With spring football in the books, Eleven Warriors will look back over the next week at what we learned from each position group heading into the offseason.
Urban Meyer wasn’t shy about his feelings on the development of the linebacker position when he took over as Ohio State’s head coach.
“The linebacker position is still not solidified yet. We’re not Ohio State expectation level,” Meyer said during the 2013 season. “Linebacker’s one position we’re keeping our finger on hard because we need to improve the level of play and the number of backers we have in the program.”
As the Buckeyes prep for their national title defense in 2015, it doesn’t appear that is much of an issue anymore. Ohio State is simply loaded at the linebacker position.
The Buckeyes return two of their three starters from what was a strong unit last year. And the guy stepping in as a “new” starter in the middle played plenty of snaps one year ago.
Darron Lee and Joshua Perry did not see a ton of competitive reps this spring; Meyer held out a lot of his veteran players who were part of the 2,000-rep club. But each of those guys didn't really need the added wear and tear on their bodies that comes with spring football — they’ll be just fine come next season.
“You look back and I evaluate the unites that I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of here in the past, the biggest thing about them was the competitive nature.”– Luke Fickell
Perry was Ohio State’s leading tackler a year ago with 124. He’s also a shoo-in to be one of the Buckeyes’ captains next season. Lee turned a lot of heads in his first year as a full-time starter at outside linebacker, finishing second on the team in tackles for loss (16.5) and sacks (7.5).
The spot Ohio State needs to replace in in the middle, where Raekwon McMillan will step in full-time for the departed Curtis Grant. McMillan essentially split reps with Grant at the position last year, so there shouldn’t be any sort of drop off now that McMillan has taken over full-time. Plus, he’s one of Meyer’s favorite players.
“He’s aces, man,” Meyer told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “He’s an even better person leading than a player, and he’s a hell of a player. So that tells you what we got in that one.”
Behind their three starters, the Buckeyes have some depth, too.
Dante Booker appears to be the heir apparent to Perry at the Will spot on the outside. Perry called Booker an “athletic freak” this spring and said, “He doesn’t even know how good he is yet.” Cam Williams and Chris Worley are also strong backups at their respective positions. Meyer said Worley “had a great spring.”
There’s also freshman early enrollee Nick Conner, who was arguably Ohio State’s best defensive player in the spring game. “We had high expectations for him,” Meyer said of Conner. “Hope he doesn’t redshirt and gets involved in the kicking game.”
The Buckeyes also have a pair of incoming freshmen in addition to Conner who could be big-time players in five-star recruit Justin Hilliard and four-star prospect Jerome Baker.
“To me, when you got a great unit you’ve got great competition,” Ohio State co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Luke Fickell said this spring. “You look back and I evaluate the unites that I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of here in the past, the biggest thing about them was the competitive nature. The guys behind them pushed them and made them better.”
It seems like that’s certainly the case again at Ohio State for the upcoming season.
