| 01 September 2009
It has been a busy few days on the personnel front with two commitments and a transfer.
First, the Willie Mobley transfer. I have mixed feelings on that. Bucknuts subscribers will note that I was not high on Mobley. He is a tweener in my mind. I was more bothered by the strong side defensive end talk. I got more right with Mobley when he moved down inside. A kid his size just doesn't fit on the strong side. A shorter guy who does not have the wingspan is going to fit better on the weak side since he can use space to eliminate the disadvantage of his size. Mobley was never going to be quick enough to be a weak side end. His best bet was to slide down to tackle and add weight. After a high school coach saw him here at Ohio State once and commented that he did not even recognize him as a possible player because he was so unimposing, I was really not very excited about him coming here. That begs the question, why do I have mixed feelings about him transferring.
It comes down to numbers. We are not in good shape at the strong side/inside defensive end spot. We have Heyward, who I think the staff wanted to play more at DT, then we have questions. Once Sol Thomas moved to the weak/open side, all that remained were questions. Wilson is coming off two straight seasons with injuries that cost him the year. Even if his body is sound, which I doubt, he is still so rusty. Both those injuries were early in the year. So few reps under his belt going donw that early. Robert Rose has had a good deal of time out of the lineup. Then you have Fellows. In addition to being a true freshman, he has been banged up. I don't know if moving Mobley back to the strong side end spot was about depth or about trying to get him to stay. The reason I have mixed feelings is we are now a big body short at either DT or strong side end.
I suspect we will see even more of the odd man front with Heyward outside and Worthington, Denlinger and Larimore rotating inside at the two DT spots, and hopefully Goebbel getting in there. I think we see it more early in the year until Wilson, Rose and/or Fellows shows they are ready to contribute.
That brings me to the offer and commitment to Kenny Hayes, the likely five-star DE from Toledo Whitmer. I had heard nothing about him. It was all about Steve Miller. I wondered if with the current depth and the likely verbal from Miller that maybe there was not room for him. All of a sudden he is offered and commits. I have to wonder if the decision by Mobley had anything to do with it. The timing says it does. I saw him as a weak side end but he could play the strong side. He is a bigger kid than Miller. No question about that. He is supposedly up to 230 now. That piece of info would have prompted me to re-think his college position. We need to add strong side DEs and this kid has the potential to be an elite player. He is long with long arms and a great frame. When I watch his film again I notice he plays a more physical game than Miller. That fits perfectly into the role of the strong side defensive end. He runs great so he will be just as effective and maybe even moreso off the left side because he is not going to be going against elite pass blockers on that side. He still could be a weak side end. Don't count that out. You can never have too many of these long lean kids that can run. Another plus is he has a junior teammate that might be an elite kid in Chris Wormley. He is a DE on the strong side of the Whitmer defense. Check him out at: http://scoutingohio.com/index.php/view-profile.html?task=userProfile&user=1817&name=Chris.Wormley
Tyrone Williams is a great get. National top ten wide receiver if not for the shortened season due to injury and the grade questions that led to lack of exposure. He did not camp. That did not help his status. I think this agreement has been in place for a good while. He wanted the Buckeyes and they told him all you need to do is get your grades up. No need to camp with that in mind. He was not going to go anywhere else, it was time he could have been putting into study and at the same time giving that knee longer to heel. He has the chance to be a star. I don't know where. He could be anything from a wide receiver to an H-back to a full blown tight end. It depends on where his body takes him. I think WR would be best for him. I think that is where he is unique. I think that is where he is going to develop best in our system.
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