Do you guys think we may see Dorian Bell and Etienne Sabino a little more next season. I know both of these young men were highly touted coming out of high school, and that means nothing in college, but I thought I would see them a lot more this past season....your thoughts?

If Sabino finally figures out the defensive schemes he will see time. Bell was just young and its hard to crack the lineup when you have Rolle, Homan, Spitler, and even Moeller ahead of you.

Don't count of Klein either. He seems to be the OSU type LB.

But to answer your question, yes I do see these guys getting time. Right now OSU is only losing Spitler at LB and I don't see any others going Pro.

Sabino will probably start in Spitler's spot next year unless Moeller beats him out.

I think Moeller is headed to Hines' hybrid spot and Hines is moving full time to Safety.

I would LOVE to see Hines at safety and Moeller at the hybrid!

That would be nice!

charliehustle14 wrote: I think Moeller is headed to Hines' hybrid spot and Hines is moving full time to Safety.

Not only this, but I think it will be the base defense in 2010

This is why spring football is great; its a chance for those young guys to get back on the field and prove they can play and earn a spot on the field or at least crack the rotation on defense

Yeah next year's defense is going to be stacked. It will be really good if Gibson and Heyward come back, but as long as one of them comes back, I don't there will be much drop off because Nate Williams has been waiting in the wings for some time.

I was hoping to see one of the young guys get some playing time over Spitler this year (never been much of a fan, plus he only had this season left before he graduated).

I figure Rolle and Homan will definitely be back. So there is only one other spot. Moeller probably gets the 1st crack (he looked like a potential stud last season). But Dorian Bell and Sabino will certainly get their chances too.

Spitler was a special teams hero who bided his time and made the best of the situation he was afforded this year (I don't think he plays if Moeller doesn't go down)

darbypitcher22 wrote: Spitler was a special teams hero who bided his time and made the best of the situation he was afforded this year (I don't think he plays if Moeller doesn't go down)

I agree. I told my roommate at the beginning of the season, if you are good, they find a place for you at Ohio State. Laurinaitis switched back and forth between OLB and MLB to get himself on the field. There are other examples at other positions too. However, that never happened with Spitler. I know he was a MLB and Laurinaitis was blocking him but surely he would have got onto the field somehow. Spitler basically played special teams exclusively, which really doesn't mean much considering I saw Storm Klein running around on Special teams as a true freshman. Spitler's lack of PT scared me at the beginning of the season and I didn't think he had the wheels to play the position in the key OOC games (USC... the memory of Freeman chasing Havili is burned into my memory). But all in all, I have to admit Spitler did just fine this year.

That isn't to say that he would have been the starter if Moeller didn't get jumped. I'm with you, I think Moeller, Rolle, and Homan would have been the starters

Not only is Freeman chasing Havili but also Homan chasing Joe McKnight in this year's game that let them keep that winning drive going....

Rolle and Homan are locks for next year; that third spot is up for grabs

darbypitcher22 wrote: Not only is Freeman chasing Havili but also Homan chasing Joe McKnight in this year's game that let them keep that winning drive going....

Rolle and Homan are locks for next year; that third spot is up for grabs

I've been a pretty harsh critic of Heacock in years past. But he did a great job this year. His game plan against Oregon was outstanding. However, if he does have a weakness, it is that sometimes he thinks that ALL of his game plans are outstanding and he takes forever to adjust. Covering extremely fast RBs/TEs with Homan or Freeman or another plodding LB has killed us in big games the past few years. Looks like he finally has wised up and has begun to utilize Hines a little more

well not just Hines but he's loving the Nickel package more and more...

Heacock usually has some decent plans and its not just him but the whole staff that takes forever to adjust, both sides of the football.

Fred Pagac used to make adjustments halfway through the first quarter, sometimes earlier, often after the first drive

jordo212000 wrote:

darbypitcher22 wrote: Not only is Freeman chasing Havili but also Homan chasing Joe McKnight in this year's game that let them keep that winning drive going....

Rolle and Homan are locks for next year; that third spot is up for grabs

I've been a pretty harsh critic of Heacock in years past. But he did a great job this year. His game plan against Oregon was outstanding. However, if he does have a weakness, it is that sometimes he thinks that ALL of his game plans are outstanding and he takes forever to adjust. Covering extremely fast RBs/TEs with Homan or Freeman or another plodding LB has killed us in big games the past few years. Looks like he finally has wised up and has begun to utilize Hines a little more

It's killed every team. Covering an RB with a DE killed Oregon last night.

Their DE's are built like LB's though size wise... not as heavy as our guys

Heacock and Fickle called an amazing game last night.

Boy do I hope we keep Fickle on the staff.

LJ wrote:

charliehustle14 wrote: I think Moeller is headed to Hines' hybrid spot and Hines is moving full time to Safety.

Not only this, but I think it will be the base defense in 2010

I hope so.

Of course, our base defense changes weekly depending on the opponent.

^^^^

This.

for yesterday's game it was the Nickel about 95% of the time

darbypitcher22 wrote: Their DE's are built like LB's though size wise... not as heavy as our guys

That wasn't the point. Every team will fall into that mis-match and every good team can audible to exploit it. It's something that happens to everyone.

charliehustle14 wrote:

LJ wrote:

charliehustle14 wrote: I think Moeller is headed to Hines' hybrid spot and Hines is moving full time to Safety.

Not only this, but I think it will be the base defense in 2010

I hope so.

Of course, our base defense changes weekly depending on the opponent.

Well see, if that is the base defense, they won't need to switch into nickel as much. If they run that base 4-2-4 with a hybrid, it would definitely be an every game "base". Then when you really need to you pull Homan and put another db in, which would then be a 4-1-5 with a hybrid. So technically, even starting a game needing another DB, it would probably start out in the base 4-2-4 with a hybrid.

I wasn't disputing that, just trying to make the point that that matchup isn't/wasn't really as bad on paper when comparing size, speed, etc. as it would look for other teams

darbypitcher22 wrote: I wasn't disputing that, just trying to make the point that that matchup isn't/wasn't really as bad on paper when comparing size, speed, etc. as it would look for other teams

So then it's comparable to when we had Homan and Freeman covering RB's then, correct? The matchup was the same, and every team falls into it, and every team exploits it.

I like Homan versus a balanced run/pass team, but vs a spread, I would like to see a backer with more speed. I like Homan tho, don't get me wrong.

no, our backers vs. guys like Havili/McKnight were terrible and you know it