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LB A.J. Hawk (2x All-American, Lombardi Trophy, National Champion, Super Bowl Champion)

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FKA: "Barring injurey, Hawk will be 1st team All-American this year--watch and see."

This is not as much as a given as you think. OSU just lost four seniors on its DL, including two stud DTs and a DE who occupied at least four blockers by themselves each & every game. Its gonna be a different type of year coming up for A.J.: now, he has to shed more blocks to be an impact LB, while before he could roam free and cause havok.

Keep in mind (before I get ripped apart), that I'm not predicting a bad year for A.J. I'm merely stating the fact that he'll need to step up to maintain his level of play. It won't be as easy for him as it has been in the past.

Base: "I really thought that his production dropped during the last 1/3 of the year"

???? - A.J. was the Defensive Player of the Game in the Fiesta Bowl and made S.I.'s All-Bowl team as a LB. How is that dropping off at the end of the season?
 
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sloops....good point about the dline and hawks upcoming year.....

i seem to remember finkes, fickell and vrable leaving after katzenmoyers freshman year....and it reduced his chances to fly to the ball.....

however; as an offense....who are you going to key on...hawk, the boar hunter or carpenter??? the group is going to be fun to watch....
 
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Agree that the changes in the Defensive Line will probably create more traffic for the Linebackers to fight through during the early part of the game, but I believe our offense will put up more points this year. Teams will have to play catch up a lot more often, thereby getting into obvious passing situations. This is when the speed of the Linebackers will really shine. Especially on blitz packages !!
 
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Di: "i seem to remember finkes, fickell and vrable leaving after katzenmoyers freshman year....and it reduced his chances to fly to the ball....."

Agreed. The Big Kat's production went way down after these guys graduated. Even though he did win the Lombardi his Sophomore Year, he never had another season like his Freshman campaign. I also think that the Big Kat's production went down because he had to call more defensive signals. He looked confused out there.

"who are you going to key on"

I'm still keying on Hawk until Schlagel, Kerr, or Carpenter proves that they're better than he is.
 
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A.J. is a great example of what coaches know when it comes to recruiting as opposed to the rating services.
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IMO Duane Long is the best out there in terms of evaluating talent. When we signed that class Duane was saying that Hawk was the sleeper.
 
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Hey Lord

I'll venture to guess that you are a fairly young guy.
The greatest Buckeye LB crew was the 1971 group.
Vic Koegal
Randy Gradishar
Stan White

The '05 LB's will be a good group but it will be difficult to be better than the '71 LB's.
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Well, 39 doesn't seem too young right now .... I have to admit, that 1971 crew was before my time as a Buckeye fan (I began following the team in 1973), but I do know the players by reputation. Obviously, Gradishar was one of the all-time greats, both at OSU and in CFB in general, and also excelled in the pros. White was really solid and played in the NFL for a number of years, IIRC. I don't know much about Koegel.

Remember, the Hawk, Carpenter, Schlegel corps will have two full seasons together (barring injury or early entry into the NFL), so they could develop into something really special by 2005; the back-ups, D'Andrea and Kerr, would start and star on most other teams; quite a group of LB's who should be fun to watch.

Mili - your opinions may not ultimately be borne out by the facts, but you certainly have a colorful way of expressing them.
 
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Point well taken LJB.
I'm only 44 but I grew up with a father and brother that would tell endless stories of Buckeye greats.
My Dad was a huge fan of both White and Gradishar and untill he passed away a couple years ago he maintained that no two linebackers that played at the same time were close to these two.
 
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I am only 21 but how about the 1973 linebackers. I have seen people put them up there as one of the best - Middleton, Gradishar, and Koegal.

I just wanted to add I wouldn't be surprised if Carpenter ends up playing better this season than Hawk. It will be a tough task though because Hawk is proven and it is easier to shine at the WLB than the SLB. I don't think Hawk always looked great, I think he may have wore down at the end of the season because his stats, especially TFL and sacks, dropped considerably. Hawk only had 0.5 TFL, 0 sacks, and didn't lead the team in tackles one time the last 4 games. He looked fresher, as did the entire defense, in the Fiesta Bowl registering 10 tackles and 1.5 TFL. Bobby Carpenter really shined when he started in the Fiesta Bowl, making 2.5 TFL and 2 sacks. Carpenter looked outstanding rushing the quaterback and especially covering the TE.
 
