This weekend is one I always look forward to but all the more interesting when there are players that I want to see. Highlights are great. Game film is better. Seeing players play a full game tells you so much more about them.
Best prospects I saw this weekend:
1 - Akise Teague - I watched this kid score 5 touchdowns. All of them were highlight reel runs. His ability to change direction at speed is a skill very few runners possess. All day he left defenders grasping at air. Not only does he make them miss he has such exceptional acceleration that they don't get a second chance. The surprising thing about Teague is that he runs with some power. He does not go down from arm tackles. His balance is cat-like. I am not arguing that he should be recruited as a running back. I have seen enough on film to know he has the ball skills to play in the slot. He catches the ball naturally. Back when Ted Ginn was being recruited I had many an argument with fans about what positions he should play. He was the nations top ranked cornerback. I argued that he is such a playmaker that you have to play him on offense to put the ball in his hands more often. I believe Teague could be a corner but he is so electric on offense that I completely agree with the decision by the staff to recruit him as a slot. He is supposedly coming in for a visit.
2 - Kyle Kalis - I bet some of you thought this spot was going to be reserved for Braxton Miller or Shaq Washington. I pay attention to line play. Kalis should not be allowed to play against high school players. What he does to opponents borders on assault. He beats up the opposition. In a great division one championship game St. Edward came from behind to win the game. All of a sudden it seemed to turn St. Edward way. I think it was the commitment to the run where Kalis and Northwestern bound Geoff Mogus and MAC offered Brandon Jackson started to wear down the undersized Wayne defense. I don't like to project offensive linemen to play as freshman. Kalis is one that I think can. Love the nasty. Love the motor. One of the ten best offensive line prospects I have seen in Ohio during my years of evaluating players.
3 - Braxton Miller - Threw for 200 yards and a couple of touchdowns on a 15 of 24 passing night but with a little help from his receivers his totals would have been much better and Miller is likely topping off an incredible senior year with a state championship. There were three balls that were flat dropped that would have added about 60-80 yards to his total and likely another touchdown. Miller made one bad decision all night. It resulted in the only interception that he threw all night. I know the stats show 2 but the other came on a hail mary on the last play of the game. Miller dominated the game and showed he was why Wayne got this far.
4 - Shaq Washington - At one point late in the game Washington had 347 of Maple Heights 377 yards. This is a very smart and very driven football player. I wonder if he sticks with his verbal to Cincinnati. Others could come calling after his performance in the last two weeks. I think he verballed early to get it out of the way so he could focus on the season. He comes across as a kid who meant it when he said he wanted to focus on his senior year.
5 - Bam Bradley - 14 tackles. What more needs be said? The complete package as a safety. Size, range, speed and instincts. Great tackler. Big hitter. An early offer kid next year for sure.
6 - Cameron Burrows - This is a new name to many of you. He has been a matter of conversation in recruiting circles for a time. I was very impressed with the limited film I saw of him before this game. He is a 2013 kid and could be an even more heavily recruited player than Bam Bradley, his teammate in the Trotwood secondary.
7 - Lovell Peterson - Another lineman that you probably were not paying attention to. He is a sophmore center from Wayne that is going to be the most heavily recruited center from Ohio since Nick Mangold. Very impressive for such a young player.
All the buzz has the Buckeyes ending up in the Sugar Bowl or the Orange Bowl. The question is, which one is better?
Traditionally both were "Big Four" bowls, along with the Rose and Cotton bowls. I would give the Sugar the vote for the more prestigious of the two as it has maintained its connection with the best conference in the country year in and year out, the Southeast Conference. The Orange Bowl cut ties with the old Big Eight to tie in with the Big East and the ACC. At the time it seemed like a great move. Miami and Florida State were both added to the ACC. That meant the chances for a hometown representative was high considering where those programs were when they joined the ACC. That meant keeping the money that flows into cities for bowl games right there at home. The other ACC teams were as close to Miami as the Orange Bowl could get other than the SEC which was already tied to the Sugar. Seemed like a great deal at the time. Now, not so much. The ACC is a joke. So is the Big East but the automatic tie is no longer in place.
