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FB/LB Zach Boren (Official Thread)

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Heck of an effort by Zac tonight.

Congrats to him on the move, however temporary---everyone knows defense is more fun to play and defensive players are smarter and better looking and get more girls.

Now if you'll excuse me I am going to cry myself to sleep b/c our fullback lead the team in tackles in a game where we gave up 49 points to Indiana.
 
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Ohio State's Zach Boren is a hit at fullback or linebacker: Doug Lesmerises' Skull Session
Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
October 14, 2012

Bloomington, Ind. -- Zach Boren was ready to play linebacker two years ago.

When the Ohio State linebacking corps was getting run over by Wisconsin in 2010, the fullback ran to linebackers coach Luke Fickell and told him he was ready to go in.

On Saturday, the Buckeyes finally took Boren up on the offer. And he led Ohio State with eight tackles in a 52-49 win over Indiana.

?I'll do whatever it takes for this team to win,? Boren said.

With senior Etienne Sabino out for at least three weeks with a broken leg, the Buckeyes called not on a freshman to replace him, but a fellow senior who's been on the other side of the ball since he arrived on campus.

That led to what Boren called a long 72 hours of staying after practice to learn all the aspects of the defense with Fickell. A former standout high school linebacker at Pickerington Central, Boren knows the position, but after four years of offense in Columbus, he didn't know how the Buckeyes do things on that side of the ball. But Ohio State really had no choice. The move was desperate, flattering, crazy and completely sensible all at once.

Meyer said he asked Boren to make the move at Tuesday's practice, when Sabino was joined on the sideline by fellow injured linebackers Ryan Shazier, Camren Williams and Josh Perry. They were running out of bodies and Meyer wanted some veteran leadership in the unit.

"He jumped right at it and he really changed practice on Tuesday," Meyer said. "It's a very unselfish move by him."

At it wasn't a one-game thing. The move should stick at least until Sabino returns to action.

"I would think he might stay over there for a while," Meyer said.

I talked with Boren about playing linebacker last November, when it seemed like a more wide-open offense -- with Braxton Miller at quarterback -- was reducing his role in the offense. That's been amplified this season in Meyer's offense. Boren does his primary job at fullback, leading a running back through a hole, as well as anyone on the team handles the duties of their positions.

In Ohio State's old offense, Boren was a linebacker playing fullback. If he can't do that as often, then make him a linebacker playing linebacker.

And if he's not on the field as much on offense, it makes it that much easier to play on both sides of the ball.

"I feel like, mentally, I could definitely handle it. Physically, I think I can handle it as well," Boren told me 11 months ago. He was playing about 60 snaps a week on offense then, and he thought he could handle as many as 80 total snaps.

Back then, Mike Vrabel, who coached the linebackers last season, told him he'd have to get down to 240 pounds to play linebacker. Boren was at 256. Now, he's 245.

And he should be able to do both. But when the Buckeyes had a fourth-and-1 run in the first half, Boren stayed out of the game. He wasn't a two-way player, and that is a shame. It seems he could handle both jobs.

He was just a linebacker, and a part-time one at that. He shared his spot with senior Storm Klein, at least until Klein went out of the game in the second half.

Even with the eight tackles, this wasn't Boren's kind of game. It seems as if Sabino should be back for the game against Wisconsin, after a bye week, on Nov. 17. If not, Boren could help the Buckeyes a lot then, plugging holes and trying to tackle Montee Ball. Before then, he'll be chasing teams that spread the field, which isn't what he, or the OSU defense as a whole, does best. Boren missed at least one play in space Saturday that made him mad.

Even given that, he may be the best option the Buckeyes have. Boren can play the game. The Buckeyes are still figuring out what exactly is the best way to use him. Here's hoping it involves both sides of the ball.
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http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2012/10/ohio_states_zach_boren_is_a_fu.html#incart_river
 
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Unusual circumstances(lots of guys getting hurt at one position) led to an unusual decision to play Boren. But that's why Coach makes the big money. Boren could stay there for another week or until the regular LBers get healthy. I hated seeing that whiff on the last TD by Indiana, though. A week of practice could make him a starter at MLB till the season ends.
But, 49 points? We couldn't buy a stop in that 4th quarter! We looked completely exhausted. I expected a letdown after the last 2 games and we did survive!
Just win, baby! :oh:
 
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Taosman;2234672; said:
Unusual circumstances(lots of guys getting hurt at one position) led to an unusual decision to play Boren. But that's why Coach makes the big money. Boren could stay there for another week or until the regular LBers get healthy. I hated seeing that whiff on the last TD by Indiana, though. A week of practice could make him a starter at MLB till the season ends.
But, 49 points? We couldn't buy a stop in that 4th quarter! We looked completely exhausted. I expected a letdown after the last 2 games and we did survive!
Just win, baby! :oh:
Click to expand...

