Ohio State notes: Buckeyes going with jumbo defensive front
Published: Wednesday, November 02, 2011
By John Kampf
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COLUMBUS ? Ohio State has gone with the heavy lumber to stack up the running game of opposing teams.
In many cases last Saturday against Wisconsin, the Buckeyes went with four jumbo-sized defensive linemen against the Badgers' bruising running game.
Quite often, OSU's front four included Jonathon Hankins (6-foot-3, 335 pounds) and Garrett Goebel (6-3, 290) in the middle as defensive tackles, with end postions manned by John Simon (6-2, 270) and Adam Bellamy (6-4, 302).
The strategy worked. Wisconsin was held to 89 yards rushing ? nearly 160 fewer than its season average.
A week earlier at Illinois, OSU held the Illini to 116 yards on 35 carries (3.3 yards per carry).
"You're going to try to play your best 11 guys," Coach Luke Fickell said. "That's the thing I think we've always done well on defense, is find our way to get our best 11 on the field. So what that means, four big guys, it's four big guys."
Ohio State is playing short-handed on the defensive front this year, with its best pass-rusher, Nathan Williams, out the rest of the year. Solomon Thomas also missed the first five games of the season.
Hence, the super-sized front has been the better option.
"Now you might have to do some things a little bit different defensively than if you had a Nathan Williams or Thaddeus Gibson or one of those guys that's played out there for us in the past," Fickell said. "But you've ultimately got to be able to adjust to be able to do what your guys do, and whatever that tells to get the best 11 on the field."