Where do we want to see the Buckeyes play? The majority of fans want to see the Buckeyes play in the Sugar to get some payback for a couple of beatings from SEC teams in recent national championship games. I want to see the Buckeyes get some payback. I also see a better game. Arkansas is the likely opponent in a Sugar Bowl match-up. The consensus is Auburn beats S. Carolina in the SEC championship game so they will advance to the BCS championship game. That opens the door for the next highest ranked team in the SEC, Arkansas to be chosen to play in the Sugar Bowl. Recently we have seen Arkansas find a running game so a win over the Razorbacks would be a great win for the Buckeyes. It would top off one of the great seasons in Buckeye football. That is not in the best long term interest of the program.
What is in the best interest of the program is to get down to Florida as early as possible and take advantage of easy access to the vitally important recruiting hotbeds in Florida and specifically Miami. The Buckeyes would be down there in an important period in the recruiting calendar. Over Christmas there is a dead period. That means no contact. What an advantage it would be to be down there, a short drive over, for so many talented players. No wonder the Florida schools nail down so many local kids coming out of the Christmas break. They have their undivided attention for a period of time. You see, schools can't contact players but players can contact coaches. More importantly they can visit with the schools. Sometimes players stop by practice every day. That is a huge advantage for home state schools. Obviously Ohio State has it here with Ohio kids and the Buckeyes very much take advantage of it. So do the Florida schools. Any school still practicing in December takes advantage of the opportunity to get in local recruits faces. It would be nice for the Buckeyes to make some time with 2012 recruits in Florida, as well as spend some time with a player like Jabari Gorman in this years class.
Going out with a win is another matter. It would be a more impressive victory to beat an SEC team but there is a far greater chance of beating whoever is the Orange Bowl representative. A win sets the stage for another run at the national championship next year.
A good member of the Bucknuts community posted this after seeing the American Coaches All-American team which included two linebackers on the first team who were from Ohio but were not Buckeyes:
<<<<<dmagnus1
Two of three All-American linebackers are from the Cincinnati Catholic League?
NEITHER on the Buckeyes?
Hello Mr. Tressel? Mr Fickell? Mr. Heacock?
My point was not that we disregarded a kid that everyone else had highly rated. Its easy to find
the kids that everyone else finds - like Hicks and DePriest.
My point is that during a recruiting cycle in which most people have expressed concern over the lack of LB recruits in the last several classes, and the apparent depleted state we find out LB corps to be in (weren't we discussing the possibility of burning Sabino's redshirt a few weeks ago - because we had rapidly grown thin at the position?), it is interesting to see what diamonds in the rough OTHER programs are finding in Ohio. Other than McVey, DePriest and Hicks, what other local LB recruits have we offered in the past two years? I'm sure there are some, but not many. We have been wiffing on the 5-stars. I wonder how many other kids we're missing on. BTW - isn't there some kid on the Wisconsin team that took B10 Freshman honors at LB a year ago - Borland? Was HE on our radar?
I wonder how much of our current LB "situation" is self-induced...<<<<<
We had higher rated guys on the recruiting roll that year, and you can't take everyone. The simple fact is you don't know who is going to live up to expectations and who is going to rise above expectations. There is no formula for projecting who will be the better player by the time their college careers are over. Nobody has the luxury of knowing how a players development is going to play out at the time decisions are made. You can't take them all. Not anymore. You have to pick and you have to pick when they are very young. Nobody saw something in Greg Jones that said he was going to be better than the linebackers the Buckeyes chose that year, or the linebackers Florida, Texas and USC took that year, who Jones outplayed based on the opinion of the American Football Coaches Association. Recruiting is voodoo economics at its best, or should I say worst, mixed with simple mathematics. You can only take so many every year. 25 at the most and 85 in any four year period. If this thing was more predictable recruiting would be a completely different ball game. High school All-Americans would be just biding their time until they go off to the NFL to make millions and the three-star recruits would be studying hard in the classroom at lower level institutions because they have no shot at the NFL.
