Ohio State: Middle Linebacker Is Spring’s Most Important Position Battle
The key to a successful 2013 campaign for the Buckeyes will be if a middle linebacker emerges on defense. A player just can’t emerge, though. Of the candidates vying for the starting job, whoever steps up must play up to the level that Buckeye Nation is accustomed to seeing from their starting middle linebackers. The question is, who will that be? Curtis Grant Curtis Grant received tons of hype coming out of high school, being ranked the top linebacker in the country in 2008 according to Scout.com . However, many questions surround Grant as he enters his junior season. The first two years of his career at Ohio State haven’t exactly panned out like most expected. He had a shot at the starting role last year, but was unable to solidify his spot as we saw Zach Boren become the starter as…
Ohio State Football: 5 Buckeyes Who Could Surprise This Spring
Exactly 100 days ago, Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes were putting the finishing touches on an undefeated season with a 26-21 victory over the Michigan Wolverines. Tomorrow, the Buckeyes will take the field for the first time since that victory with the first of 15 spring practices. With the official start of a new season underway in Columbus, a number of Buckeyes will have the opportunity to make an impression on the coaching staff and on their teammates this spring. Meyer and the Buckeyes will need to find nine new starters—7 on defense, 2 on offense—before their season-opening game against the Buffalo Bulls on August 31. Here are five Buckeyes who could rise up and surprise with big performances this spring. Rod Smith, Running Back Smith was relegated mainly to spot-duty in 2012 as Carlos Hyde’s primary backup, but there were times when he looked like the best running …
Ohio State Basketball: 5 Keys to Shocking Indiana in B1G Showdown
An up-and-down season for the Ohio State basketball team is on an upward trend after three straight wins, but a daunting trip to Bloomington to take on the mighty Indiana Hoosiers is next on the docket. Tom Crean’s squad came into Columbus earlier in the year and knocked off the Buckeyes, 81-68 , in a game that really wasn ’t as close as the score indicated. Victor Oladipo had a career-high 26 points, while Ohio State struggled mightily from behind the three-point line. For as good as the Hoosiers are, they have looked vulnerable at times this season. Read on to see five ways the Buckeyes can take advantage of those small vulnerabilities and come away with a shocking upset over Indiana. Begin Slideshow
Ohio State Football: Why Jordan Hall Will Be Breakout Star This Spring
It has been an interesting career for running back Jordan Hall . A 4-star recruit coming out of the 2009 class, big things were expected from this young man. Instead, four years later, he is still trying to live up to those exceptions. It must be frustrating knowing that you have all the talent, but can’t catch that one break you need to get the ball rolling. With this being his final season of eligibility in Columbus, this year’s spring practice may be his last chance to win the coaching staff over. It will also be his last chance to prove that he did, in fact, deserve all of those stars next to his name coming out of high school. Hall will be the breakout star of spring practice for the Ohio State Buckeyes and will be on the tip of college football’s tongue soon enough. The experienced runner was off to a great start last season. Earning 40 carries in the first five games, Hall averaged 5.5 yards a…
Ohio State Football: Why Urban Meyer Will Struggle to Reach Nick Saban’s Level
Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are arguably the two best college football coaches of the 21st century, though Saban has been on another level as of late. It will take time for Meyer to reach that level at Ohio State. Meyer took a year after resigning from Florida before moving north to Ohio State, where he quickly took the Buckeyes to a 12-0 season in 2012. Saban won his third national championship in four years with the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2012, his first coming after beating Meyer and the Gators in the 2009 SEC Championship Game. Saban got the better of Meyer the last two times their respective teams met, and the former has gone on to rule the college football world by a convincing margin. Meyer, on the other hand, has been trying to lay the groundwork to do at Ohio State what Saban has accomplished at Alabama. It’s going well so far …
Hard to Believe, but Jim Bollman Got Another Job as a College Football OC
Imagine, if you will, this scenario: An offensive coordinator at a college football powerhouse puts together a stunningly inept season of offense, takes a year off from taking plays, then shows up at a middling Big Ten program and tries to implement his old offense—only without a relative advantage of talent when it comes to conference play. If Big Ten fans find that scenario familiar, they should. It’s the story of Greg Davis, ousted from Texas after a brutal year of offense only to wind up at Iowa, where the Hawkeye offense horrified the unsuspecting masses of Kinnick Stadium with abject ineptitude en route to a 4-8 record—Kirk Ferentz’s worst since he was rebuilding the program more than a decade ago. We’re ready to relive that scenario in 2013. Former Ohio State offensive coordinator Jim Bollman , who oversaw one of the most brutal years of offense in …
Ohio State Football: How Buckeyes Can Make BCS Dream A Reality
Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller must ignore his own hype and work harder than ever before in 2013 if the Buckeyes are to have any chance of winning the BCS championship this upcoming season. The team would have been in the BCS title game last year if not for the sanctions against the program, and the pressure is on to equal those accomplishments this fall. Expectations couldn’t be higher, and the only way this young team will meet them is if Urban Meyer can somehow get his young quarterback to focus on improving each and every day instead of getting caught up in what’s being said on television and what’s being said about him on the radio. Miller has already been thrust into the national spotlight after his recent Sports Illustrated cover, and we haven’t even hit the month of March. The talent is certainly present on the roster…
Braxton Miller’s QB Coach Says He Has ‘Rare Arm Talent,’ and He’s Right
Here’s a scary thought: Braxton Miller has a lot of improvement to make as a quarterback. Mind you, this is the same Braxton Miller who came in fifth in 2012 Heisman voting as a sophomore and just landed a Sports Illustrated cover that depicts him going full Kool -Aid Man on a basketball montage . The same Braxton Miller who was the Big Ten’s Quarterback of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year. The same one who was fourth in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game and second in passing efficiency by about one point, behind Taylor Martinez. That Braxton Miller is just now scratching the surface of his potential. Look out. As Tim May of the Columbus Dispatch noted on Tuesday, Miller spent time with George Whitfield Jr.—one of the top quarterback coaches in the nation—back in…
Ohio State Basketball: 5 Keys to Beating Northwestern in B1G Clash
The mood surrounding Ohio State basketball is once again trending upward after a much-needed quality win over the No. 4 ranked Michigan State Spartans. However, things would turn sour again quickly if Thad Matta doesn’t have his team prepared to take on a tricky Northwestern squad Thursday night. The Wildcats controlled the first matchup in Columbus for 37 minutes before the Buckeyes recovered in time with a late run to win 69-59 . With a game at Indiana on the horizon, Ohio State must first ensure that its attention is on this potential trap game. Read on to see five keys to doing just that and beating Northwestern. Begin Slideshow
SI Cover Shows Even at College Hoops’ Key Time, Football Is Still King
Sports Illustrated launched a salvo that resonated with college football and basketball fans alike. Both the Braxton Miller and Jadeveon Clowney covers made it pretty clear that heading into March, football is still on people’s minds. Sure, the “Sorry Hoops, Two More Weeks To Wait” at the top belies a sort of competition between the two sports, where an apology is needed. However, ultimately this is not about college basketball being bad. It’s not about ratings or scoring or even a true battle between the separate entities. Ultimately, like most things on the American sporting landscape, it’s about football taking the lead and everyone else playing the background. We’ve seen it for awhile with the NFL. The league locks down the news cycle for their schedule release. They televise their scouting combine and folks watch in droves, myself included. They force other sports to avoid Sunday competition for fear of losing viewers to the behemoth that …
