Buckeye86
I do not choose to discuss it
I don't think Tressel liked being able to switch players back and forth from Oline to Dline, in fact, I don't think it happened at all under his tenure.If I remember yesteryear correctly, JT said 3 was always the number he looked for. (If everyone stayed 5 years, that would be 15 lineman on the roster, just enough for a perfect 3 deep.) He also liked versatility (being able to switch people back and forth between offensive and defensive lines.)
2012
Mewhort
Norwell
Linsley
Hall
Fragel
2011
Adams
Norwell
Brewster
Mewhort
Shugarts
2010
Adams
Boren
Brewster
Browning
Shugarts
2009
Cordle
Boren
Brewster
Browning
Shugarts
2008
Boone
Cordle
Brewster
Person
Browning
2007
Boone
Rehring
Cordle
Person
Barton
2006
Boone
Rehring
Datish
Downing
Barton
2005
Datish
Sims
Mangold
Downing
Barton
2004
Sims
Datish
Mangold
Kne
Barton
2003
Sims
Clarke
Mangold
Stepanovich
Olivea
2002
Douglas
Clarke
Stepanovich
Bishop
Olivea
2001
Walter
Clarke
Bentley
Bishop
Olivea
The versatility you saw in those OLines was moving the best players to LT regardless of position (Sims, Datish, Cordle) and filling in from there. The reason they needed to do that, IMO, was the three player per year plan was a horrible idea.
2002: Datish, Downing, Mangold, Sims
2003: Barton
2004: Rehring, Person, Skinner, Mitchum
2005: Boone, Cordle
2006: Browning, Smith
2007: Blankenship
2008: Adams, Brewster, Shugarts
2009: Hall, Linsley, Mewhort, Fragel (TE), Longo
2010: Norwell
2011: Bobek, Brown, Carter, Underwood
When I look back, it is almost shocking how Ohio State managed to field competitive offensive lines on championship winning teams... but not a shock that they were ripped apart by an elite DL during championships in 2006 and to a lesser extent 2007.
Kne (who was a walk on), Rehring and Person were less than ideal starters at guard to put it mildly IMO.
Sims, who is probably one of the most underrated linemen for Ohio State in the last decade, did an amazing job at LT given the circumstances but was clearly out of position there in '03 and '04.
Datish was similarly out of position at LT in '05.
Browning was painfully out of position at RT in '08.
Cordle was obviously out of position at LT in '09.
Additionally, Hall and Linsley were well on their way to bust status before the new coaching staff came in and completely rejuvenated their careers. At the same time, it's fairly certain Fragel wouldn't have been a contributor at RT without the new coaching staff.
On top of everything else, several of the multi year starters didn't progress as you would expect during Tressel's tenure.
Boone is easily the prime example in that category, although his raging alcoholism is 95% to blame. Brewster regressed significantly under extremely difficult circumstances in 2012. Shugarts had issues throughout his time at RT.
I'm not saying they weren't solid players, but they certainly didn't grow over the course of their careers as much as you'd like/expect to see.
So, in summary, the offensive line during Tressel's tenure was held together with duct tape a lot of the time. As I said, looking back it is almost amazing how much success the team had given the OL situation half the time.
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