Ohio State spotlight: Kurt Coleman
Thursday, November 19, 2009
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
PHOTO (top): Kurt Coleman and the Ohio State defense will have to be wary of trick plays from the Michigan offense. (Eric Albrecht, Dispatch)
Today marks the last Michigan game that Ohio State safety Kurt Coleman will ever play. Like every other senior on both teams, the captain must fight the impulse to try to be Superman in an attempt to get in on every play.
"We have to have our eyes on a swivel," Coleman said. "We can't let anybody get past us."
Those will be the orders for Coleman and fellow safeties Anderson Russell and Jermale Hines. The Buckeyes are expected to be in a nickel defense (five defensive backs) most of the afternoon as they take on Michigan's spread offense, led by freshman quarterbacks Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson. It is not a day for safeties to abandon their posts on a whim with the intent of making a game-changing play.
Michigan, at 5-6, is desperate not only for a win that will make it bowl eligible for the first time since 2007, but also to put a stop to its six-game losing streak in the Big Ten and its five-game losing streak to Ohio State.
"This offense allows for a lot of trickery and they can do a lot of things with it," Coleman said. "What would they lose, bringing everything out of the bag?
"This is for all the marbles for both of us. We want to come out with this win, and so do they. They want to be bowl eligible, so I think they are going to do whatever it takes to get the 'W.'"
Forcier is more of a passer, "but we always have to conscious of coming up and making a play with Tate scrambling," Coleman said.
When Robinson enters, the defense must flip the page of the scouting report.
"He's very fast and he's elusive," Coleman said. "It's going to be a challenge. We have to have full-alert awareness of what he's doing."
