Urban Meyer is just a handful of days away from coaching in his first Buckeye game of the year, but first he has to make the media rounds. On Monday, he spoke with the assembled media at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and on Tuesday he spent his required allotment of time on the Big Ten coaches teleconference. Here are the highlights.
+ Nose tackle Davon Hamilton has made tremendous improvement over the last year. He was almost a non-factor early in his career.
+ Freshman running back Brian Snead will be back practicing today. He missed last week for a disciplinary reason.
+ There is lost yardage without the quarterback running, so you have to pick up those yards somewhere else. They are doing that with passing and with J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber.
+ Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson have done such a great job running the offense that Meyer will still be involved, but will be more of a game manager. This was in response to a question if Meyer would like to see more quarterback runs.
+ Meyer has wanted to get Ryan Day on his staff for a while now. He is an elite coach.
+ The first two games, the linebackers played very well. Pete Werner has played well. The one thing that has gotten them out of sorts on Saturday was the tempo which caused some misalignment issues. Malik Harrison has been playing great. The other guys have been getting better. Greg Schiano has been happy with the progress.
+ Ryan Day will be on the field this week instead of in the press box.
+ Meyer has been a “game manager” before in the past, but a high degree as to why he is okay doing it now is because of the high degree of the success that the offense has had. He went into the season hoping to be able to do this and the results have been very positive.
+ On Nick Bosa, “He’s one of the best players I’ve ever been around.” They’ll know tomorrow or Thursday more information on how long Bosa might be out.
+ Robert Landers has a slight injury but he is probable.
+ Everybody in the program loves Malcolm Pridgeon and is happy for his success this season.
+ The team can still improve on their consistency in kickoff return and offensively they can take care of the ball better. They can run the ball better. The defense needs to stop giving up the big plays, and if it does break, get them on the ground.
+ The return game is a competition every week until somebody takes the job.
I’m typically a guy who sees the entire program through scarlet colored lens – but (no caps) I agree that the linebacking play is inconsistent and that Browning may have been promised playing time to get him on board – because he seems to just run into the pile – instead of making the play – very evident in the first two games. I’m also not a huge fan of Tuf Borland – doesn’t seem to square up enough. Mallk Harrison is a quality B1G linebacker and Werner has promise – but – here it comes – the lttle I’ve seen of Justin Hilliard he seems to be a quality linebacker and a better option in the middle – so my guess is he has other issues (health or otherwise). Also it seems that the guys brought in under Fickell are being put in the back burner.
Totally agree.
Hilliard leads the LB’s in tackles per minute played by a huge margin. And he’s great on kickoff coverage. Not sure why he doesn’t play a lot more.
Yep, and it’s a shame because every one of those guys are top quality players and young men.
Dante’ Booker was a beast coming in and contributed early. Yeah he had a couple of injuries but I know the guy, he’s a worker. The only thing that prevented Justin Hilliard from early playing time was injury. Every time he was talked up and was in and made terrific plays, he got pushed behind. Keandre’ Jones is a fantastic player, but like the first 2 seems to be shuffled to the bottom of the deck.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like Pete Werner and Baron Browning, but they are not the ballers of at least 2 of the guys in the last paragraph. At least not yet. Malik Hooker needs quality upper tier ready player beside him. He really is a freak of nature athletically, he’s smart and a finisher. The ONLY way Jerome Baker was ahead of Justin early on was Justin’s injuries. THEN we saw Jerome Baker, easily one of the 2 best linebackers in the conference his sophomore year (Luke Fickell final year), and Chris Worley who was a really outstanding outside linebacker, turned into place holders rather than playmakers.
Those sudden collapses don’t happen without a real cause behind them. Seeing the disaster this year it’s obvious what the problem is. Their position coach just wasn’t worth the hire.. Urban is keeping him because of Bill Davis’ father, not because of Bills ability. FTR….the only way Bill got a coaching gig in the pro’s was ALSO because of his father. He’s like Zach Smith……..CLUELESS how to develop young talent.
I know that’s a fowl tasting disclaimer to some Buckeye fans, but it’s the truth.
It’s definitely the truth….as you see it!!!
……………yeah, and it’s the truth according to the stat lines across the board. Stats don’t mean everything, but, they certainly mean something. That leaves the visual to combine with it. So unless the “development of the linebackers is to intentionally have the linebackers out of position, put the team in bad situations, or potentially lose…………….the current condition is horrible. That’s on the position coach. Those factors aren’t “the way I see it.” They’re the truth according to any measuring stick.
