Bestbuck36;1540995; said:
Brian Rolle a hard-hitting legacy left behind by Toledo's Beckman: Ohio State Insider
by Doug Lesmerises/Plain Dealer Reporter
Wednesday September 16, 2009
John Kuntz/The Plain DealerOhio State's
Brian Rolle (36) and Anderson Russell bring down USC's Damian Williams in the second quarter of last Saturday's game in Ohio Stadium. Rolle leads the Buckeyes in tackles after the season's first two games.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Toledo coach Tim Beckman left a present for Ohio State before he departed Columbus after the 2006 season to become the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. It was just what the Buckeyes wanted -- a linebacker.
OSU starting middle linebacker and Florida native Brian Rolle said he wouldn't be at Ohio State if not for the relationship he developed during recruiting with Beckman, who was basically his only connection to the school.
"He was like a brother. I felt when he was in my home that I knew this guy," Rolle said. "Coach Beckman was the only guy I saw. He was the guy that really sold me on the school."
That's how it works in recruiting -- a coach sells you on the school and then leaves soon after you arrive. But getting Rolle out of Florida -- "I still wonder how they found me," Rolle said -- was no easy job for Beckman. The connection was so strong, it may have taken Rolle farther from Florida.
After two seasons as Ohio State cornerbacks coach, Beckman went to Oklahoma State in February, 2007, less than two weeks after national signing day, when Rolle officially became a Buckeye.
"I probably would have gone to Oklahoma State if he had left here and gone there sooner," Rolle said. "Then that would have been bad because he would have gone to Toledo."
Rolle harbors no ill will and believes he wound up right where he was supposed to be as a Buckeye.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything," Rolle said.
Now he'll face his old recruiter on Saturday at Browns Stadium, with Beckman in his first year as Toledo's head coach and Rolle in his first year as a starter for the Buckeyes. The junior leads the team in tackles with 17.
"He loves football and he's what you want to coach," said Ohio State linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell. "That's one of the guys I'm always harping on about discipline and things like that. He's not shy about bluffing around, but as long as he's a disciplined player, he has a chance to be very exciting for us."
In a moment of less discipline, Rolle shot into a gap that was supposed to be covered by Ross Homan on a second-and-19 run by USC on Saturday night, effectively blocking Homan off the play as Joe McKnight cut back for a 10-yard gain.
"Would I have changed it any different? I wouldn't tell BRolle to not be a football player," Fickell said. "If the front does a great job and the guy cuts back, don't get in your buddy's way. But that's one of those things he's got to get better at."
Bestbuck36;1540995; said:
Buckeyecty4;1541074; said:
Brian Rolle's September of making plays continues with key theft for OSU against Illinois: Bill Livingston
By Bill Livingston
September 26, 2009
Marvin Fong/The Plain DealerOhio State's
Brian Rolle set the tone for a defense that shut down the Illinois attack with this interception return in the first quarter Saturday. Illinois' Ryan Palmer can't stop Rolle, who was eventually pushed out of bounds and set up Aaron Pettrey's 50-yard field goal to open the scoring.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Chris Spielman wore Brian Rolle's number a generation ago when he defined linebacking at Ohio State. But Rolle's 36 is not an homage to him. Rolle's number is a tribute to his older brother William, who played at Illinois State and was the Rolle model for Brian's game.
Actually, you could name almost any member of the Rolle clan who came out of the slave plantations in the Bahamas to the United States, and chances are they would be men who can stake out their own turf and defend it with ferocity.
Brian, a junior at OSU, does not know all the cousins and near and far relations who have had fans roaring their names on various playing fields, but he talks occasionally with Baltimore Ravens defensive back Samari Rolle. He does not know Arizona Cardinals' cornerback Antrel Rolle, but they, too, are related.
Brian Rolle has replaced James Laurinatis, a three-time All-American, at middle linebacker. On the same day that Andy Katzenmoyer, who was responsible for seismic collisions at linebacker for Ohio State in the 1990s, was inducted into OSU's Athletic Hall of Fame, it is fitting that the defensive scheme now favors Rolle's speed and aggressiveness. Laurinaitis, by contrast, was a read and react linebacker.
Rolle has already had a bigger impact in game-turning plays than Laurinaitis did in his career. Laurinatis is now starting for the St. Louis Rams. But when it came to big plays at Ohio State, he forced a fumble when Texas was about to take the lead in 2006, and otherwise he was consistent and well-prepared and in the right position. While NFL teams love that kind of stuff, it was not Spielman on the blitz or Katzenmoyer cracking into Missouri quarterback Corby Jones in the open field like a peal of thunder.
Although small for a linebacker at 5-11, 221 pounds, Rolle hits like a man out to avenge a slur on his kin. He runs like the back who chased daylight with the ball in the crook of his arm in high school in Immokalee, Fla. He has already made a play that saved one game (on a 100-yard, two-point return of an intercepted conversion pass against Navy) and another that swung Saturday's 30-0 rout of Illinois Ohio State's way (on a 39-yard run after filching Juice Williams' pass at his own 15 on the visitors' first possession.)
"I was playing honorary safety," said Rolle, grinning.
"That was a huge momentum change," said coach Jim Tressel.
