Toledo Blade
1/19
Article published Thursday, January 19, 2006
It’s a bit early to call OSU nation’s best
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College football doesn’t have a clear-cut favorite for 2006.
There’s no certain preseason No. 1, and no definitive finalists for the national championship game.
Two-time national champion Southern California will struggle to find replacements for its two Heisman Trophy winners — quarterback Matt Leinart and tailback Reggie Bush.
Texas, which denied USC a third consecutive national title, will not measure up to the big boys again without star quarterback Vince Young.
Ohio State won’t be the same, either, without all-world linebacker A.J. Hawk.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, should be much improved, with quarterback Brady Quinn returning.
And Florida State should figure in the picture as well.
Even so, a recent Sporting News poll ranked the Buckeyes No. 1 heading into next season.
That would appear to be a lofty projection, even for a magician like Jim Tressel.
Granted, Ohio State will have a star-studded offense, led by quarterback Troy Smith and receiver/return man Ted Ginn Jr.
However, on defense, the Buckeyes appear to have more potholes than I-75 south of Detroit.
This unit has been gutted, losing nine starters, including the entire secondary — safeties Nate Salley and Donte Whitner, and cornerbacks Ashton Youboty and Tyler Everett — and all three linebackers — Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel.
Mike Kudla, the team’s sack leader, and Marcus Green also are gone from a defense that ranked first in the Big Ten and fifth nationally in yards allowed and points given up.
You can’t lose impact players like Hawk, Carpenter, Salley and Kudla to the NFL and not expect your defense to take a step back.
Whether it will be a giant leap, only defensive coordinator Jim Heacock knows for sure.
He may have to call on a little of Brutus Buckeye’s magic to pull this one off.
For the first time in the Tressel era, offense will carry Ohio State, not defense.
“Probably for the last four or five years, we have been known as a defensive team,” Smith said after the Fiesta Bowl. “I’m sure we will still be known as a defensive team, even though we lose key and major guys. But now it’s hopefully going to be more of a balance, the defense and the offense.”
Smith already is being touted as a possible Heisman candidate — remember Ginn was last year — on an offense that returns eight starters from a unit that averaged 38.3 points and 470.1 yards per game this past season.
The key losses include game-breaking receiver Santonio Holmes, center Nick Mangold and left guard Rob Sims, who are headed to the NFL. But incoming freshman tailback Chris Wells, the nation’s No. 1 high school player, is expected to push 1,000-yard rusher Antonio Pittman for playing time.
Heacock will try to find the right combinations to plug his depleted defense.
The cupboard isn’t totally bare.
Defensive end David Patterson and tackle Quinn Pitcock — the lone holdovers on defense — will anchor the line, and freshman Lawrence Wilson could develop into a star.
John Kerr, James Laurinaitis, Marcus Freeman and oft-injured Mike D’Andrea are among the candidates at linebacker. And Malcolm Jenkins and Brandon Mitchell have started a handful of games in the secondary.
Kicking could be issue for Ohio State, too, with the loss of Findlay’s Josh Huston.
At this point, the Buckeyes are a lukewarm No. 1. Ron Musselman's columns run weekly in The Blade and toledoblade.com. Musselman can be reached at
[email protected].