Unassisted tackles by our LB’s this year:
Werner 7, Malik 7, Hilliard 6, Tuf 3, Keandre 2, Booker 1, Browning 1
And we all know that Browning has played way more minutes than Hilliard, Tuf, Keandre and Booker this year.
Browning’s first play vs TCU was 3 minutes into the 2nd Q. And on his first play, OSU gave up their longest TD in history. Coincidence? I think not.
I think Browning will be a stud in the future, but let’s play our best LB’s right now. Browning is clearly not one of them.
Anyone that is a problem should be fired, no matter early, mid ,or late season. I bitch about our LB play, but i should specify its not toward the young men. Our coaching technique, scheme, overall philosophy is poor. Fault lies squarely on coaching. Yes they have made some big plays, BUT overall consistent play is NOT even close to CHAMPIONSHIP caliber. WE expect and deserve more than what is being put on the field. The players deserve better. With the aggressivness of our D line and the amount of penetration, and disruptiveness they throw at teams, we need LBs that can patient,read and react to the ball without being sucked too far from the play and too deep to recover or aren’t coached enough to shed blocks..BALLHAWKS
How many tackles has Barron Browning had in three (3) games? I don’t know of any. Not one I remember. The safety position is in need of help. Fuller is excellent, he is the only one. Give those other guys a chance.
James Mills, I agree 100%! They’ve had good Linebackers come through, but they aren’t developed. I’ve said this for yrs. Urban says they played good, but we all disagree with that.
Thanks Edward…….but I’m the bad guy around here. I get the writers not being willing to challenge the coaches in their articles. They need access for their stories. Their Scarlet color glasses are a business wise accessory to their apparel. Some of my best friends are Scarlet glasses wearing, speak no evil of…….(fill in the blank) diehards too. Even they can’t defend the linebacker play the last 2 years. This year especially, because Davis has had 2 years now to get it together with some of the Nations most sought after players at their positions. It’s not getting done. Here that’s considered hating. RUBBISH, it’s called wanting the best for the program I have loved since 1960.
He needs to stop protecting Davis and the emotions of the linebackers. They’ve played like crap, because they have been developed like crap. We’ve seen recently what loyalty can cause on the staff and the Buckeyes can’t afford to let blind allegiance cause the program and the team anymore nonsense. With Smith it was a stupid personality disorder. With Davis is simply that the guy can’t coach college football players or develop them.
Get that fixed and the majority of defensive errors suddenly go away. It’s just that simple.
Stop, you are wrong. One of the biggest plays of the game, the D. Jones interception was caused by a LB, watch the play, If Werner does not pressure the QB the interception does not happen.
Harrison played great the 2nd half of the TCU game. Remember all of the LB’s are new and just starting to play this year. It will be OK.
Jeff, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the defensive front. Dre’Mont Jones is one of the most efficient and playmaking linemen at least in the Big 10. It’s the linebackers that are a train wreck. We seen great linebackers come through, too many to just single out. But they were also parts of great linebacker UNITS who were taught how to play the game. Davis has never in his life before coming to Ohio State had to teach a linebacker anything. He was the recipient of the work of others at the collegiate level and all he had to do was hand them a playbook. He didn’t teach them a single thing.
I don’t know a single person who is an avid Buckeye fan who can stomach watching the mess Davis has made in 2 short years with those 3 positions. It’s CERTAINLY not a lack of talent. EVERY major program wanted those guys. 3 years ago they would have been labeled among BIA. Now they are one of the worst units in Ohio State history. I go back to 1960. The talent level hasn’t changed, the coaching has. That’s 100% on Davis. Urban Meyer should send him back to quality control, or the pro’s. He just doesn’t have a clue what to do to develop young talent.
Can’t fire someone midway through the season for not doing a good job. Like it or not he is here for the duration.
Greg Schiano doesn’t have a position group. Dump Davis yesterday and do with him what Urban does with Ryan Day and Alex Grinch as coordinators. Give him the linebackers and get rid of Davis. He’s even worse than Withers was.
Show me a guy that says the SAME THING over and over and over and I’ll show you a guy with some issues.
Show me a guy who has no eyes and I’ll show you a visually blind man. Your comment says more about Urban and the Coordinators than it does about me. If they don’t want people talking about one of the most pathetic units in College Football……….where even talking heads on every sports channel mentions………FIX IT. Fix it even to the point of breaking blind delicate flower hearts, who wouldn’t know a football if one landed on his porch.
They don’t fix it…….it will CONTINUE to be talked about.