If we could go back in time Michigan State would have gladly taken any of the linebackers on the Buckeyes recruiting roll and let us have Jones. They took Jones because they could not get any of the linebackers the Buckeyes took. Boston College took Luke Kuechley, the other Ohio All-American linebacker on the Coaches first team, because they could not get the players the Buckeyes offered, not because they did a better job of evaluation.
I have to admit to being worried the way this one started. If you go back and look at the season, early success was key to Pryors performance. He did not have that on Saturday. First pass of the game sailed over the receivers head. The second play we have a missed block that leads to a tackle for loss. On third down Pryor throws underneath to Boren. Three and out on the first series which included a bad throw and a bad decision by Pryor. On defense we come out and tackle poorly, something that continued throughout the half. The thought that we were due for an upset in The Game crept into my thinking.
When we went up 10-0 I thought all was right in the world but another round of poor tackling allowed Michigan to go right down the field to cut the lead but it set the stage for us to put them away. The kick return by Jordan Hall was the back breaker. He had been so close to breaking one all year. He finally did so on the biggest of stages. How solid has Hall been in the kicking game. One of the arguments for
Glenvilles Shane Wynn has been his kick return ability. Hall is going to be hard to beat out. He is making great decisions on fielding punts and when he does field the ball he is not bobbling the ball. Any yardage on kick returns is extra. Securing the change of possession is the most critical element. You are not going to find someone better than Hall, and he has been getting us some yardage too.
The seniors showed up on defense today. I felt like Brian Rolle, Jermale Hines and Cam Heyward left Ohio stadium on a high note, all having senior year Michigan games that they will not forget. Hines has been solid his entire career. There have been some times when being a 215 lb middle linebacker has been a problem for Rolle but he has been solid. In recent games he has been outstanding. Cam Heyward has been a fan favorite ever since he came here. This was not the senior year we wanted but in the last few weeks he has been the player we had hoped he would be. Great game yesterday for these seniors. I thought Nate Williams had his best game in over a month. Early on he looked like the best lineman on the defense. He completely disappeared for weeks. Yesterday he returned to the form that had some speculating about him leaving early.
The player I want to talk about is Travis Howard. His development throughout the year has been something to watch. He showed flashes of being a future starter mixed in with too many bad plays as the year started. We all saw him getting chewed out on the sideline in one of the early games. A couple of weeks ago I noted that he was making as many good plays as bad. Now he is making more good plays than bad plays. Yesterday I can't recall a single play off the top of my head where I asked myself what was he thinking. He is a good sized corner that does not mind mixing it up. I think we are solid with him at one corner next year. On the other end of the spectrum we have Ohrian Johnson. He forced a fumble yesterday. That does not make up for the missed tackles and bad reads. We have to be better at free safety next year. Can't wait to see Barnett back in there.
Mike Adams gave up a sack yesterday. It has been a few games since that has happened. No doubt the most improved player on this football team. The offensive line in general has been a strength of this team. Always solid and more often than not outstanding. I think because of Pryor we will never know how good they could have been because we did not run the ball as much as we would have without such a threat at quarterback. I think this line, we a good back like Herron, could have put up the best rushing numbers we have seen from a Buckeye team in the digital age.
Who was that wearing number 8 yesterday? It sure looked like a player we thought could be an early entry player. He caught everything thrown his way for the first time all year and made something happen after the catch. Sanzenbacher is just a solid guy all the way around. As a freshman he had some drops. I can't recall the last time he dropped a ball. Outstanding senior year and I would say outstanding career. I would say a great decision by the staff to take a kid who was not going to knock anyones socks off with his measurables.
Great season by this team. I know it will always be remembered for what could have been. Maybe adding a Sugar Bowl or Orange win to the year will make fans stop looking at what could have been and see what was a really memorable year.
