Video: Glenville's Marcus Hall prepares to fight for a job at Ohio State
by Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
Tuesday June 23, 2009
Marcus Hall thinks about his future all the time, thinks about making the two-deep on Ohio State's offensive line this fall.
"That's what I'm going to work for," Hall said Saturday after Ohio's win over Pennsylvania in the Big 33 Classic in Hershey, Pa. "I pray every day about that. But I'm not trying to go in there with a cocky attitude. It's just a fact that I want to start. That would be ideal. But a freshman going in ... I definitely would like to get into the rotation, that would be good."
There are holes there, and the freshmen line contenders know it. Corey Linsley, who looked good on defense in the Big 33 game but still figures to fit in on the offensive line, Hall, Sam Longo and Jack Mewhort, who already took part in spring ball, make up a good crop of young offensive linemen.
The top seven linemen for the Buckeyes seem set, with Mike Brewster, Justin Boren, Jim Cordle and Bryant Browning looking like starters and Mike Adams and Andy Miller and what should be a healthy J.B. Shugarts fighting for the fifth starting job in the fall.
Andrew Moses, Connor Smith, Evan Blankenship and Josh Kerr are some of the veterans in the next group, but none of them are so entrenched that a freshman with a good camp couldn't squeeze into the two-deep. And especially early, any offensive lineman in the two-deep will see the field.
That could be Hall, or it could be someone else.
"I'm definitely ready to go," Hall said Saturday. "Playing football this week got me in the football zone, and I'm ready to move into my dorm and go."