• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

tOSU Linebackers History (Merged)

It is outstanding when we can argue that the THIRD string LB is too talented to not see the field.

We are talking about the 3 deep and in the past we have been scared because there was no talent in the 2 deep!

Regardless, early on when M. Freeman first committed I thought there was a lot of talk about a red shirt for him. I know he is coming on strong and I really hoped it would be logical to stay that course. However, who is the second string outside LB if not Freeman?

D'Andrea 2nd at MIKE (Or Kerr?)
Kerr maybe 2nd SAM?
Who is the 2nd WIL? Stan White Jr?

As much as I would like to redshirt Freeman I am now thinking we can't.
 
Upvote 0
Thanks for the info Zeke. I have been thinking that might be the case, but didn't want to speculate. Hopefully it is a situation where he is borderline and JT is sending a message.
 
Upvote 0


I think we have plenty of depth to be able to redshirt Freeman if the coaches want to. It sounds like Matthews is looking good this spring and I think Lukens had a pretty good showing last fall. That gives up 5 starting quality LB's with 2 good backups not even counting Freeman. If Freeman is good enough to deserve PT with these guys in front of him he is going to be something special. If D'Andrea's shoulder isn't back to 100% by the time camp starts I would like to see him redshirt so we could have him for 2 more years. I came back too soon from a shoulder injury and ended up getting hurt again and lost an extra season because of it.

SAM: Carp, Kerr/D'Andrea, Freeman
MIKE: Schlegel, Kerr/D'Andrea
WILL: Hawk, Mathews, Lukens
 
Upvote 0
exhawg said:
I think we have plenty of depth to be able to redshirt Freeman if the coaches want to. It sounds like Matthews is looking good this spring and I think Lukens had a pretty good showing last fall. That gives up 5 starting quality LB's with 2 good backups not even counting Freeman. If Freeman is good enough to deserve PT with these guys in front of him he is going to be something special. If D'Andrea's shoulder isn't back to 100% by the time camp starts I would like to see him redshirt so we could have him for 2 more years. I came back too soon from a shoulder injury and ended up getting hurt again and lost an extra season because of it.

SAM: Carp, Kerr/D'Andrea, Freeman
MIKE: Schlegel, Kerr/D'Andrea
WILL: Hawk, Mathews, Lukens
Thanks for the insight, I was unaware of Mathews' progress. As for SAM/MIKE...who do you think would perform better between Kerr and D'andrea if you had to pick one to move outside?
 
Upvote 0
I remember reading somewhere where they said they will rotate some of the LB's to keep them fresh... I think all these guys will get some PT at the LB positions... and of course some of them will be on special teams as well...
 
Upvote 0
HINYG8 said:
Thanks for the insight, I was unaware of Mathews' progress. As for SAM/MIKE...who do you think would perform better between Kerr and D'andrea if you had to pick one to move outside?
I think that D'Andrea would be a better OLB than Kerr because of his quickness.
 
Upvote 0
I see no reason whatsoever why we can't/shouldn't redshirt Freeman. We have three LBs who have played MLB at I-A level (D'Andrea, Schlegel, Kerr), three LB who have played at one or both OLB positions (Hawk, Carpenter, Mathews), and another who is chomping at the bit to get game time at any LB position (Lukens). Plus the fact that Kerr, and maybe even D'Andrea, can be shifted to either OLB position if need be, and you can see that there absolutely no reason to blow a season of eligibility for Freeman.
 
Upvote 0
I'm not sure I can ever recall Matthews getting into the game at WILL. It seems to me it was more of a formality to put him as Hawk's backup.

Also, I'm not sure D'Andrea and Kerr have ever had much quality time at SAM backer. If D'Andrea can't learn the MIKE position in two years, how will he suddenly be able to make the switch with very little practice time? I wasn't aware of Kerr playing much SAM either, at least he never has in a game.

Neither Matthews nor Lukens is big enough to play SAM. I'm not sure D'Andrea or Kerr has the experience to play it.
 
Upvote 0
Mili,

I agree with you, however I doubt Freeman would stick around for five and a half years. He started classes winter quarter (one quarter less than the true freshman), and is technically part of the '03 signing class...

I think the staff will use him in special teams situations, and try to get him on the field every now and then as an LB to help him develop into a great LB... which he will need to be come his junior season, when all the guys we currently have will be gone...
 
Upvote 0
"I agree with you, however I doubt Freeman would stick around for five and a half years."

If he redshirted and then played through his junior year and left "early" for the draft (assuming he turns out that good), that's just over four years at school.
 
Upvote 0
He can play through his senior year and get two years of starting time... if he redshirts or not...

Do we use him on special teams this year, or hope he sticks around through his fifth year if he redshirts...

My guess is the coaches will use him on sp this year... If he does start for two years, and has his degree... I don't see him comming back to start a third (assumeing he redshirts).

I think the coaches want to use him his freshman year and get four years of use out of him.... instead of redshirting him and prob. only getting three years of use out of him...

If he takes a class or two over the summer quarters he could graduate at the end of his junior year (if he redshirts, he would still have two years of elegibility left after that)... If we knew he would stick around, then the redshirt would be great...
 
Upvote 0
Everyone is assuming that all these kids are going to bail after their junior year for the draft. To me it's not a stretch to expect a kid to stay for his full term, whether it be four year or five years if a redshirt. If Freeman redshirts we can still get four years use out of him...in fact we we could get four full years of use rather than three years a snippet of another.
 
Upvote 0
His junior year would be one quarter shy of a full four years...

I guess my thought is that if he came in winter quarter... he prob. intends to play as a frosh.

If he would go for the redshirt idea, I agree it would be good for the bucks... we would have a kid that was highly regarded as a HS player, to be able to start for three years...

Again, I like the idea, I just don't know how well it will/would go over with him....
 
Upvote 0
Mlb

Not sure if anyone saw this or not, but in an update on another site it was said that the current first team LB's are Hawk Carpenter and D'Andrea.

I know this is the first week of practices and it could just be a motivational tactic for Schlegel, but this is the first I had seen it.

Anyone know if Mike has just been that impressive to jump to 1st team?

Definately a great position to be in with so many options.

-Go Bucks
 
Upvote 0
Back
Top