Fans are all worked up about the linebacker numbers. I do not share that concern. The class of 2011 stands at one linebacker right now with only two left on the board as Texas Anthony Wallace shocked everyone committing to Oregon on a recent visit. That leaves Ejuan Price, a player who seems to me to be looking for a reason not to come this way, and superstar Charles Grant from Virginia who is a Florida lean. With those slim pickings available in the class of 2011 it is time to look forward to the class of 2012.
Kaleb Ringer, 6-2, 225, Clayton Northmont. I become more impressed with Ringer as time goes along. I have always been concerned about his size. He was about this same size when he first popped up on the radar screen so I was concerned about him outgrowing the position. We have seen it happen with other
top linebacker prospects, most recently with Glenvilles Andre Sturdivant. Ringer is even more athletic than Sturdivant and has that same nose for the ball and for making big plays.
Joe Bolden, 6-3, 220, Colerain. It has amazed me that Bolden gets so little pub. I put him right there with Ringer. He runs even better than Ringer. He is better in space. He has a great frame to add weight. If you ask me I would not want to choose between them. Call them 1a and 1b. I think the Buckeyes have the same thoughts on Bolden as he will be a guest right along with Ringer for the Michigan game.
Jhalil-Nashid Croley, 6-3, 235, Princeton. Talk about suffering from a lack of publicity. I think Croley got caught in the is he a defensive end talk and got left there. Mark Porter saw him up close and thinks those size numbers are a little inflated. That is actually a good thing from Croley. I thought he might of been a tweener as a defensive end but he is an outstanding run stuffing linebacker who will get serious looks if his junior tape is as good as his sophmore film.
Josh Dooley, 6-0, 200, William Mason. All I need to say is two words. Tyler Moeller. That is who Josh Dooley reminds me of. He is a very fast high motor kid with great instincts. Dooley is an ideal fit for the hybrid position, called the Star at Ohio State. I think the position has become essential in the college game. I think it has reached a level of importance that it needs to be recruited for specifically rather than move someone into the role.
I have to mention Jaylen Prater here. He is from Wellston. He is 6-2 215 and runs a 4.5 I have grown to respect Mark Porters eye as well as he does mine. I am not as impressed with him as Mark is. There is no denying the athleticism. He is going to draw alot of attention in the athlete season. He is likely to light up the camp and combine circuit. He has a really good frame. I would like to see him dominate on the field like other small school players do when they play against this level of competition.
Marcus Foster, 6-1, 200, S/Hybrid, Troy. These days it is not very often that a player jumps into my top ten this late in the process. Foster is a sure Big Four recruit. I don't think he has the speed to be a corner at the next level but he is not a great safety only because he might be an even better prospect at the hybrid position, called the Star at Ohio State. Big time hitter with an aggressive style, and the ball skills of a top wide receiver. Very athletic kid. I don't know who is better, Foster or Bam Bradley. I can't separate the two of them. I say why bother. Put them together in the Buckeye defensive backfield. It would just be raining receivers with alligator arms if these two were patrolling the secondary. Another thing Foster shares with Bradley is excellent academics. It
is a great year for safeties in Ohio with Frank Epitropolous, Allen Gant, DeShawn Hall and a couple of others but they are all looking at the number three spot behind Bradley and Foster.
Cameron Wilson, 6-2, 200, WR, Dublin Jerome. There were always questions about his speed and he did not have a great camp at Ohio State but after watching his film on ScoutingOhi.com I remembered why I liked him in the first place. Wilson is a big split end who plays the split end game. What I mean is he is a go up and get it over the top kind of receiver. Get him one on one and have the quarterback throw it up for him. Let him go get it. He is very physical. He will go across the middle and will drop his shoulder to finish runs. He knows how to use his body. Wilson has long arms and big hands and knows how to use them. He has tremendous ball skills and his awareness is top drawer. After the catch he is as elusive as a player 5-9 and 170.
Evan Jones, 6-6, 240, TE/DL, Ridgewood West Lafayette. We have been asking for athletic bigs in Ohio for as long as I can remember Just what this class needed. Another outstanding big. Why we could not spread them out over a few years I don't know. This kid is from a small school but I could see him blowing up this summer with a good showing on the athlete circuit. He is a better tight end right now, maybe as good as Blake Thomas, but someone is going to give him a shot as a strong side end who could grow into a three-technique tackle. Great body on this kid. Runs well and is very physical. He is one I will be keeping my eye on.
