COLUMBUS – It’s easy to forget three years later how threadbare the linebacker position was at Ohio State when Urban Meyer arrived in 2012.
Now that position might be one of the strengths of a championship level defense. Now all three units of OSU’s defense — line, linebackers, defensive backs — are playing from a position of strength.
During last year’s Ohio State national championship run, Darron Lee introduced himself in spectacular fashion in his first season of playing after being redshirted as a freshman. Joshua Perry turned the potential OSU saw in him when it recruited him into production.
And 5-star recruit Raekwon McMillan showed enough in a back-up role to quiet any questions about his ability to step in as a full-time player at middle linebacker this season.
It’s quite a change from 2012, and even 2013, when Ryan Shazier was putting up ridiculous numbers (39 tackles for losses, 11 sacks in his final two seasons) and the rest of the linebacker group was several rungs below the future first-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ohio State was so needy at linebacker in 2012 that Meyer asked senior starting fullback Zach Boren to switch to linebacker during the season, even though he hadn’t played the position since high school. And Boren quickly established himself as the second-best linebacker on the team behind Shazier.
Last season, Perry led Ohio State in tackles with 124 and had 8.5 tackles for losses. Lee led the team with 16.5 tackles for losses, was second in sacks with 7.5, was third in tackles with 81, intercepted two passes and returned two fumbles for touchdowns. Even without a starting job, McMillan cracked the top 10 in tackles with 54 and had 6.5 tackles for losses.
The goal this year is to keep on moving forward, Perry says. “We can’t have any slip-ups and no steps backward,” he said.
Perry called OSU’s defense a “no-name” defense in the sense that no one puts themselves first before the team.
But there is no denying the star power of first-team All-American defensive end Joey Bosa. The junior will be a first-round draft choice next spring if he chooses to enter the NFL draft. He was one of the dominant defensive linemen in college football last season with 13.5 sacks and 21 tackles for losses.
The key to Bosa avoiding double teams and replicating those numbers might be the development of a credible pass rushing threat from the other defensive end. Sophomore Tyquan Lewis will get the first chance at playing that role.
Adolphus Washington will move from nose guard to the position Michael Bennett played last season and could become even more of a playmaker than he was when he had 10.5 tackles for losses and 4.5 sacks in 2014. Senior Tommy Schutt, who arrived as a 4-star recruit but has not lived up to that billing so far, will probably start at the other interior defensive line position.
The defensive backfield has three returning starters – safeties Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell and cornerback Eli Apple. Gareon Conley is expected to start at the other cornerback position.
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Darron Lee was a 15-game starter as a freshman and quickly established himself as a force at linebacker with a 61-yard fumble return for a score in his first game. He was recruited out of the Columbus suburb of New Albany and was named a freshman All-American by USA Today.
