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Laurinaitis becoming a leader as linebacker
Sophomore was taught to take charge by father, a professional wrestler
Friday, August 18, 2006
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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Seeking someone to direct traffic and add bite to the middle of its recast defense, Ohio State has turned to the son of Road Warrior Animal.
Sophomore James Laurinaitis, the only returning linebacker with a start from last year, has moved from the outside to the middle in preseason camp. He has Marcus Freeman and former middle man John Kerr on his flanks on the firstteam defense.
Laurinaitis — his father Joe is best known as the Road Warrior Animal from professional wrestling — is a natural for the spot on a defense that will have nine new starters, co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said.
"He’s the guy out in front of our huddle, he’s the guy calling things," Fickell said yesterday. "He’s a little bit ahead of his time in the sense of he’s just a true sophomore. But he played in two really big games last year and got a lot of really good experience."
When Bobby Carpenter limped off the field with a broken ankle on the first play at Michigan last year, Laurinaitis dashed in to fill the gap. He then started in the Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame.
But Fickell said Laurinaitis will lend more to the role than just his size (6 feet 3, 235 pounds), ability (4.6-second speed in the 40) and limited experience.
"He gives us a lot of those things that (departed middle linebacker Anthony) Schlegel had, the ability to set everything for us, to give the adjustments we need to have done, and to control the huddle," Fickell said. "He’s got a real presence."
Being ordained as the leader should come as no surprise to Laurinaitis, the 2004 Mr. Football of Minnesota from Wayzata High School.
"I’ve been kind of raised up that way," Laurinaitis said earlier this year. "When my dad used to coach me back in fifth grade, whenever something would go wrong with the team he would yell at me first and say, ‘Hey, you need to get us going!’ That was a lot of pressure, but it’s just kind of been in my blood that way."
He’s going on more than instinct, though. One of the reasons he picked Ohio State over Minnesota was so he could learn from older players.
"Some people are different kinds of leaders. Last season, we had Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel, who are the outgoing type, and we had A.J. Hawk, who just with his presence was a leader, just by the way he works," Laurinaitis said. "So you kind of take pieces of all that.
"That’s why I came to Ohio State. I wanted to take pieces from those guys and learn from them, because at the position of linebacker, I think it’s a natural spot where you have to be a leader."
If actions speak louder than words, then Laurinaitis was vociferous in the early moments at Michigan last year.
"I’m sure growing up he has been around a lot of things in that atmosphere his father was in, the World Wrestling Federation, that there’s not a whole lot that fazes him," Fickell said. "Pressure situations? The Michigan game, the second play of the game, there he goes, he’s got to go in. And it’s not like he batted an eye at it.
"Coaches are nervous, everybody on the sideline is nervous because we just lost Bobby Carpenter. But (Laurinaitis) doesn’t feel it. He’s got a sense about him, a confidence, and he is a very, very competitive kid, too."
It’s the only way to be a true leader, Laurinaitis said.
"You’ve got to back it up," he said. "When you are leading the ‘D,’ everyone has to get going, myself included. We have a lot of great leaders on this team, and some of them are more silent and some of them are loud leaders. I’m kind of one of the loud ones, or at least I try to be.
"But you can’t really call yourself a leader. You have to build yourself into one, by example."