Terrelle Dorsey 6-0, 210, RB, Mansfield Sr. I have to put his name out there. This is a gifted back. I say at least a three-star back who is getting no pub because of the depth of the class in Ohio. A player this talented being no better than the number four back in the state says it all about the talent in the class. Dorsey shows excellent vision and I love how quickly he gets north-south. He is a determined runner with excellent balance and good power. He will be a Big Ten back. He could see offers from that next level of schools behind the Big Four. I am talking about Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State. Great looking back.
I will get to the Buckeyes but first I need to talk about the referees in this game. It was so bad and so one sided that they nearly cost the Buckeyes the game. It was like these guys were on the take. The pass interference on Chekwa only existed in that refs mind. It set up Iowas first touchdown. Terrible call. We had a drive stalled because of a holding call on Adams where in actuality he pancaked Clayborn. The refs give Iowa life on a personal foul where Hines helmet made contact with an Iowa receiver. Another awful call. Dan Rubin and I disagreed about this after the game. By the letter of the law it may have been a penalty but I think we need to add intent to this rule. I don't know how defenders are supposed to tackle and at the same time be conscious of where their helmets are as well as where the runners helmet is
going to be. How about the blatant blow to the head, as well as the facemask, on the play where Corey Brown dropped the long pass? Neither were called. Terrible game by the refs. Once sided terrible game by the refs.
Say what you want about Terrelle Pryor. He is such a competitor and a tough guy. This had to be a frustrating win for him. He has solid numbers, 18 of 33 for 195 yards and a touchdown. What would his numbers have looked like without the dropped balls. I can think of four balls that were easily catchable, two by Posey and two by Brown, that would have added at least 50 yards to his total and at least one touchdown, probably two because the first ball Brown dropped he was behind the defense. I don't know if they catch him. Poseys blatant drop in the end zone was for big yardage but the one he dropped on a crossing route in the first quarter could have been an even bigger play. He needed to turn it up and I think he has the speed to to do so. Could have been a huge play. The second drop by Brown is forgivable. A defender flashed in front just as the ball was about to arrive. Maybe when he is older he makes that catch. He was a high school running back last year. Posey, on the other hand, is a junior two year starter who has always played receiver. I stand by my statement of a few weeks ago. NFL? If we had better depth he would not even be a starter here.
Player of the game is the offensive line. At least one publication has Iowa with the top defensive line in the country coming into this season. They are impressive. They are #6 in the country versus the run allowing 93.27 a game. We got them for 158. Pryor did not have too deal with much pass rush from them. I have to single out J.B. Shugarts. Two false starts and gave up the only sack we allowed in this game. That is not good enough. We have no options behind Posey. We are short a split end. We do not have a two-deep at split end. We do have at right tackle. The staff saw enough out of Andrew Norwell to play him as a true freshman. I have to think he could do better than two false starts and a sack. Shugarts is hurt? Sit him.
On defense I have to single out John Simon and Brian Rolle. Both rose to the occasion. I was impressed with Sol Thomas. He was very active and involved in this game. Cam Heyward had a solid game. Overall I was pleased at how the secondary played. I was very concerned that the very good Iowa receivers could have torched our beat up secondary if we did not get good pressure. We got decent pressure but I thought it would have needed to be better for us not to get hurt by Johnson and McNutt. We contained them. Nice job.
So many things went against the Buckeyes in this game but we persevered, showed some toughness and got it done. We think about Jim Tressel coached teams as not being able to come from behind. This was the sixth game this year where the Buckeyes were behind or tied. We won five of them.
We all know what is what with the current recruiting class. I can click off their names in my sleep and I am sure many of you can too. The class of 2012 is fascinating. It is a great class and here are a few more names that are definitely going to be on the radar come spring.
