Todd Denlinger has an old-school look about him and seems to be the type of player that would have enjoyed the single-platoon era of college football when players were required to play offense and defense.
(The single-platoon era lasted up until 1945 and was then brought back from 1952-64.)
Up to this point of his
And he won’t just get token reps on offense. If the jersey scrimmage on Aug. 22 was any indication, the Buckeyes are planning on using Denlinger a lot this year when they need to power up and gain a yard or two.
And it makes a lot of sense. Behind starting tight end Jake Ballard, OSU is inexperienced and not very healthy at the position.
Redshirt freshman Jake Stoneburner is just now returning from a pulled hamstring. And as a converted wide receiver, he’s not a guy the Buckeyes want to put out there a lot in smash-mouth situations.
Classmate Nic DiLillo was expected to be the third-team tight end, but he broke a bone in his wrist and will miss a few weeks of game action.
True freshman Reid Fragel has been impressive and took most of the reps as the second-team tight end during preseason camp. Head coach Jim Tressel said on Tuesday that Fragel would likely play right away this season.
However, it’s Denlinger that might end up seeing more snaps at TE this season than anyone expected. He’s very effective at moving the pile and since OSU’s tight ends are glorified offensive tackles anyway, why not use him a lot?
To be clear, Denlinger is still going to see most of his action at defensive tackle. He is the No. 3 man at that position behind starters Dexter Larimore and Doug Worthington and the Buckeyes like to use a rotation up front.
So, what does Denlinger think about his pseudo iron man role this year? He loves it.
“It has been kind of a fun year for me so far kind of flip-flopping sides,” Denlinger said. “Getting reps at D-tackle and some at tight end is fun and I’m just doing what I can for the team. I know we’re short a couple spots here and there and I’m willing to do whatever I can to make this team a better team and it’s been a fun senior year so far doing some different things.”
