Germainfitch1 wrote:How many starters do the buckeyes lose on Defense? Atleast 7. come back Omar...Come Back.
I believe Youboty makes 8 and Whitner would make 9.
I'm still not that enthused. They'll be inexperienced but they might actually be more athletic on defense next year than they were this year.
Any losses on the DL are irrelevant, because they already play like 8-9 guys there, so plenty of guys have experience.
The OSU Secondary was pretty poor this year, IMO. The lone exception was Donte Whitner who is so versatile as a cover guy or hitting safety. He would be a big loss to that group. Youboty was very average this year, and the other 2 guys were below average, IMO. They're putting some stud guys in the place of these departures (guys like Jemario O'Neal), but they will be inexperienced. We might be able to throw on these guys, depending on how quick they learn...remember that they have a few games before us, though.
At LB is where the Buckeye defense is really hurting on paper. Unfortunately we don't get to play the paper. They had a true freshman step in after Carpenter's injury, and he played VERY well agianst UM & ND. There is a dropoff, but it's not so severe. Schlegel will likely be replaced by John Kerr, a kid that transferred in from Indiana. As a freshman at Indiana he was a dominant MLB in the Big 10. Even though that was 3 years ago, he does still have starting experience...he's a pretty similar player to Schlegel too, not much of a dropoff. At AJ's spot there is always going to be a dropoff from a player of that caliber. D'Andrea, if healthy, is a physical freak and was the #1 LB in the country coming out of HS. He doesn't have the instincts to play up to that billing, especially compared to Hawk. They've also got a stud recruit from last year that was either 4 or 5 stars in Marcus Freeman; they've also added some top ranked LBs in this year's class.
Unfortunately, I'd like our chances a lot better if OSU was losing a lot of it's offense, that's the side of the ball that is the bigger question mark for that team. On defense they continue to plug in all these pieces that were among the best at their position when being recruited. On top of that they're always extremely well coached and solid fundamentally on defense...they teach tackling, and that teaching sticks.
We may be able to throw on that defense with the inexperienced back-7, but against the run I gotta believe that the defensive front will be just as strong as year's past. Of course we're just as inexperienced at QB & WR as they are in the secondary, so it'll have a lot to do with which players develop most during the offseason and first few games.
These are in addition to the charges from that fight last April.