My post-game thoughts on this year's team by position...it's going to be extremely critical but extremely honest:
QB: Braxton has not progressed much at all but Herman has not been much of a help either. Braxton still is extremely indecisive in the pass game...some of that has to do with the receivers not getting much separation and Herman completely abandoning the intermediate passing game. The other part of that is Braxton not checking down quick enough. His pocket presence is extremely lackluster and he frequently runs right into the blitz and much of that can be attributed to not seeing the blitz coming and adjusting, even when it is obvious. At this point, he is still an athlete playing QB, which would be ok if he could actually run the zone read...it really isn't hard to read the DE/OLB on the keep/give. Shit, Andy Dalton did it to precision with the Bengals last week despite never running it before. And I KNOW it is in the playbook, Kenny G runs it extremely well. To be completely honest, I wish Kenny G was the one coming back next year. I will take a cerebral QB that is consistent and has above average athleticism over a QB that has an incredible highlight real but no consistency.
RB: Not much to say here, Hyde is a stud and Dontre is a great athlete that will get better with some time in the weight room. However, I still think he is primarily a slot guy who occasionally gets some carries and EzE takes over at RB. We'll be special here next year if the OL develops.
WR: Really good blockers and they improved as a unit, but the talent is not really there. I give Zach Smith alot of credit here and the effort was certainly there. I think infusing Corey Smith, Jalin Marshall, Michael Thomas, James Clark, Curtis Samuel, Noah Brown, Terry McLaurin, and Johnnie Dixon is really going to make this offense dangerous. Right now, it is basically Braxton or Hyde run, with not much concern about the receivers beating the defense. Add that group to Devin Smith and Evan Spencer, and I think we will be improved next year with Smith's tutelage.
TE: I think we have the athletes there and they are great blockers, just still are not utilized as receivers much.
OL: Really great performance all year but not so much against Clemson...really looked lost against their pass rush. Mewhort in particular was whiffing alot, really think he is a RT or G at the next level. As for next year, it will be interesting to see how we develop. Really want to see Warriner stay and help keep things rolling here. My early guess at the starting lineup from left to right is Decker, Baldwin, Boren, Elflein, and Lisle (interesting to see how Underwood, Dodson, and Brown compete, along with the great freshmen OL coming in...I think Knox in particular could get in early). I expect some growing pains next year though, this unit was really fantastic overall.
DL: Best unit on the defense but still needed to be stronger up front. Aside from Bosa, we got pushed around pretty good last night. Spence had a pretty good year and will only be better next year. Diesel was very disappointing after showing such promise in the spring...really wonder if he was playing hurt all year, did not look himself at all. Bennett had a pretty good season but disappeared last night. Can't say I even noticed Hale and don't know if he was starting towards the end of the year. Bosa was our best defensive player imo and maybe the best freshmen I've seen at OSU (right there with Katz, no joke). Marcus is really coming along and played lights out last night...really think he is in store for a big year next year. Next year I want to see Bosa and Spence on the ends, with Marcus coming in quite a bit, then Diesel and Bennett inside with Hill and Carter primarily rotating in. Vrable did a heck of a job with this young group though and deserves all the credit in the world for it.
LB: Yikes...this was the absolute worst group of LBs I have ever seen at Ohio State. Shazier had a great year but I think all the pressure on him to do everything for the defense made him feel the need to fly around and frequently over-pursue the play. Hard to be really critical of Ryan though. Then there is Grant...I was hoping he would turn the corner, but he didn't. Big LB that is not athletic enough to play the perimeter and not cerebral enough to diagnose plays to make up for it. Often gets lost in traffic and doesn't shed blocks. Perry showed a little improvement in this game but I'm not sure he is the answer either. Hopefully Shazier stays and at least one of Mitchell, T. Johnson, McMillan, Booker, Berger, or Hubbard will give us better play next year. I really have zero faith that anyone else on our roster is going to get the job done. There has been more attrition at this position than I can ever remember at any position really and because of that, I think Fickell deserves one more year at the position but there has to be drastic improvement or he is going to be looking through the classifieds.
DB: Double yikes...I've never been more frustrated watching a positional group at Ohio State. This group was tantamount to watching Bollman's offense. I really think alot of the results this year were a result of piss poor coaching. Very often they simply were not put in positions to succeed and when they were, their fundamentals were atrocious. Tackling and getting the hips turned in coverage to play the ball is purely coaching...it never got better. We had a very talented Roby regress in front of our eyes. Two veterans in Barnett and Grant looked lost all the time when they were supposed to be leading. A talented Tyvis Powell was always out of position and succeeded occasionally despite it. It took an entire season to take out Pittsburgh despite awful play throughout his entire career, despite the fact we had a talent like Vonn Bell on our bench. There is a certain point where adjustments needed to be made and an extra emphasis placed on fundamentals, but it never happened. We need to move Coombs to special teams and bring in two REAL coaches in the secondary. The talent there is going to be immense in the future with Bell, Burrows, Apple, Worley, Thompson, Webb, Erick Smith, Lattimore, etc...they need the proper coaching and at least 4 guys from that group will form a dominant force.
- Overall, the defense was just too damn bad to be elite this season. That is why I had zero confidence coming into this game...Clemson had a talented offense that could exploit us perfectly and they did just that. In fact, they could have easily put up 50+ like I anticipated but they out-thought themselves sometimes. The offense had way too much pressure on it to score constantly and they knew if they made any mistake whatsoever, it could likely cost them the game. I really think that compounded our offensive issues in the last two games. If the defense could have simply been average, this would have been a championship team imo.
Moving forward, I think the defense will improve but the question for next year is can we replace our OL and keep up similar production on offense?
Stephen J. NesbittVerified account @stephenjnesbitt 
