TallIndian
Senior
We may not have had the best players in 2002, but we had the BEST TEAM.
So lets look at our team and do a little review of the things that look good
for the BUCKS for 2004.
QB .... while we lost a senior starter, look what we have on the shelf to bring into the game .... the pick of TWO ELITE 11 QBs ..... both with TWO YEARS plus in the system .....
Zwick being a kid who was the first Ohio HS QB to throw for over 10,000 yards!! He also threw for over 100 TD's in high school ... so he averaged
2 to 3 TD passes per game. He won a HS championship, moved up in class
for more competition, won the starting job, and took his team deep into the playoffs every year.
There are only a handful of QB's that have 10,000 HS yds passing, and some of that handful include Dan Marino and John Elway. While he may not have prove himself at the college level yet, he was also a force in the recruitment of several other players in his class.
And if Zwick flops, we have another Elite 11 QB to step in and give it his best shot. Troy Smith is no slouch .... plus Bockman is looking good as well.
Any of them will need a good O line in front of them to accomplish anything.
So where does the O line stand ?????
Two years ago, we were saying it was one of the poorest O-Lines we have ever had ..... as the cupboard was bare when Coop got the ax .....the most
we had to expect from the O-Line was the final verdict in The Law Suit.
That line turned out to pretty darn good .... and Bollman may have had something to do with that. So over the last three years, we have picked up so big time O linemen .... whose overall traits seem to be "more athletic", and
good footwork. While every seems to agree we need a few more Good O linemen, and some seasoning ...... we are ... IMHO..... starting out much better than we did two years ago ..... Mangold will apparently anchor the line from the center position ... we will have Sims, Datish, Kne and Tyree with some experience, and we have a good group of freshman as possible two deep candidates. JT has stated that he "likes the athleticism" of this O line.
Running Back
We have Flydel .... We have Joe ... and we have a couple freshman that people think may be able to contribute.
IMHO ... the biggest thing here may actually be the "more athletic O Line"
as well as a better passing game opening up a better running game ....
I don't think it can be a worse running game overall than we had last year.
Receivers
Santonio averaged 17.2 yards per catch ... but only had 32 catches for the year ..... with 7 TD's ... or 1 TD every 4.5 catches ...
and he was not the main man last year. It is his time to shine ... with a better passer (IMHO) now chucking the ball, this should be an amazing combo to see .....
Zwick to Holmes ... TOUCHDOWN !!!!!!! ... will be heard a lot this year.
I think we see an increase in yards after catch .... and better offensive eficiency due to a more accurate passing game ... hitting receivers in stride
more often .... striking fear into the hearts of our Opponents Defensive
co-ordinators.
Roy Hall has a ton of potential as well as Hollins and Jordon .... and a stable
of potential receivers .... Bam, Dukes, Lyons, Ginn ... as well as Frost at TE
and Nichols ....
SPECIAL TEAMS
Return Game
IMHO ... another area that can do nothing but improve .....
Ginn, Bam, Santonio, Youboty .....
A renewed emphesis with this crew and we should see some return yards this year.
Kicking .... Nugent ... nuff said.
Punting .... we have options, and you can bet your bottom Buckeye that JT
will not let this position slide .... why do you think we have so many 'ships
committed to the kickers .... because it is JT's Secret Weapon.
Don't worry .. The Man has this under control.
DEFENSE ...............WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
What is the strenght of this team ... THE 'D'
LINEBACKER U
We have the best complete set of 'backers that I hae ever seen at OSU ...
and not just the first team ... but two deep..... and a load of incoming talent. CARPENTER, HAWK, SCHLEGAL, D'ANDREA, FREEMAN ....tough and deep ....
D-Backs .... the tallest fastest group to play for t OSU in years.
FOX, UNDERWOOD, SALLY, WHITNER, JACOBS, YOUBOTY, MITCHELL, EVERT
again ... well known names ... TWO DEEP
D line .... while we lost some players here .... we also have a group of highly thought of young men coming in ... and they are not freshman .. but kids that
have learned from those in front of them .... and while we may only be returning 4 starters ... look at how many players rotated in for us last year ...
and while they are not returning starters ... they are also not peach fuzz rookies either. FRASHER, GREEN, PITCOCK, KUDLA, RICHARDSON, PATTERSON, PENTON .... are all familiar names.
LET ME GO OUT ON A LIMB HERE ...
I SAY WE ARE CLOSE TO
THE NUMBER 1 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY AT STOPPING THE RUN.
I say we hold teams under 50 yards a game in rushing ... most of the time.
I would be willling to make that bet ... that we hold teams to an average of less than 50 yards a game for the year.
I went back and looked at the 40 times of three years of RB, DB, and receiver recruits ..... only one player had a time OVER 4.5 ..... Dionte Johnson.
we have 5 guys that run 4.3 40's .... and the average of the rest of the guys .... 21 total current players ... is 4.42.
AND YOU CAN'T TEACH SPEED ....
So when we look at the players JT has recruited .... he tends to like
1. Fast Players ....
2. Tall Receivers and D backs ....
3. Smart Players ...
4. Versitile players ....
SUMMARY:
While we lost 14 players to the NFL ....
This is the DEEPEST tOSU team overall in recent memory.
particulary on DEFENSE.... and what wins CHAMPIONSHIPS ?????
DEFENSE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have experienced players 2 deep at almost every position.
On both sides of the ball.
The exception being the QB spot ... where we have 2 third year Elete 11
players ... and the O line ... where we have more potential than we have had in the last 5 to 6 years ....
Yes I wear SCARLET COLORED GLASSES ..............
and things are looking ROSEY through them right now ......