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The above post took the words out of my mouth. I wasnt taking the Fiesta Bowl into account when I said he wore down the last 1/3 of the season. He was still a great linebacker but he just didnt seem to have the same spark he had at the beginning of the season. During the early part of the season he was laying some serious wood. During the later part of the season he seemed more hesitant to me. Just my opinion. He is one of my favorite Buckeyes so I watched him most of the time. Just observations, I'm not a scout so I could be 100% off.
 
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And Our Unsung Player Is!?!?

Not all that unsung. but oh well, still good to see im getting props..




Who is A.J. Hawk? ... Spielman, Marek, Cousineau, Katzenmoyer and Gradishar are just a few of the great linebacker names in Buckeye history. While not ever labeled Linebacker U. like other schools are, few programs can trot out the historical roll call of stars that Ohio State can. It's coming close to time to put junior A.J. Hawk in that group.

He started off his career as a true freshman on the 2002 national title team playing behind Cie Grant on the weakside making 26 tackles. He also showed a natural talent against the run, while also proving to be solid in pass coverage picking off two passes returning one for a score. Most importantly, he was the type of player who always seemed to make things happen and always provided a spark. And then came last year.

With the starting job all his, Hawk turned into an all-around terror and All-Big Ten talent leading the nation's tenth-ranked defense, and number two run defense, with 106 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, four sacks and two interceptions. More than that, he once again seemed to find a way to make the big plays needed and was always around the ball.

Now he'll go from being the hot young defensive star to the All-America leader in what Buckeye fans hope is another run to the BCS. Along the way, if he can stay healthy and produce like he has over the first two seasons, he should cement himself as one of The Ohio State greats.
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Hawk's best game so far was ... in last year's classic 44-38 triple overtime victory over North Carolina State. Hawk has had games with more tackles and with more spectacular plays, but he had his best all-around game against the Wolfpack making 12 stops, two tackles for loss and picking off a pass returning it 55 yards. That interception came in the third quarter with the Wolfpack down 14-7 and driving. The Buckeye offense screwed up the field position only getting a field goal after starting first and goal on the seven, but it turned out to be a key play in the game.

Why you should care about A.J. Hawk ... He's the star of one of the best defenses in America and will be in the hunt all season long for the Butkus Award. The Buckeye linebacking corps is loaded helped by Air Force transfer Anthony Schlegel, and Hawk is the star of the corps. This is a relatively young OSU team that needs leadership and players the rest of the team can work around, and Hawk will be that player and main man.

Positives about Hawk ... There are few college linebackers with better instincts and tackling ability. He's a pure linebacker hard-nosed enough to make play after play against the run, but is also quick enough to be solid in pass coverage. He's a sideline-to-sideline playmaker who's always in the right position. If you're the leading defensive player on Ohio State, you're very, very good.

Negatives about Hawk ... While good in pass coverage, it could use a little bit of work before being considered an elite pro prospect. He's not small at 238 pounds, but he could still handle getting a little bigger for the NFL level depending on where he wants to play. Will he lose a step at 240-250 pounds? Probably not, but that'll be a question over the next few years.

A cool thing about Hawk that you probably didn't know ... His brother, Ryan, is a quarterback at Ohio. ... Talk about your natural tacklers, Hawk was banged up for most of his senior year in high school yet still made 82 tackles. He finished his career with 583 stops.

Career statistics
2003: 106 tackles, 4 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, two interceptions, five broken up passes
2002: 26 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks and two interceptions
 
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LordJeffBuck said:
Nice to know that our best player (arguably) is also our unsung hero.
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Exactly... not a whole lot of effort went into this little piece. Unsung my arse. He's been sung about quite a bit. I think the definition of unsung would have to be being good last year but not great, thus, showing the potential to emerge; or, just being an outstanding role player like an offensive tackle or defensive tackle that doesn't get to have the glitzy stats.
 
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Unsung my arse. He's been sung about quite a bit.
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I agree I don't think hawk is 'unsung' at all. I view the word 'unsung' as not getting the respect you deserve and if thats the case then Dustin Fox is our most unsung player. Just when was the last time he got burnt deep for a touchdown? Yeah, I can't remember either- and still he never seems to get the credit he deserves.
 
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