Ohio State football: There's room for youth on Bollman's line
Tuesday September 6, 2011
By Tim May
The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio State plunged into the 2011 season last week with three freshmen listed as backups on the offensive line. Somewhere, Woody Hayes had to be pacing with worry.
Offensive coordinator Jim Bollman, who coaches the line, might have shared Hayes? angst 10 years ago, until he became used to the notion that freshman linemen weren?t such a bad thing, at least in small doses.
?I?ve been coaching for 35 years, and prior to coming here (in 2001), I never had a freshman play in the offensive line,? Bollman said. ?I mean never. I had some who might be on the varsity field with me in practice, but they never played.
?But now, maybe rationalizing back over the past 10 years, this is one of the places where maybe you can recruit guys who can play as freshmen up there. But there?s almost always some kind of combination with need that happens. For example, this was a year coming in where we knew we were minus some entities for a bit.?
No. 1 left tackle Mike Adams was suspended for the first five games and the line?s probable sixth man, Corey Linsley, was suspended for the first two.
?So we knew we were going to have to have some young guys step it up,? Bollman said. ?And we?ve got a couple of young guys who have been doing that, and a couple of young guys who are still in the process.?
The first two he referred to were freshmen Brian Bobek at center and Tony Underwood at right tackle, backups who both played in the opening win over Akron on Saturday.
While 380-pound freshman Chris Carter was listed as the backup at left guard, he did not see action. Neither did freshman Tommie Brown, though Bollman would not rule out either of them playing this season.
Bollman?s willingness to play first-year linemen, at least in support roles, is nothing new.
?We?ve been in some of these situations before,? he said. ?Look back at our national championship year in 2002.?
Center Nick Mangold and guard Rob Sims saw increasing action as freshman subs that season, including in the title-game win over the University of Miami.
?Sometimes you have to make those kinds of decisions because of the numbers (of players available),? Bollman said. ?This is a similar kind of deal, and I think the young guys this year are doing a good job of stepping up.?
Cont...