:io:
 
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Boren fills hole at linebacker
Senior's move to defense doesn't appear to be temporary
Updated: October 14, 2012
By Austin Ward | BuckeyeNation

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Walking out to the practice field last Tuesday, Urban Meyer was doing some simple calculations about his lack of depth at linebacker when he caught a glimpse of his fullback.

All it took was one request of the offensive captain and the Ohio State coach suddenly had a new veteran presence on defense.

That conversation before practice was by an impressive set of practices that suggested the Buckeyes might have stumbled onto an answer with Zach Boren filling in for an injury-depleted unit. From there, the senior moved on through a crash course learning the defense in the hours leading up to Saturday's trip to Indiana, and there wasn't much time for anybody involved to think about the move.

rec_g_boren_288.jpg

Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Zach Boren played reasonably well at Indiana after a crash course at linebacker.

And even though neither the defense nor Boren turned in anything close to a perfect game in a 52-49 win over the Hoosiers, it doesn't appear a return to his natural position will be coming any time soon.

"I'm not a math major, but we're starting to get real thin," Meyer said. "Zach is a guy that I just was jogging out to practice and I had this horrible gut feeling that we had to get some experience, a veteran guy over there to help us out. He jumped right at it and really changed practice on Tuesday just with his energy. He's an all-for-one, one-for-all kind of guy.

"Very unselfish move for him, and I've just got to see where we are when we get back. I would think he might stay over there for a while."

cont...
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http://espn.go.com/colleges/osu/foo...k-zach-boren-move-linebacker-likely-temporary
 
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JXC;2235003; said:
I was at the game and saw him flying around on defense. Looked like he had great instincts to find the ball. Did he just play defense, or did he play any snaps on offense, too?
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I never saw him on O. Interestingly enough, in Urban's presser this week he said that the play of Heuerman and Vannett is what made the move by Zach possible.
 
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Zach Boren will tell you a case of pregame butterflies is good for a football player?s soul, but not the jitters he felt six nights ago.
?I haven?t been nervous before a game in a long time,? said Boren, an Ohio State senior and co-captain. ?Normally, even big games, I love big games, I get butterflies, but I?ve never really been nervous. I was really nervous against Indiana.?
That?s because four days earlier, the fourth-year starting fullback answered coach Urban Meyer?s emergency call for linebackers. There were so many injured that Meyer said he almost called off practice.
?So we either cancel practice, hope for a rainy day, or take Zach Boren and move him over,? Meyer said on his radio show yesterday. ?That?s kind of bizarre that that happened, but it turned out OK. Somebody said, ?Boy, what a great move.? It worked out. We?ve still got to get a lot better.?
But Boren?s move to linebacker?
?Temporarily permanent,? Meyer called it.
Boren is expected to start on Saturday at home against Purdue, especially with senior middle linebacker Storm Klein among those hurting after last week?s game.It is ?kind of bizarre,? Boren going from starting fullback to starting linebacker in two weeks. But there were games during Ohio State?s 2002 Ohio State national championship season when Chris Gamble played at receiver, cornerback and punt returner, so what has been asked of Boren pales in comparison.
It also points out a weakness for the undefeated and No. 7 Buckeyes. Linebacker, a position of strength the past decade, has become so dire this season it needed an unconventional fix.
?It?s not a good thing I had to do it because we lost one of our great leaders in (Etienne) Sabino, and a great player and a great friend as well,? Boren said of Sabino, who is out indefinitely because of a broken lower leg. ?So it?s not a great thing I had to do it, but it?s one of those things where I had to help out, was called upon, and I?m doing it.?
He dived into it, actually. He had the Purdue offense rolling through his mind this week.
?They?re really good at using their personnel and getting into different formations,? Boren said. ?They?re great at disguising what they?re running.
?They throw quick passes, which in the past we?ve had some trouble with as a defense. But at the same time they?re great at running the ball. They?ve got a tough running back, and their quarterbacks can run the ball. They just come at you from all different angles.?
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more http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/con...boren-bails-out-osu-with-move-to-defense.html
 
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