Youth Movement in the Trenches

There are a lot of things to get excited about for the upcoming season.

Returning starters, award candidates, dominating lineman, dynamic receivers,  depth at running back, hard hitting linebackers, the most experienced offensive line in years… take your pick.

Whatever you want to talk about in the last days before kickoff, there is probably something that causes optimism to burst forth in the hearts and minds of Buckeyes everywhere.

It is difficult to narrow the list and pick just one thing to be the most excited about, but the young guys on the offensive and defensive lines are a dark horse candidate.

Depth in the trenches is crucial for any team to make a championship run, and the young lineman at Ohio State are proving in practice that they are up to the challenge of seeing the field.

If you haven’t already, add youth in the trenches to your numerous sources of optimism and excitement.

First, let’s start on defense.

Ohio State lost five key members of their defensive line rotation heading into the spring. If I had to point to one area of concern on defense this year, well… I would probably point to replacing the safeties.

But if I could pick a second concern, it would be depth along the defensive line.

Heyward, Larimore, Simon, and Williams are four of the best starters in the country, but depth was a big question mark in the spring.

Given how much Ohio State likes to rotate linemen combined with the grind of a Big Ten season, depth is (was) a legitimate concern.

Good news, the young guys are for real, and the depth and rotation looks to be in excellent shape. Some surprising performances from players you might not expect are icing on the cake.

The scrimmage on Saturday resulted in what can only be described as rave reviews for the young guys in the trenches.

Goebel & Bellamy were extremely disruptive today, flushing QBs out of the pocket regularly. Hankins was his usual wide self but had a few explosions into the backfield as well. This was a very promising day for who backs up the two studs (Larimore just collapsed the entire interior 3-4 times today).

Not only did Big Hank keep up throughout drives without substituting, he maintained through back to back series (staying in with different units), with no TV breaks like he’ll have in the fall. He was his usual man mountain against the run, but also broke through on occasion for some nice pressure.

Throw in depth on the edge from guys like Solomon Thomas and Melvin Fellows, who have been receiving praise this fall in their own right, and it doesn’t look like Ohio State will see much drop off from what was an outstanding defensive front in 2009.

It is up to you to choose just how excited to get about the d-line depth relative to everything else, but they have shown that they deserve some consideration and at least a moment or two of contemplation as your thoughts drift to the upcoming season.

Switch over to the offensive side of the ball.

Even with the loss of Marcus Hall, Ohio State boasts arguably the best depth along the offensive line in years. A large part of that depth comes from a trio of redshirt freshman: Sam Longo, Jack Mewhort, and Corey Linsley.

True freshman Andrew Norwell, who has also been impressing in practice, also looks like he will see the field this year.

To bring up some not so good memories, Ohio State’s willingness to wait on Seantrel Henderson, a risk that ultimately didn’t pay off, may be an indication of how much faith the coaching staff has in the youth along the line.

We will have to wait and see what happens on the field to be sure, but there is reason to be optimistic in the trenches on offense as well.

Could we see the entire second string line come into the game for a series like we saw at Texas in 2006? It is certainly a possibility.

Quality young players and the depth they provide for Ohio State (in the trenches and elsewhere) is just another thing that makes the approach of the season so exciting.

With Tressel’s superb recruiting classes in recent years, expecting a few young players to step up and make an impact in the fall is something that Ohio State fans can get excited about this year and for years to come.

Youth in the trenches? Future stars providing quality depth? Yeah, we’ve got that. It’s time for some football.