Marshawn Lynch videos must be streaming constantly in the Ohio State offensive line meeting room this season.
No, the five starters and those guys behind them know they're never going to be able to tote the football like the former Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl-winning running back. But they are taking one of the most famous soundbites of Lynch's career to heart early in the 2016 season.
“I think they're just hard working guys,” line coach Greg Studrawa said after practice Wednesday. “They're kind of taking the role of their leader. You know Pat (Elflein), he's not a rah-rah guy, he's not a big-time talker. He just goes about his business, go back to the huddle and do it again.”
“We're not going to do no talking. We're about that action,” sophomore right tackle Isaiah Prince said. “We're going to talk on the field. We're not going to do no verbal talking.”
Ohio State pushed three new starters into the fold up front this season—Prince, left tackle Jamarco Jones and left guard Michael Jordan. The latter is a true freshman, easily the least experienced in the entire group but someone the Buckeyes view as a guy who did that from the beginning. That's why he is the first true freshman offensive lineman to start at Ohio State since Orlando Pace in 1994.
“He makes mistakes, no doubt about it just like they all do,” Studrawa said of Jordan. “But he really has kept his composure way better than I ever thought.”
That stems both from Elflein and fellow captain and three-year starter Billy Price. Urban Meyer credits those two most as the reason the inexperience up front has looked anything but through the first four games.
“No chance that takes place without those two,” Meyer said. “You can put a true freshman in there and then some other guys that haven't played a lot.”
Ohio State currently leads the Big Ten in rushing yards per game with 332. The competition hasn't been the stiffest yet outside of a 45-24 victory at Oklahoma in Week 3 but even in that game the Buckeyes ran rampant over the Sooners for 291 yards on 48 carries. J.T. Barrett has also only been sacked twice so far this season, the lowest in the conference and tied for second-best in the country.
“There's a lot of things I thought we'd be more proficient at then we're not and there are certain things like individual pass protection things where I'm more than happy about,” Studrawa said. “They've improved there immensely.”
Through the first third of the regular season, it all stems back to that no-nonsense, no talking, all business type of attitude. Each lineman likes to speak to the media more than Lynch did in his career but each invokes the same mindset. Shut up and do your job.
“We don't trash talk. We give props to the other team. Every team has very good players,” Prince said. “We always give props to them and do no trash talking.”
Added Studrawa: “I think they're kind of taking that attitude now. There's no talking, there's no yelling, no 'hey rah-rah we're so great.' Shut your mouth and go back to work. I really think that stems from Pat and from Billy and from our quarterback. Those guys lead that way and they're starting to take that from them.”
