Matt Tamanini
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Biggest Concerns Week: From offensive line to quarterback, LGHL to tackle football team issues
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
What are your biggest concerns for the football team as we embark on the next three months of the offseason?
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Biggest Concerns. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Biggest Concerns here.
As you might have been able to tell by the glut of Justin Timberlake memes (or if you travel in the same social media circles that I do, Elphaba memes), the calendar has officially flipped to May, so that means here at Land-Grant Holy Land, we are continuing — and expanding — a “summer” tradition: Theme Weeks.
Starting today and running through July, we will have a different theme for every week of the offseason to give us a little bit of structure as we work our way to the start of preseason camp in August. Not every article that we write here at LGHL will be on the theme, but throughout the course of the week, different writers will give their perspectives and unique takes on that week’s focus.
Since it is a long offseason, and we are generally a pretty homerific group, we decided to start this off with some of the things that have us worried about the season in order to get those out of the way so that we can focus on the positives the rest of the way. So, this week’s theme is “Biggest Concerns.”
On Sunday, the Ohio State football team addressed (but obviously did not solve) one of its biggest concerns when it added former San Diego State starting offensive tackle Josh Simmons. While that will almost certainly not fix all of the issues on the offensive line that the Buckeyes find themselves having to deal with, having another body in the mix — and one that has started double-digit games — is a net positive.
But there is no doubt that OSU has to find some solutions on the offensive line over the next four months if they want to reach the goals that the team has undoubtedly set for itself.
Another significant concern on the offensive side of the ball that needs to be figured out in the coming months is what is going to happen at the quarterback position. I think that most people who have paid attention agree that former five-star prospect Kyle McCord is likely to be the starting QB when the Buckeyes take to the field in the season-opener against Indiana, but my question is less about who is behind center, and is he good enough to keep the offense humming at, or at least near, where it has been operating since Ryan Day came to Columbus.
I know that C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields didn’t exactly light the world on fire at their first spring games, so McCord’s middling performance last month does not necessarily mean that he is incapable of running the offense, but it does make one wonder if he is going to be able to take full advantage of the insane amount of talent at his disposal this season. Fortunately, I feel fairly confident that McCord will be able to figure it out come fall, especially if Justin Frye is able to cobble together some sort of solution on the offensive line.
There are obviously plenty of other concerns to have heading into the season, like how difficult the schedule is shaping up to be, whether or not the secondary will be able to keep up with the best offenses that OSU will face this season, whether or not the defensive line will finally return to the game-wrecking form that its collective talent has been teasing for years, and much more.
We will be writing about many of those issues this week here at LGHL, so if you have a concern that you want to see us dive into, let us know in the comments below.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
What are your biggest concerns for the football team as we embark on the next three months of the offseason?
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Biggest Concerns. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Biggest Concerns here.
As you might have been able to tell by the glut of Justin Timberlake memes (or if you travel in the same social media circles that I do, Elphaba memes), the calendar has officially flipped to May, so that means here at Land-Grant Holy Land, we are continuing — and expanding — a “summer” tradition: Theme Weeks.
Starting today and running through July, we will have a different theme for every week of the offseason to give us a little bit of structure as we work our way to the start of preseason camp in August. Not every article that we write here at LGHL will be on the theme, but throughout the course of the week, different writers will give their perspectives and unique takes on that week’s focus.
Since it is a long offseason, and we are generally a pretty homerific group, we decided to start this off with some of the things that have us worried about the season in order to get those out of the way so that we can focus on the positives the rest of the way. So, this week’s theme is “Biggest Concerns.”
On Sunday, the Ohio State football team addressed (but obviously did not solve) one of its biggest concerns when it added former San Diego State starting offensive tackle Josh Simmons. While that will almost certainly not fix all of the issues on the offensive line that the Buckeyes find themselves having to deal with, having another body in the mix — and one that has started double-digit games — is a net positive.
But there is no doubt that OSU has to find some solutions on the offensive line over the next four months if they want to reach the goals that the team has undoubtedly set for itself.
Another significant concern on the offensive side of the ball that needs to be figured out in the coming months is what is going to happen at the quarterback position. I think that most people who have paid attention agree that former five-star prospect Kyle McCord is likely to be the starting QB when the Buckeyes take to the field in the season-opener against Indiana, but my question is less about who is behind center, and is he good enough to keep the offense humming at, or at least near, where it has been operating since Ryan Day came to Columbus.
I know that C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields didn’t exactly light the world on fire at their first spring games, so McCord’s middling performance last month does not necessarily mean that he is incapable of running the offense, but it does make one wonder if he is going to be able to take full advantage of the insane amount of talent at his disposal this season. Fortunately, I feel fairly confident that McCord will be able to figure it out come fall, especially if Justin Frye is able to cobble together some sort of solution on the offensive line.
There are obviously plenty of other concerns to have heading into the season, like how difficult the schedule is shaping up to be, whether or not the secondary will be able to keep up with the best offenses that OSU will face this season, whether or not the defensive line will finally return to the game-wrecking form that its collective talent has been teasing for years, and much more.
We will be writing about many of those issues this week here at LGHL, so if you have a concern that you want to see us dive into, let us know in the comments below.
Continue reading...