• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

LB A.J. Hawk (2x All-American, Lombardi Trophy, National Champion, Super Bowl Champion)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
Anyone who doesn't put Tatum at the top of the list for "baddest" defensive player never saw him play.

That said, Hawk has made a good argument for being considered as good as any linebacker here ever...
 
Upvote 0
tatum was a saftey in todays terms, back then called a roverback. a postion which is coming back in the acc. a rover is bascially they hybrid cie grant typish guy who plays as a db.

also note that spiels refused to come out of the game during that michigan game so he urinated in his pants on the field.

as far as the GREATEST osu defense player/lb wow. hard for me to say. tatum and spielman cant be arguedPERIOD
 
Upvote 0
He is very good. He lived up the the hype.
I thinks he's got NFL written all over him. He does have some speed and he played with class.
He was all over the place and I hope to see him drafted to a team I can cheer for. I have a lot of respect for him. Carpenter is not to shabby either.
Oh well just thought you'd like a womens opinion. :biggrin:
 
Upvote 0
Hawk is ALREADY a Buckeye "All Time Great" and still has pretty much a full season left to play.

I loved Gary Danielson's analysis that A.J. was a "bigger, faster Chris Spielman." That being said, it doesn't necessarily make him better because all the draft guru's dropped Chris down their boards because he was "too short and too slow."

Wherever he ranks in peoples minds in terms of "greatest evers" one thing is for sure. In 20 years, there is going to be a hot-shot, can't miss great LB coming to TOSU that people will be comparing to A.J. Cuzz it will probably take that long before we ever see one that good again. I'll put it this way, Hawk is a combination of Gradishars size and speed, coupled with Spielmans intensity. That would have to rank him pretty high.
 
Upvote 0
Guess who debuted at #6 in ESPN's latest Heisman poll ...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/heisman/index

<pre> Pos. School Year 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Total
Matt Leinart QB USC Sr. 10 1 4 0 0 66
Vince Young QB Texas Jr. 4 10 1 0 0 63
Reggie Bush RB USC Jr. 1 4 7 1 1 44
Laurence Maroney RB Minnesota Jr. 0 0 1 4 2 13
Chris Leak QB Florida Jr. 0 0 0 2 6 10
A.J. Hawk LB Ohio State Sr. 0 0 0 1 3 5
Adrian Peterson RB Oklahoma So. 0 0 0 2 1 5
Maurice Drew RB UCLA Jr. 0 0 1 0 1 4
Omar Jacobs QB Bowling Green Jr. 0 0 1 0 1 4
Brady Quinn QB Notre Dame Jr. 0 0 0 1 0 2
Marshawn Lynch RB Cal So. 0 0 0 1 0 2
Darius Walker RB Notre Dame So. 0 0 0 1 0 2
Sam Keller QB Arizona State Jr. 0 0 0 1 0 2
Michael Bush RB Louisville Jr. 0 0 0 1 0 2</pre>
 
Upvote 0
Oh8ch said:
I go back to about '61 in following OSU football.

Depending on how we finish I could rate Hawk as the 2nd best LB and third best Defensive player we have had.

1. Tatum
2. Spiels
3. Hawk

So make sure you savor every play - they only come along every 20 years or so.
Click to expand...

You and I go back to the same era. In my opinion, Hawk is the best to play at Ohio State at linebacker. He is has the entire package. Speed, Size can cover and has every bit the same level of heart and competative spirit that Spielman had/has. Basically he is a bigger, stronger, faster version of Chris.
 
Upvote 0
scarletngrey77 said:
I got a funny aj hawk story here.

Today in my English class, my teacher asked us if we knew who aj hawk was. A few people replied yes, and she went on to explain that she was friends with hawks english teacher when he was a junior. Ajs teacher said that he was the nicest kid, intelligent, and very friendly, he also never behaved badly. We are starting a play called "The Crucible," and my teacher went on to tell us how aj volunteered himeself for a part. She then said that aj was so into the play, that he used to dress up into something different almost every single day, he also perfected the british accent that his character possessed.
Click to expand...

How many tackles did he get?
 
Upvote 0
Katzenmoyer was probably more "dominant" as far as tackles for loss, knocking guys out of the game, taking the other team out of their game plan, kind of thing.
AJ is a better overall LB, though, I think. makes plays all over the field, has phenominal hands, and fantastic instincts.
As far as reading the play and getting to the point of attack, a very close call with Spielman and Gradishar.
as far as physically gifted (talented), right up there with Cousineau, Big Kat, and Diggs.
If someone would teach Schlegel how to tackle properly, we would have 3 of the all-time greats playing together at the same time.
It's still very early in the season - these guys are going to make a TON of big plays for the defense this year and by the end of the year will leave no doubt as to who is the best group of LB's in the country.

I still have to have Gradishar as my No 1, but if AJ ends up as No. 2, I would have no problem with that at all. Hope he gets some Heisman votes this year.
 
Upvote 0
jwinslow said:
Could spielman cover and make incredible INTs the way that Hawk could? He has had 2-3 INTs that would qualify as great catches for a TE, let alone a LB.
Click to expand...

JWins, I wish I could send you a DVD of the Cotton Bowl game we played against Texas A&M after the '86 season. Spielman had a couple of INT's in that one including one that he ran back for a TD. In his first game for us as an 18-year old freshman, we were struggling against Oregon State and their scrambling QB. Spiels came off the bench to create a fumble on a QB sack that turned the game around and gave us the momentum.

It's probably an unfair debate, considering that players in general are faster and stronger these days due to better workout facilities and better coaching. But I still think Spielman is our best LB ever.

Whoever was curious about why I brought up Tatum, it's because someone told me he didn't play safety at OSU and so I thought he might have played LB. As I mentioned, he was just a little bit before my time. Kudos to jimotis4heisman for clearing that up.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top