Blake Thomas, TE, 6-4, 240, Cleveland St. Ignatius. Has to be a Buckeye target. I was the first to give Nick Vannett on the radar last year. I am putting Blake Thomas out there this year. He reminds me so much of Vannett. Both are excellent receivers but they are the kind of in-line blockers that appeal to a program like Ohio State. He might be an even better prospect because he has the frame but you can see he is not nearly as well developed as Vannett. He is kind of
lanky. He could fill out into a 260 or even 270 lb kid and not lose his speed or athleticism.
William Mahone, Ath, 6-0, 200, Austintown Fitch. Certainly a candidate for the title of the best prospect nobody is talking about, and arguably the front runner. He is also the favorite to be named the best two-way player in the class. Mahone has the misfortune of coming along in a year when his best positions, running back and safety, are prime positions in Ohio. He is a great looking explosive back with great feet and runs with a reckless physical style. He is a Big Ten caliber running back. Maybe a Big Four back. He may be an even better strong safety. We hear about superstar Bam Bradley at Trotwood-Madison and DeShawn Hall at Glen Oak, and there is a name out there we have yet to reveal who may be better than either, but Mahone needs to be mentioned in that elite company. He is a physical strong safety who brings ball skills to the position and is comfortable playing over slot receivers. Keep an eye on this one.
Zack Higgins, OL, 6-5, 300, Marlington. I am very high on Taylor Decker from Butler and Joe Spencer from Mason but I have not seen film of them as juniors yet. Of the junior film I have seen so far Higgins is the best. He is a mauling brawling right tackle right now who might find his niche as a guard. He has a good punch and plays to the whistle.Right now I see a right tackle who has cleared taken his game up a level from his sophmore year.
Jimmy Rousher, Ath, 6-3, 253, Canfield. I don't know if he is going to be a defensive tackle or a tight end. I don't see him having offensive lineman size. He might be a guard in the right offense, one where speed and athleticism are more important, but I can't imagine putting such an athletic big at guard. He looks a little bigger than last year but at the same time more athletic. He runs so very well for a big kid. He packs such a punch. Opposing players look like they are talking to dead ancestors after they take a shot from Rousher. He is an excellent blocker at tight end and catches the ball very well. Some will recruit him as tight end but I would look at him as strong side end or three-technique tackle.
Continuing the recruiting update, I look at the out of state players.
Outside of Doran Grant the really special players left on the Buckeyes want list are the out of state players. One stands out.
I bet you thought I was going to say Jadeveon Clowney. I am talking about Jabari Gorman. The need in the defensive backfield is so great that I don't know if you wait on the best defensive line prospect I have ever seen in Clowney if Gorman would lock up the final spot. He is that good and I think adding more defensive backs to this class is such that I would probably make that heart wrenching decision. We don't have anyone like Clowney. Then again nobody does. But we have special athletes coming in on the defensive line. We already have some here. I don't know who is going to play strong safety for us next year. The depth chart shows Zac Damicone and Chad Hagan. I have never believed in Damicone. I keep hearing that he is injured. Whatever the reason he is going into his fourth year and has made no impact. Hagan has been injured. I have heard that the heart condition he had is something that is career threatening. We will see how that plays out. Either way it leaves us with a huge question mark at strong safety. Maybe with a healthy Scott
McVey we will have a two-deep at the Star which will allow for Christian Bryant to move back to strong safety. Landing Gorman would go a long way toward alleviating my concerns. He is bigtime and we have a real shot to get him here. His family is fighting hard to keep him close to home. If we can find a way to overcome that hurdle we could land a big time player who could come in and help immediately.
Jadeveon Clowney is the best defensive lineman I have ever seen at the high school level. We do have a shot here. For as long as I can remember the consensus was he was not leaving the state. Then it was that he was not leaving the south. Now we see that one instate school, Clemson, does not even make his top five. The Buckeyes do. He is looking for a January visit. I love that we are getting him that late in the process. The closer to signing day the better. His highlight films show a most spectacular player but seeing him play an entire game early this year is when I was sure this is a unique player. He played like a man possessed the entire game. His motor is non-stop. That is something that is more often than not the bane of defensive linemen. If there ever has been a perfect recruit it is Clowney.
