| 08/30/2006 |
| New-name D |
| JASON LLOYD , Morning Journal Writer |
COLUMBUS -- From the end of spring practice to the beginning of fall camp, something changed within Ohio State's defense.
At least to receiver Anthony Gonzalez.After the Scarlet and Gray game, Gonzalez was still seeing an inexperienced defense that hadn't learned how to play fast. By the start of fall camp and into this week's preparation for Northern Illinois, Gonzalez sees a defense that has caught up to the offense. ''There were a few practices in a row for about a week straight where the defense got the best of us,'' Gonzalez said. ''They came into (fall) camp, I remember thinking to myself Ôwere they practicing when no one else was around?' ''They got so much faster and better overall from the end of spring to the beginning of fall camp. A lot of it I give credit to the strength staff as well as the guys just getting in and learning their assignments and getting them down cold. If you don't know your assignments, you can't play as fast as you want. I feel like they know their assignments now.''
The top-ranked Buckeyes face Northern Illinois and tailback Garrett Wolfe on Saturday. Wolfe was second in the nation last year with 1,580 yards rushing. And just to be clear, he didn't do it against any weaklings. Wolfe ran for 148 yards on 15 carries against Michigan in last year's opener, then followed it up with 245 yards and three touchdowns against Northwestern. Ohio State's rebuilt defense will have, in theory, nine new starters. But it could actually be more than that. This isn't like the last two years, when A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel took nearly every snap at linebacker for the Buckeyes. Coach Jim Tressel assured yesterday that a lot of different players will get a look defensively. ''I think you may see a little more substitution when it comes to the back seven for two reasons,'' Tressel said. ''To find out for sure who should be ahead of whom, and secondly, we think we have a decent number of guys who are capable. We'll see how they do when they get their opportunities.'' As expected, sophomore James Laurinaitis is the new middle linebacker, flipping positions with John Kerr. Laurinaitis played in the middle all through high school, so the move back to the middle isn't much of a big deal for him. In fact, by the end of spring practice, he was half-expecting a change. ''They kept telling all of us to make sure you knew all three positions,'' Laurinaitis said. ''So we kind of figured something was coming.'' At 6-foot-3 and 244 pounds, Laurinaitis is a little bigger than Kerr (6-1, 230). But Kerr led Indiana in tackles as a true freshman as a middle linebacker four years ago. Marcus Freeman starts on the other side, but those will hardly be the only linebackers to play Saturday. Junior Curtis Terry, junior college transfer Larry Grant, redshirt freshman Tyler Moeller and true freshman Ross Homan will likely see time there as well. In the secondary, fifth-year senior Antonio Smith, a former walk-on with five minutes of experience at corner, staved off redshirt freshman Donald Washington, who had made a strong push for the starting job. True freshman Anderson Russell, a relative unknown when the recruiting class was announced, has worked his way into becoming the nickel back. Most everyone on the team, coaches and players alike, are confident the talent is there to eventually be a good defense. But no one can say with any certainty how long the growing process will take. ''The old cliche that there's no substitute for experience is absolutely true,'' Gonzalez said. ''Things just happen a little quicker on Saturdays, things get a little crisper and teams are a little better than you thought they were. If you've got guys that have been there before and understand that, it certainly helps. There are also guys who just show up and can play no matter what and accelerate the learning curve. My hope is our defense has a lot of those guys.'' Despite what the depth chart looks like now, Tressel warned not to pay too close of attention to it. There could be a number of changes between now and the start of the Big Ten season. ''We're going to play a lot of guys,'' Tressel said. ''I think when you look at our depth chart at the start of our Big Ten schedule, you'll really see what our depth chart is. I don't know that there will be great changes, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that I think we'll know.'' jlloyd@morningjournal.com
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