In sports, we hear and talk a lot about overrated and underrated things—players, teams, seasons, etc. It’s become a ubiquitous part of our sports vernacular.
Why?
Well, it’s fun to debate sports topics, and few subjects get the #HotTakes flowing back and forth as quickly and easily as throwing out that so-and-so is the most overrated player in the Big Ten, or that guy is the most underrated wide receiver in college football.
So, let’s have a little healthy discussion today about the most underrated Buckeyes. I’ve thought a lot about the Buckeye roster and what it means to underrate a player. When you underrate something, you’re underestimating its extent, value or importance. That doesn’t immediately mean that a guy like Darron Lee can’t be underrated. Sure, everyone sings his praises and he gets a lot of ink, but is he getting enough when compared to his contributions? OK, probably, yes.
Rather than select one player, I’ll give you the three Buckeyes I feel do not get enough credit for what they bring to the team, so that they’ll hopefully be a bit less unsung in 2015.
Nick Vannett
Because Jeff Heuerman was the starter the last couple of years, and because Ohio State uses its tight ends sparingly, Vannett’s contributions get overlooked. Both tight ends were excellent blockers in 2014, but Vannett was used more in the passing game, catching 19 passes to Heuerman’s 17. This was particularly true in the red zone, where Vannett was a much more likely option for Buckeye quarterbacks.
The 6-foot-6, 260-pound product of Westerville Central caught five touchdown passes, compared to just two for Heuerman. Only Devin Smith (12), Michael Thomas (9) and Jalin Marshall (6) had more receiving touchdowns than Vannett a season ago. If someone had told you that Marshall had caught only one more touchdown pass than Vannett last season, you probably would have been all, “whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m going to have to Google that to verify.”
Both the Big Ten media and coaches named Heuerman as second-team All-B1G in 2014. Sure, Heuerman’s leadership can't be overlooked, but Vannett produced more on the field in terms of receiving. Blocking seemed fairly even.
In 2015, Vannett will likely see the field much more often. He’s the senior now and behind him is a wealth of inexperience.
Vonn Bell
Here’s a case where a guy is pretty well-known and respected, gets a lot of ink, and is still underrated. As recently mentioned by our own Chris Lauderback, Bell is about as sure a thing as possible when it comes to tackling. If he gets his hands on a ball carrier, he makes the stop almost without exception.
Last season, Bell finished second on Ohio State in tackles (92), posting the most by a Buckeye safety in more than a decade. You need to go back to Mike Doss in the national championship season of 2002 for the last time an OSU safety registered more stops.
Bell also led Ohio State in interceptions, with six. C.J. Barnett, the leading safety in interceptions the previous two seasons had six in his final two years, combined. You have to go back to 2001 and Derek Ross to find a Buckeye with more picks in a season and it’s been more than two decades since an OSU safety had more.
The media covering the Big Ten only thought Bell was worthy of honorable mention all-conference status. The coaches didn’t even give Bell honorable mention All-B1G honors. Ouch!
Jacoby Boren
It took The Slobs awhile to get going last year, but once they did, they were beasts. A lot of the notoriety and credit for Ohio State’s offensive line play goes to Taylor Decker and Pat Elflein—both of whom received All-B1G honors from both the coaches and the media. Darryl Baldwin received honorable mention all-conference accolades from both the coaches and media.
But it was Boren who made the line calls for Ohio State and served as the fulcrum for the Buckeye front five. Playing at an undersized 6-foot-2 and 285 pounds, the Buckeye center was frequently overmatched in terms of size by whoever lined up across from him. Yet Boren not only held his own, but he often made his block and then found someone else to clean up afterwards.
I mean, seriously, go back and look at the video from some of the tactical breakdowns posted by Ross Fulton and Mike Young and watch how involved Boren was in the success of the offense. In a season in which Ohio State’s line was called for only two holding penalties all season, neither was on Boren.
The central Slob created running lanes and protected his quarterbacks equally well throughout 2014, and his emotional leadership was huge in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama. The Pickerington Central product’s senior season will be a bittersweet one, as it will leave Ohio State’s roster without a Boren when the year is done.
Those are my most underrated three guys on this Buckeye squad. Who do you feel performs at a much higher rate than his notoriety would suggest?