IMHO .... TallIndian
So lets look at our team and do a little review of the things that look good
for the BUCKS for 2004.
QB .... while we lost a senior starter, look what we have on the shelf to bring into the game .... the pick of TWO ELITE 11 QBs ..... both with TWO YEARS plus in the system .....
Zwick being a kid who was the first Ohio HS QB to throw for over 10,000 yards!! He also threw for over 100 TD's in high school ... so he averaged
2 to 3 TD passes per game. He won a HS championship, moved up in class
for more competition, won the starting job, and took his team deep into the playoffs every year.
There are only a handful of QB's that have 10,000 HS yds passing, and some of that handful include Dan Marino and John Elway. While he may not have prove himself at the college level yet, he was also a force in the recruitment of several other players in his class.
And if Zwick flops, we have another Elite 11 QB to step in and give it his best shot. Troy Smith is no slouch .... plus Bockman is looking good as well.
Any of them will need a good O line in front of them to accomplish anything.
So where does the O line stand ?????
Two years ago, we were saying it was one of the poorest O-Lines we have ever had ..... as the cupboard was bare when Coop got the ax .....the most
we had to expect from the O-Line was the final verdict in The Law Suit.
That line turned out to pretty darn good .... and Bollman may have had something to do with that. So over the last three years, we have picked up so big time O linemen .... whose overall traits seem to be "more athletic", and
good footwork. While every seems to agree we need a few more Good O linemen, and some seasoning ...... we are ... IMHO..... starting out much better than we did two years ago ..... Mangold will apparently anchor the line from the center position ... we will have Sims, Datish, Kne and Tyree with some experience, and we have a good group of freshman as possible two deep candidates. JT has stated that he "likes the athleticism" of this O line.
Running Back
We have Flydel .... We have Joe ... and we have a couple freshman that people think may be able to contribute.
IMHO ... the biggest thing here may actually be the "more athletic O Line"
as well as a better passing game opening up a better running game ....
I don't think it can be a worse running game overall than we had last year.
Receivers
Santonio averaged 17.2 yards per catch ... but only had 32 catches for the year ..... with 7 TD's ... or 1 TD every 4.5 catches ...
and he was not the main man last year. It is his time to shine ... with a better passer (IMHO) now chucking the ball, this should be an amazing combo to see .....
Zwick to Holmes ... TOUCHDOWN !!!!!!! ... will be heard a lot this year.
I think we see an increase in yards after catch .... and better offensive eficiency due to a more accurate passing game ... hitting receivers in stride
more often .... striking fear into the hearts of our Opponents Defensive
co-ordinators.
Roy Hall has a ton of potential as well as Hollins and Jordon .... and a stable
of potential receivers .... Bam, Dukes, Lyons, Ginn ... as well as Frost at TE
and Nichols ....
SPECIAL TEAMS
Return Game
IMHO ... another area that can do nothing but improve .....
Ginn, Bam, Santonio, Youboty .....
A renewed emphesis with this crew and we should see some return yards this year.
Kicking .... Nugent ... nuff said.
Punting .... we have options, and you can bet your bottom Buckeye that JT
will not let this position slide .... why do you think we have so many 'ships
committed to the kickers .... because it is JT's Secret Weapon.
Don't worry .. The Man has this under control.
DEFENSE ...............WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
What is the strenght of this team ... THE 'D'
LINEBACKER U
We have the best complete set of 'backers that I hae ever seen at OSU ...
and not just the first team ... but two deep..... and a load of incoming talent. CARPENTER, HAWK, SCHLEGAL, D'ANDREA, FREEMAN ....tough and deep ....
D-Backs .... the tallest fastest group to play for t OSU in years.
FOX, UNDERWOOD, SALLY, WHITNER, JACOBS, YOUBOTY, MITCHELL, EVERT
again ... well known names ... TWO DEEP
D line .... while we lost some players here .... we also have a group of highly thought of young men coming in ... and they are not freshman .. but kids that
have learned from those in front of them .... and while we may only be returning 4 starters ... look at how many players rotated in for us last year ...
and while they are not returning starters ... they are also not peach fuzz rookies either. FRASHER, GREEN, PITCOCK, KUDLA, RICHARDSON, PATTERSON, PENTON .... are all familiar names.
LET ME GO OUT ON A LIMB HERE ...
I SAY WE ARE CLOSE TO
THE NUMBER 1 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY AT STOPPING THE RUN.
I say we hold teams under 50 yards a game in rushing ... most of the time.
I would be willling to make that bet ... that we hold teams to an average of less than 50 yards a game for the year.
I went back and looked at the 40 times of three years of RB, DB, and receiver recruits ..... only one player had a time OVER 4.5 ..... Dionte Johnson.
we have 5 guys that run 4.3 40's .... and the average of the rest of the guys .... 21 total current players ... is 4.42.
AND YOU CAN'T TEACH SPEED ....
So when we look at the players JT has recruited .... he tends to like
1. Fast Players ....
2. Tall Receivers and D backs ....
3. Smart Players ...
4. Versitile players ....
SUMMARY:
While we lost 14 players to the NFL ....
This is the DEEPEST tOSU team overall in recent memory.
particulary on DEFENSE.... and what wins CHAMPIONSHIPS ?????
DEFENSE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have experienced players 2 deep at almost every position.
On both sides of the ball.
The exception being the QB spot ... where we have 2 third year Elete 11
players ... and the O line ... where we have more potential than we have had in the last 5 to 6 years ....
Yes I wear SCARLET COLORED GLASSES ..............
and things are looking ROSEY through them right now ......
IMHO .... TallIndian
Last edited:
(No way OSU can replace 14 starters...)
