Give yourself a pat on the back. You have survived what has seemingly been one of the longest and dullest off seasons in recent history. You erased the agony of Brian Robiskie’s drop in the end zone and have made peace with Austin Spitler’s roughing the punter.
Kosta Koufos came and went, and I’m guessing you didn’t really lose any sleep over it. The Reds and the Indians dismantled, the NBA playoffs didn’t live up to the hype, and the writer’s strike crippled television for the summer.
You may have tried experimenting with new hobbies such as NASCAR, Mixed Martial Arts, comic book movies, or even worse – something like gardening. In the end, nothing seemed to fill the void in your life that is Buckeye football.
Well, we’ve made it, so its time to stop with the OT threads in the forums, cancel Time Warner, and change your desktop background to something a little more Buckeye.
We all feel pretty good at the prospects of a good season in 2008, but what are the issues that Buckeye fans should follow through out the season? Below we’ll take a look at the ten biggest questions facing the Buckeyes in 2008 and how they could impact the team going forward.
10- Can the Buckeyes’ added depth in the back seven stay focused and, more importantly, content?
There hasn’t been much opportunity for upward mobility up the depth chart in our defensive back seven over the past two years. The Buckeyes return one of the most talented and veteran groups of linebackers and defensive backs the program has even seen.
However, the byproduct of this group’s longevity as starters is a dozen or so highly-touted backups biding their time on the sidelines chomping at the bit to see the field.
The logjam in the back seven has been one of the many factors in causing guys like Mark Johnson, Thaddeus Gibson, Grant Schwartz, Curtis Terry, and Devon Torrence to switch to other positions.
With some impressive talent in this year’s recruiting class as well as the 2009 class, it will be interesting to see if we hear any further potential rumblings of transfers or position switches in the works. Last year Gibson found himself suspended for the Purdue game in what some speculated was an incident tied to lack of playing time.
With only one spot vacated by a departing senior, it’s possible that some of the defensive reserves get a little stir crazy this upcoming season. Keep in mind that defensive backs and linebackers are among the best candidates for special teams duties in addition to having the ability to play multiple positions on the scout team.
It will be interesting to see if these key defensive reserves can continue their dedication and patience while awaiting an opportunity for additional playing time.
9- How will Tressel split carries?
With an experienced and talented offensive line in addition to the prospect of playing with a lead a considerable amount of time, it will be interesting to see how Tressel decides to split carries. Vying to hear their number called will be Chris Wells, Maurice Wells, Brandon Saine, Danny Herron, and to a lesser extent Lamaar Thomas, and Terrelle Pryor.
Chris Wells is obviously the workhorse as well as a Heisman contender, and Tressel will give him the lion’s share of carries in close games. After Beanie it’s really anyone’s guess.
Maurice Wells logged the second most carries in 2007 and seems to get the majority of carries in the latter stages of blowout wins.
While Saine is still listed under Maurice Wells on the depth chart, Tressel put an emphasis on getting him the ball more often in the latter part of the season. Also, Saine has shown big-play ability and pass-catching skills that have not been seen by a Buckeye running back during the Tressel era.
Also looking to break onto the scene is redshirt freshmen Danny Herron, who is believed to be making a strong push for playing time. Some believe that although Saine posses more game experience and game breaking abilities, Herron may be better suited to be the Buckeyes next workhorse running back.
New to campus this year are hybrid running back/ receiver Laamar Thomas as well as highly-touted quarterback Terrelle Pryor. It’s to be determined what their roles in the offense will be this year, but it’s likely we’ll be seeing both players being called upon to utilize their unique abilities as a change of pace to the Buckeyes’ standard offensive sets.
It’s an eclectic mix of unique talents and young blood behind Chris Wells, so it will be very intriguing to see how Tressel decides to divvy up the amount of touches when Wells is on the sideline.
8- Who will come off the bench if Boeckman suffers an injury?
Here’s a story for you. In 2003, an experienced starting quarterback at a big-time college football program fell victim to injury early in the season. Listed as the backup was an older, more developed quarterback who had to fight to earn a full scholarship. The third quarterback was a five-star highly touted freshmen with no game experience.
As NBC went to timeout, it was uncertain if Tyrone Willingham would insert the more experienced but less-heralded Pat Dillingham or go with the all-world recruit Brady Quinn to replace injured Carlyle Holiday. Despite what the depth chart said, Willingham made the decision to go with Quinn to finish the game as well as the season.
Now fast forward to 2008, where the Buckeyes have high aspirations for incumbent starter Todd Boeckman but are probably just as uncertain what to do if he were to have to miss some time with an injury.
Sure on paper it’s a no-brainer, but there are considerable factors at play here. Although Pryor is absorbing the entire playbook, he’ll be putting special emphasis on learning certain packages of plays he’ll be called upon to execute as a change of pace quarterback ala Tim Tebow. If something were to happen to Boeckman, would the coaches put their trust in Pryor to run the entire offense in a close game for an extended period of time?
