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Laurinaitis vs. Grant (Starting LB Discussion)

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<<This whole debate about Grant vs Laurintis is moot if the Dline cant replace Kudla and Green. The DLine will be the ENTIRE story of how this defense developes. If Lawrence Wilson becomes the star they think he might be, if they can find a good book end for him (IMO Patterson is better suited to the interior) If Pitcock has a monster senior season... THEN what the linebackers can do will matter. Personally, I want more speed.

Were it up to me Id advocate putting D'Andrea in a three point stance. Thats what he will do in the NFL. Id love to pair Wilson and D'Andrea at DE slide Patterson inside with Pitcock. I think that 4 would be a pretty decent starting DLine.

Freeman, Hoobler and a dogfigth between Grant and Animal II at the SLB spot. O'Neil and Mitchell at Safety with Amos and Jenkins at Corner.>>

I like your D although little Patterson will start in place of Mitchell. Yea, he is that good. I like your idea of putting big Patterson inside and D'Andrea at DE because I'm not at all sold on Richardson.
 
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I think the job's up for grabs. Not saying that Grant will definitely win it, but I didn't see anything from Laurinaitis in the scUM game or the ND game that was so fantastic that there's no way Grant would even be given a shot.
 
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i completely disagree about D'Animal. DE is what he'll play in the pros, huh?
what has MDA done here to warrant talk of him going to the pros. It would take a fantastic senior season to catapult him into next years draft talk, IMHO.

As for the starting D; I see it like this:

DE- Lawrence Wilson
DT- Quinn Pitcock
DT- David Patterson(Joel Penton/Todd Denlinger/Nadar Abdallah) if Patterson stays at DE
DE- Jay Richardson/David Patterson/Vernon Gholston/Robert Rose (Never have been sold on Richardson, I like Patterson better in the middle, Gholston is a mystery, and Rose to me is as impressive as Wilson as FR, though it was against high school competition) I would love for Rose to start and be a twin terror with Wilson, but as always, I think Tress errs to seniority.


LB- Marcus Freeman
LB- Mike D'Andrea/Chad Hoobler
LB- Larry Grant/James Laurenitis

CB- Malcolm Jenkins
FS- Jamario O'Neal
SS- Anderson Russell (Mitchell may start the first few games but I've never believed in his ability to be a starter here; Russell starts out as nickel eventually winning the job)
CB- Andre Amos/Kurt Coleman/Chimdi Chekwa (I think Amos starts but will be pushed in the spring by Coleman; Tressel's comments on Chekwa's outstanding recovery speed and excellent man-to-man coverage make me wonder if he sees the field early, ala Malcolm Jenkins '05. I'd say Chekwa RS though)

Should be an interesting spring into fall to see how this defense will look.
Ah, the options.:biggrin:
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
I tracked the first half on the Fiesta Bowl a couple nights ago (was going to post this eventually, but now is as good a time as any). My notes are at home, but I do recall him being in every fourth play or so throughout the first half, mainly because of nickle coverage. They ran a play towards Laurinaitis one time while he was in--one time. Did you notice how Danielson harped at the beginning of the game that pro coaches like Weis will attack a weakness until you fix it? Well, if Weis obviously didn't think Laurinaitis was a weakness because he hever went after him...and after the way our defense was all over the place, Weis would've exploited even the slightest weakness available. If you think that Laurinaitis is "untested" as Grant, then you deserve every ounce of ridicule that you get. Many of you are sounding exactly like many did before D'Andrea set foot on campus, and D'Andrea didn't have a noted weakness in tackling technique either. I'm not slamming Grant and few on this board are happier than I am to get him, but I'm not going to annoint him our next starting SLB simply because of simple measureables and JUCO start ratings.

By the way, other than straight-ahead speed, Laurinaitis' measureables aren't much different than Grants:

Laurinaitis: 6'3", 235, 4.6
Grant: 6'3", 225, 4.4

No "fascination" with the kid, but rather saying that he has earned the right to be considered the clear favorite to start at SLB.
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did you track Darius Walker's 19 yard TD run to start the game? i know AJ got blown off the ball, but if Little Animal hadn't got ABSOLUTELY ABUSED, that run doesn't go for a TD...

BTW, there is a WORLD of difference between a 4.6 and a 4.4...
 
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lvbuckeye said:
did you track Darius Walker's 19 yard TD run to start the game? i know AJ got blown off the ball, but if Little Animal hadn't got ABSOLUTELY ABUSED, that run doesn't go for a TD...

