Next Year

[Style]

Some rankings have come out, and they have Texas #1, OSU #2. This was before Young declared, and they're saying OSU could be #1 once they revise. Now, while the offense should be wicked, let's take a look at the defense:

DL: We lose a starting DT in Green, and our best DE in Kudla.
LB: All the starters are gone, including our defensive MVP.
DB: With Youboty and Whitner going early, and Salley and Everett finishing their senior year, that leaves Jenkins and Mitchell as the only DBs who've seen much playing time.

So if you consider Everett the starter, not Jenkins, then that means we return just TWO starters on defense!!! Barring position switches, we will be starting at least 5 freshmen and sophmores on defense!!! That is crazy!

I don't know what the other schools in the country are looking like, so I will refrain from saying they should be ranked ahead of us, but #1 seems awfully high for a team who's defense will be that green. I expect there to be growning pains, especially early in the year. A #1 ranking seems like a setup for disappointment.

Hmmm, 2006 could be kind of a mirror image of 2005. In 2005, we started off with a high ranking, but lost a couple early games b/c the offense wasn't holding up its half of the bargain. As the season went on, the offense picked it up, and we finished the year playing as good as anyone. In 2006, we could see the exact same thing, only that at the start of the year the defense won't be holding up it's half while the offense carries us. I expect the defense to be strong by the end of the year. We have good coaches and a good scheme, and the talent level is crazy. It's just that talent is young and green, and it will cost us a couple games early.

Oh, and we will be replacing a good kicker in 2006, which is something we also had to do in 2005!

Anyway, thoughts?

 

[cdt]

We will be good next year, we have had some good kickers, Smith Ginn and Pittman will be ok for offense and Laranitis is a solid LB, hopefully some DB's stay behind.

 

[Style]

We will be good next year, we have had some good kickers, Smith Ginn and Pittman will be ok for offense and Laranitis is a solid LB, hopefully some DB's stay behind.

Youboty and Whitner are gone. We lose our entire back 7.

I think the DL will be very good, and the back 7 is short in experience but long in talent. Will we survive the first half of the year while the young guns gain experience? Probably not without a couple losses.

Could this be the year we finally see Teddy going 2 ways? With Holmes gone, and Teddy's awesome Fiesta Bowl performance (200 yards, 2 tds), we certainly still want him on offense, but this was a kid who was the USA Today top defensive player in the nation coming out of high school, who will tell you himself that CB is his best position. I guess we'll have a good idea if that is in the works when spring ball comes around...

 

[cavincali]

i wouldnt be suprised to see ginn play defense. damn he would be playing offense defense and returning kicks.

the defense wont be anywhere what it was this year. but tressel will probably use t.o.p. to help out the defense, use the same approach the colts used in years past. let the offense be you defense because teams will stop running the ball to keep up with us.

besides the texas game being on the road we have penn state and michigan at home which will be the most difficult games. i dont think texas will be that great without vince.

where is notre dame??? i expect them to be pretty good next year.

 

[hughes1988]

its ohio state guys first off u now they will be getting some good freahmens next season and i trust tressel and everyone else to but the best def players that we can on the field, even if they are freahmen or not, are offence even with holmes should still be good and are def will hold its old i believe, we should be in the top 10 no problem... kicker?? is are kicker huston gone to???

 

[Style]

its ohio state guys first off u now they will be getting some good freahmens next season and i trust tressel and everyone else to but the best def players that we can on the field, even if they are freahmen or not, are offence even with holmes should still be good and are def will hold its old i believe, we should be in the top 10 no problem... kicker?? is are kicker huston gone to???

Huston's gone. This was his 6th year, dude. How many years do you think we can have him?

And yeah, I think we could be top 10 next year. I'm predicting 2 to 3 losses, and top 15. However, that's a far cry from #1 or #2.

And dude, seriously, you are putting way too much stock in true freshmen. Even with OSU having top ten recruiting classes nearly every year, we normally only have 2 or 3 true freshmen make any real contribution to the team per year. And as far as high impact in their first year players go, like Ginn or Clarret, they come once every 2 or 3 years at best. I wouldn't bet on there being one in this year's class. Sure, in a couple years we'll have many players from the class contributing and at least a few stars. But not the first year.