class, and that doesn't seem to be changing now.

Entire article: http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Foot...nesdays-Chat-with-the-Buckeye-Captains?Page=2

2) Did You Forget About Wide Receivers Noah Brown and Corey Smith? J.T. Barrett Didn't

Youth is the name of the game in the wide receiver room for Ohio State.

In 2016, the Buckeyes will have plenty of players with freshman eligibility catching passes, which could making having a prolific passing attack difficult.

“I think we’ve got a lot of young guys to look forward to on the edge,” quarterback J.T. Barrett said on Wednesday.

After losing their top three receivers from a year ago, and nearly 74 percent of the receiving yards, it is only natural for the Scarlet and Gray to be young.

While players such as Curtis Samuel (OSU’s leading returning pass catcher from 2015) and Dontre Wilson (50 receptions, 573 yards, and five touchdowns in his three-year career) have been speculated to be the top targets for Barrett next season, there are some other guys the quarterback is looking forward to throwing to.

“Noah is getting back from injury,” Barrett said. “I think a lot of people forgot about Noah Brown.”

Entire article: http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Foot...t-Noah-Brown-and-Corey-Smith-JT-Barrett-Didnt

 

[jwinslow]

I think a lot of us believed that one of the problems in 2015 was the lack of the "home run" threat we had with Devin Smith.
It didn't seem to exist in Mike Thomas, or Jalin Marshal, or Dontre Wilson, etc. I find it hard to believe that those guys couldn't run the deep routes, or catch the deep pass, or whatever the issue was. But do we have anyone coming in who can fix that? If not, I don't see 2016 being any better.

As always, the lines determine the game. The line was very weak in pass pro. Not just Farris but the interior ol as well and Decker wasn't exactly stellar.

They could not have completed those passes to devin with the protection from this year. The qbs were consistently under duress after 10-15 yds of route running. Their eyes dropped to stay alive and receivers were missed.

Braxton, Samuel and others were open a lot 15-20 yds downfield but the pressure made them invisible.

There was also a lot of protection issues on the perimeter. Evan graduated, devin wasn't there to run his man downfield , Noah was hurt and Corey/parris left the lineup with injuries. The remaining WRs were a huge step back as blockers and as a result the formerly dominant pop pass was suddenly a mess. So now you have Braxton's best playcalls failing and completely wasted and so his weaknesses become more glaring.


If Prince, Jones, Pridgeon and/or others can shore up the line, OSU will return to their old form with explosive plays downfield. Samuel can separate as can Gibson, Smith and Campbell. If they can buy Barrett time upfront, and the running game can keep the numbers in check, they should return to mid 2014 form without actually seeing much improvement from JT. If they do those things and JT progresses with his first off season as the guy, the sky is the limit.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

You really should copy and paste less of those articles in my opinion @ScriptOhio so people go to those sites and get the writers the hits they deserve for their work.

I could be wrong; however, it was my belief that if you just post a link most people will ignore it. If you post enough of the article to "wet the reader's appetite", create some interest, and/or show them the site is worth going to; they will then go to the site to read the rest of it (i.e. the writers ultimately get more hits).

Script posted approximately half the content of the two articles above 86's comment, and I went to the link for both to read the rest of the articles. Had they been just links, I probably wouldn't have clicked them. Others also post portions of articles while supplying link to the complete article. I personally don't see anything wrong with what Script did...

 

[Bill Lucas]

We all talk about how many true and redshirt freshman Ohio State has this year but this article and chart really illustrates the point. 127th of 128 teams in terms of returning starters.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...-experience-lsu-ohio-state-tennessee-stanford

 

[kujirakira]

As always, the lines determine the game. The line was very weak in pass pro. Not just Farris but the interior ol as well and Decker wasn't exactly stellar.

They could not have completed those passes to devimanwith the protection from this year. The qbs were consistently under duress after 10-15 yds of route running. Their eyes dropped to stay alive and receivers were missed.

Braxton, Samuel and others were open a lot 15-20 yds downfield but the pressure made them invisible.

There was also a lot of protection issues on the perimeter. Evan graduated, devin wasn't there to run his man downfield , Noah was hurt and Corey/parris left the lineup with injuries. The remaining WRs were a huge step back as blockers and as a result the formerly dominant pop pass was suddenly a mess. So now you have Braxton's best playcalls failing and completely wasted and so his weaknesses become more glaring.


If Prince, Jones, Pridgeon and/or others can shore up the line, OSU will return to their old form with explosive plays downfield. Samuel can separate as can Gibson, Smith and Campbell. If they can buy Barrett time upfront, and the running game can keep the numbers in check, they should return to mid 2014 form without actually seeing much improvement from JT. If they do those things and JT progresses with his first off season as the guy, the sky is the limit.

This. Seemed like towards the end of the season we saw more of Greene and Kato just for their perimeter blocking.

I'm interested to see how injuries of Noah, Dixon, and Corey pan out for the WR corps... all have flashed big potential in one way or another but struggled to stay/get on the field with injuries. Parris to a lesser degree.

 

[Buckeye86]

Script posted approximately half the content of the two articles above 86's comment, and I went to the link for both to read the rest of the articles. Had they been just links, I probably wouldn't have clicked them. Others also post portions of articles while supplying link to the complete article. I personally don't see anything wrong with what Script did...

As someone who has written original content that has been ripped off, maybe I'm a bit sensitive. If the ozone (or whoever) isn't complaining I don't care that much.

 

[jlb1705]

WOLVES