You know I am of the opinion that the need for linebackers in this class is overstated. It is even moreso now that Conner Crowell is a Buckeye. I want Anthony Wallace and Curtis Grant in this class because they are the kind of players you just don't say no to. The consensus is we are a strong number two for Grant but that still puts on the outside looking as Florida is his leader. You wait on this kind of athlete. I pointed out recently that Anthony Wallace is the one who called us. The talk is all about Oklahoma. I hear that. to those that are saying that, did you hear that he was the one who called us? I am not saying I think we lead. Wallace has played it to close to the vest that I think any speculation at this point about his future plans is just that. Lets see how this one plays out.
A name that we have not talked about alot is outstanding athlete Darius Jennings. Like with Curtis Grant, he has been so low key with his recruitment that we have not heard much about him. The Buckeyes have made his cutdown to a final 6. We recruited Stan White out of his his school, Baltimore Gilman, so it is not like he is completely unfamiliar with us and this is such a reach for the Buckeyes. He is a much underrated two-way player who could help us out at corner or wide receiver.
A name that may ring a bell is Cornelius "Tank" Carradine. He was a great looking defensive end prospect out of Cincinnati Taft a couple of years ago. He did not get an offer but that is looking like a matter of academics. He is back from the JUCO route and is ranked the number one JUCO defensive lineman. He now has an offer from the Buckeyes and signing day for JUCO players is December 15th. He is looking to take his last visit right before that date and it is looking like it could be to Ohio State. He will have 2 years of eligibility left. Alabama, USC, Florida State and Tennessee have also offered scholarships.
All those who believe the coaching staff nearly cost us the game in the first half raise your hands? Now leave the room as you have failed the advanced football class and must start over.
We saw a well prepared and motivated football team in Penn State in the first half and we were just awful. Poor tackling really hurt the defense badly. I don't know why Penn State did not just continue to run the ball. This was the worst half of football by the defense all season. Wisconsin was the worst first quarter. This was the worst first half. It was the worst game of the year for Pryor. The fans in the first few rows of the stadium had to be on guard. At any time the way Pryor was throwing a ball could have jacked someone in the head. The interior of the offensive line had a terrible first half in pass protection.
Pryor threw two good balls in the first half. One was the long ball to Posey. We had to settle for three because Boren got beat on the second down pass and Browning on the third down pass.
We played poorly. It was that simple.
The second half the coaches won the football game. Adjustments to what Penn State was doing turned the game around. I think going in we were counting on more pressure. Sacks have not been coming but pressure has been consistent. Making the quarterback throw the ball before he wants to is the next best thing to a sack. In this game we did not see that. The staff changed the zone coverage we were in and the difference was obvious. McGloin was 13 of 18 with 2 touchdowns in the first half. He was 2 of 12 with 2 interceptions for touchdowns in the second half.
The offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage running the ball the entire game. I am an old school smashmouth football kind of guy. I loved watching this line in the second half. I know alot of fans want Jordan Hall or Jamal Berry to be the starter. They might be better than Herron. Might is the key word in that sentence. With Herron we know what he can do. He is getting better every game. Then there are the intangibles. Go back and look at the long pass to Posey. Watch the left side of the line. Penn State has a blitz on. Adams takes the wide guy. The linebacker comes inside of him. I don't know if that was the blocking scheme or not but usually linemen take the inside guy, the one closest to the quarterback. Herron picked up on Adams taking the outside guy and stepped into the hole to meet the linebacker. Pryor has time to make the throw. Beautiful. I saw Saine make a couple of impressive blocks in this game.
Not a great game from the linebackers by any means but it must be pointed out that one key play, maybe the most important of the game, was the third fourth and short that Penn State went for. Hines is getting all the credit for the tackle but Homan spilled the run outside right into Hines.
What I love most about this game was facing adversity and coming back from it. That is something we need going into Iowa where a win over the Buckeyes is something they would love to send their seniors out with after a disappointing second half of the season.