Or would they go with pesky Joe Bauserman? Bauserman has done his part scaring away Rob Schoenhoft and Antonio Henton and now finds himself in the unthinkable position of being listed as the number two quarterback. His ascension up the depth chart has been rewarded with a full scholarship and now the former minor league baseball player has his eyes set on fending off another highly-touted quarterback from getting in the way of him and a chance at starting.
Everything we’ve heard about Pryor would lead you to believe there isn’t really a decision to be made here. Hopefully we’ll never have to find out the answer to this hypothetical question, but keep in mind that Bauserman has the head start on Pryor and it won’t be transparent how much distance if any Pryor will make up on Bauserman on a week-to-week basis.
7- What type of production can we expect at the fullback position and who will be leading the way?
We’ve heard a handful of names as candidates to take over as the starting fullback position this upcoming season. The reality is that by mid August the list of candidates should be down to 2-3 as the coaching staff determines who is best suited to be Wells’ lead blocker.
We’ve heard Ryan Lukens mentioned as a strong possibility in addition to rumblings of linebackers Curtis Terry, Austin Spitler, and Andrew Sweat taking reps in the spring at fullback.
Jermil Martin received a late offer this winter to shore up depth at the position and may get a chance to see the most playing time out of any freshmen. However it’s not clear if he is physically and mentally prepared to take on significant playing time in this role and may find himself redshirting if he cannot impress the coaches early on.
Although the importance of the fullback position has decreased over the last decade, a quick look at Wells’ best runs last year will show a consistent theme of great lead blocking (Whaley=Beast) at the fullback position
Whoever takes over will have to get acclimated quickly with a trio of talented linebackers at USC looking to foil Wells’ Heisman candidacy. Keep a close on the fullback position the first two games of the year, as the coaches will be monitoring this position battle with a close eye in lieu of the big game against USC.
6- Can Tressel beat Carroll?
As much as we like to puff up our chest and throw stones at USC, they currently sit a notch above Ohio State in terms of national prestige. We like to call into question a lot of things about the Trojan program, but the fact remains their resume speaks for itself.
Over the past six years they’ve steamrolled some great teams, cleaned up recruiting-wise, dominated their conference, won a plethora of prestigious individual awards, and gone 4-0 in BCS bowls against Big Ten teams. Sure, there have been some notable bumps along the way, but national opinion is that the Trojan program stands out a bit ahead of its peers.
At the heart of their success is head coach Pete Carroll. The former NFL head coach is, in a nutshell, the wildly successful antithesis of Jim Tressel.
While Tressel prides himself as being somewhat of a father figure, Carroll prides himself on being just one of the guys. Carroll truly embraces the uniqueness of having a college program in the capital of the entertainment industry. You can question his style all you want, but the results are indicative of his effectiveness as a coach.
September 13th will in many ways be a culture clash. Label it whatever you want (old school vs. new school, West Coast vs. Midwest, sweater vest vs. shirtless and sandals). At the center of this epic clash is the showdown between the most successful college football coaches of this decade.
Both coaches have shown the ability to win AND lose the big game and it’s been somewhat of an anomaly that the two coaches and programs have avoided each other in the BCS thus far. Now we’re almost a month away from what should be a historic showdown between the two coaching greats.
It’s anyone guess how the game will turn out, but it’s going to be an absolute treat to see Tressel’s offensive play calling going head to head with one of the game’s premier defensive coaches in Carroll. With the amount of talent on both sides, it’s very possible that the outcome of the game may boil down to the strategy and play calling between the two coaching greats.
There hasn’t been a chess game this exciting since Kasparov and Deep Blue.
5- Will the offense continue to evolve with the likes of Pryor, Saine, and Thomas poised to make an impact?
Despite the somewhat dated national perception that the Buckeyes still employ a conservative vanilla offense, Tressel has done a pretty admirable job adjusting the playbook and play calling to fit the talent makeup of each year’s roster.
This year may be his biggest test, as Pryor, Saine, and Thomas affectively gives the Buckeyes a trio of playmakers to augment the talent of Chris Wells, Brian Robiskie, and Brian Hartline.
But meshing these players into the offense is easier said than done. Scouting reports will be sure to point out the explosiveness of all three players, so it will be somewhat of a challenge to get them implemented into the offense without tipping off the defense of the Buckeyes’ intentions.
Tressel did a tremendous job rolling out various new packages for Saine last year that presented defenses with difficult match ups. This year, Tressel has his work cut out for him as Pryor and Thomas give the offense unprecedented speed and elusiveness in addition to the budding abilities of Saine.
It will be a work in progress all season, but keep an eye out for how the Buckeyes adjust their offensive philosophy and play calling to capitalize on this year’s unique blend of experience, talent, and raw speed.
4- Who starts AND finishes the year at Right Tackle?
Similar to the fullback position, the race for the starting right tackle is pretty wide open. Bryant Browning opens up camp as the favorite to win the spot, with Evan Blankenship listed as his backup.
While freshman Mike Brewster is believed to be an interior lineman, it’s not inconceivable that he could join fellow freshmen Mike Adams and JB Shugarts in getting a thorough audition for the starting right tackle spot.
Browning will likely start the year as the starter barring an epic camp from one of the freshmen, but the much more intriguing question will be who will start the Michigan game at right tackle?