BTW, there is a WORLD of difference between a 4.6 and a 4.4...
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Well, if you had read this thread you would've seen I've responded to this. You have a totally distorted recollection of the play, because Hawk wasn't "blown off the ball" but rather was blocked about 5-6 yards downfield by an OL who released to the second level. As for Laurinaitis, he was in no way "abused"...he was sealed off by at least one blocker (IIRC two blockers were in his path). Using that logic, you could say our entire defense was "abused" because he ran into the end completely untouched. Lastly, I also know the difference between track speed and football speed, not to mention differences in timing errors. That .2 "difference in speed" is likely not as bad as you think.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
Well, if you had read this thread you would've seen I've responded to this. You have a totally distorted recollection of the play, because Hawk wasn't "blown off the ball" but rather was blocked about 5-6 yards downfield by an OL who released to the second level. As for Laurinaitis, he was in no way "abused"...he was sealed off by at least one blocker (IIRC two blockers were in his path). Using that logic, you could say our entire defense was "abused" because he ran into the end completely untouched. Lastly, I also know the difference between track speed and football speed, not to mention differences in timing errors. That .2 "difference in speed" is likely not as bad as you think.
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If you adjust their 40 times according to "football speed" and "MiliMath":

Lauranaitis: 3.9, stopping several times in the middle to make game-winning tackles

Grant: too intimidated by Animal Jr's wealth of experience to finish the sprint
 
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EdDantes22 said:
If you adjust their 40 times according to "football speed" and "MiliMath":

Lauranaitis: 3.9, stopping several times in the middle to make game-winning tackles

Grant: too intimidated by Animal Jr's wealth of experience to finish the sprint
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I think we need to make all your posts automatically have the [sarcasm] sarcasm font [/sarcasm]

give it a rest.
 
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Its fun to discuss these types of things but why would anyone argue over it?

At this point in time, NOBODY has the "right" answer on this one fellas. Just have faith the coaches will find the best 22, then the best mix of starters and guys who rotate in. Every swinging dick in that 22 will be a spectacular athlete, be well coached, tough, physical and a sure tackler or they wouldn't be in an OSU 2 deep.

The real thing is how quickly the coaches can decide on that 2 deep and get them playing as a unit and build the cohesivness we need. That naturally creates barriers to true Frosh starting but certainly doesn't leave them out of the mix for PT.

Personally I'm looking more foreward to this spring and fall camp than any in the JT era save the first one. When you have the caliber and depth of talent we have, competing for this many wide open jobs and great coaches overlooking the whole thing...man, its just going to be phenominal. The team that emerges from fall camp is going to be so used to going 100 mph against each other for so long that the games are just gonna be fun. The only loser in any of this is Northern Illinois.:biggrin:
 
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JonathanXC said:
I think we need to make all your posts automatically have the [sarcasm] sarcasm font [/sarcasm]

give it a rest.
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Anything besides straight-forward, completely literal prose doesn't qualify as sarcasm, my friend. My post was hyperbolic, not sarcastic; and it was to the point. Mili takes the general truth that 40 times can be misleading and uses it to support his campaign for Lauranaitis, when either player's 40 time could be off in either direction. Thus, the mockery.
 
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This type of discussion is exactly what message boards and offseasons are for... I think Dante22 might need to step back just a hair and realize that he is taking this thing with Mili just a bit too personal. Everyone has their opinions and it is great to see what everyone thinks, lets not continue this need for constant sarcasm and just continue to debate about the possibilities of having the luxery of continued success in our defense and the linebackers in particular. We may find out that none of us are right and someone else steps up and performs better in the spring, then certain people might feel stupid for taking something they had no control over to start with so serious...
 
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ScarletNGry said:
This type of discussion is exactly what message boards and offseasons are for... I think Dante22 might need to step back just a hair and realize that he is taking this thing with Mili just a bit too personal. Everyone has their opinions and it is great to see what everyone thinks, lets not continue this need for constant sarcasm and just continue to debate about the possibilities of having the luxery of continued success in our defense and the linebackers in particular. We may find out that none of us are right and someone else steps up and performs better in the spring, then certain people might feel stupid for taking something they had no control over to start with so serious...
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Well said. Let's remember that we're all Buckeye fans here, and respect each others' opinions. Sometimes we need to agree to disagree, and let things go.
 
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