It’s likely that Adams and or Shugarts will make significant progress in closing the gap on Browning through out camp and into the season. In the same way Alex Boone earned his starting spot his freshmen year, it’s possible that Adams or Shugarts could claim the starting role midway through the 2008 campaign.
Keep an eye out on the depth chart to see when and where any freshman breaks into the two-deep rotation in addition to if any of the freshmen linemen end up taking a redshirt year.
3- Will special teams revert back to a team strength?
A staple of Tressel coached football teams is a clear-cut advantage on special teams. It’s safe to say you’re not going to find too many head coaches at any level who tab the punt as the most important play in football. Unfortunately though 2007 was a pretty down year across the board for the special team units.
After three straight years averaging 21-24 yards a kickoff return, the Buckeyes were at the bottom of this stat category in 2007 with a meager 17 yards a return. There was also a notable decline in performance in kickoff coverage as the Buckeyes yielded 21-plus yards a return in addition to giving up two touchdowns.
Punt returns also fell off with the Buckeyes averaging less than ten yards a return for the first time since 2003. What was more disappointing on this front was the number of mental miscues by the punt return unit. In the second half of the year, this unit fell victim to a fake punt against Wisconsin, wiped out a return touchdown against Michigan with a penalty, and extended a crucial second-half drive for LSU in the title game.
The special team units also saw a pretty substantial five kicks blocked while only getting their paws on two kicks.
All in all it was a very subpar year for the Bucks across the board on special teams. Although a lot of this can be attributed to the departure of Ted Ginn, the drop off in performance was more widespread than just one player.
Going forward in 2008, it will be intriguing to see if the Bucks can regain their former competitive edge when it comes to special teams. Although punts and kickoffs can be a somewhat lackluster part of the game to some, it will be a huge focus for the team in 2008 and something that warrants a close look by fans.
2- Can the front four pick up the slack for the departed Vernon Gholston?
The Buckeye defense logged an impressive 42 sacks in 2007, improving from their total of 38 from the year before. Unfortunately for the Bucks, sack leader Vernon Gholston took his act to the NFL leaving the defensive line without a proven top tier pass rusher. In fact, if you add up the sacks of all the other defensive linemen last year, you still fall short of Gholtson’s production in sacks (14-10.5).
But Gholston’s absence is about more than just sacks. His mere presence seemed to have a detrimental effect on other team’s passing games. His ability to play on both sides of the line as well as drop back into coverage gave the coaching staff unprecedented flexibility to attack the opposing offense.
While there are high expectations for guys like Lawrence Wilson, Thaddeus Gibson, and Cameron Heyward, the entire front line will have to elevate their play to make up for the departure of Gholston.
In particular the play of the interior line should be scrutinized as the unit suffered from lapses of inconsistency through out the season. While Heacock has opted to rotate the interior tackles and may be tempted to experiment with freshmen like Garret Goebel and Willie Mobley, he maybe more inclined to go with a less frequent rotation in 2008 hoping certain players will emerge and improve with more game repetitions.
It’s very unlikely that the Buckeyes will match the 42 sacks of 2007 or even the 38 sacks of 2006, but it will be imperative that this unit continue the tradition of dominating opposing offensive lines against the run AND the pass in 2008.
1- Will the passing game find better consistency?
All in all, it was a solid rookie campaign for quarterback Todd Boeckman in his first year as starting quarterback. For a guy who had not seen any meaningful playing time, 25 passing touchdowns and a nearly 64 pecent completion rate was impressive as well as somewhat unexpected.
However, there were periods within almost every game where he seemed to lose his rhythm, confidence, and decision-making ability. Unfortunately, Boeckman finished up 2007 on a down note, throwing only two touchdowns compared to six interceptions in the final three games. Boeckman also didn’t complete more than 58 percent of his passes during in any game during this span, a major factor in the Buckeyes two late season losses.
While some inconsistency was to be expected of the new starter, it’s troubling that Boeckman’s performance seemed to taper off late in the season when he had some experience under his belt. Although the final three games of the season were against three of the better defenses faced all season, Boeckman, Robiskie, and Hartline all struggled down the stretch, as Chris Wells seemed to be hitting full stride.
Typically an improved running game opens up the field for the passing game to capitalize on the defense’s adjustments to stop the run. Alternatively though, as Wells began to cement himself as a front runner for this year’s Heisman with Herculean efforts against Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and LSU, Boeckman and company had more and more difficulty moving the chains and finding the end zone through the air. Boeckman’s completion percentage during this stretch was 57 percent compared to the previous nine games in which his completion percentage was 67 percent.
With Boeckman, Robiskie, and Hartline all now more settled and experienced as starters, it will be absolutely imperative that the passing games sustains itself through out the year as a consistent, dependable, explosive, and dynamic component of the offense.
No other question mark will play as pivotal of a role in the Buckeyes’ quest to return to the national championship for a third consecutive year. The Buckeyes’ last three losses can all be largely attributed to an ineffective and ill-advised passing game. If Boeckman and company can produce at a high level in the biggest games of the year, there is no reason to believe that this year’s team can’t run the table and bring another championship back to Columbus.
