Leadership From Players Main Key To Success For Ohio State in 2012

By Nick Weaver — BlockONation.com Featured Contributor

Nobody wants to see mugshots of any Buckeye football player, Unfortunately, this article contains a couple, so if you're squeamish, you better look away.

Once again, offseason scandal has plagued the Buckeyes this summer — thankfully on a much smaller scale this time around compared to the Tatgate scandal that led to Jim Tressel's dismissal, a horrifically disappointing 2011 season, and the eventual one-year postseason and bowl ban given to the program by the NCAA.

Only three players thus far have decided to break the law “allegedly”. The latest was senior linebacker Storm Klein, who was potentially in the mix for a starting position this upcoming season, before being charged with domestic violence and assault.

Preceding Klein on the Buckeye blotter were TE, Jake Stoneburner and OL, Jack Mewhort. While Klein decided to rough up his child's mother, Stoneburner and Mewhort publicly urinated during memorial weekend, and then ran from the police.

Klein was dismissed from the team by Meyer on July 8th. Stoneburner and Mewhort lost their scholarships for the summer, and despite the charges being dismissed against them, at last check, they remain suspended indefinitely — for the time being anyway.

I mentioned these incidents to lay a foundation so I could pose a question that has been bothering me since last season when we fell apart late in games.

Where is the player leadership on this team, especially from the upperclassmen?

I know they vote on captains each year, but I didn't see the captains gain control of the team late in games last year, or during this offseason either.

Sure, it's only three players with relatively minor charges compared to last year, and extremely minuscule compared to what happened at Penn State, but exercise your brain and think.

Who was the leader last year on the field? Miller goes down vs. Nebraska and the team completely fell apart.

Was it Fickel? He gets the blame because he was the head coach, but there has to be upperclassmen leadership on the field and in the locker room. Anyone that has played sports knows exactly what I am talking about.

I give props to John Simon because he is a beast and led the defense on the field making a lot of heroic plays, however, I can’t name anyone from the offensive side of the ball that I can say was a clear leader.

Boom Herron gets partial credit for the last two games of the year, but it just wasn’t near enough in my eyes.

The 2012 season will be upon us in no time, and who is going to lead the team this year on (and off) the field and in the locker room?

Urban Meyer will have them ready to play each game — that's a given — but so did Fickell for the most part last year.

Then again, in many games, we looked like we never arrived at the stadium until late in the game.

The Silver Bullets need a leader to emerge with only 48 days until the season kicks off and “Urban Warfare” begins!

Even though I question who will lead come September 1st, I will have my jersey and Buckeye beads on, ready to ride or die, and cheer our Buckeyes to victory!

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@BlockONation


@Nick_Weav

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Southern Exposure: How the Buckeyes Will Reap Recruiting Rewards

by Tim Bielik
BlockONation Analyst



Two weeks into fall camps, the impact of some of the Buckeyes' latest recruits is very palpable.

Multiple freshmen, including Duron Carter, Storm Klein, and Dorian Bell, have worked their way already into the second-team units.

Freshman running back Jaamal Berry has drawn a lot of praise from Jim Tressel for his athletic ability early on in camp.

More so now than in recent years do the Buckeyes have tremendous athletic potential at a lot of positions, some at positions they aren't used to being strong at.

Ohio State appears to be solid with three-deep at running back. They also have a very deep, albeit inexperienced, wide receiver corps bursting with ability.

In addition, the Buckeyes appear to have one of their deepest linebacker corps in recent memory, with almost anyone in their two-deep rotation capable of starting.

The biggest reason for such depth has been dramatically improved recruiting methods.

In the last few years, the Buckeyes have been better at recruiting in the Southern states and landing some elite talent from states like Georgia and Florida.

As of right now, three of their main defensive contributors—defensive end Cameron Heyward, linebacker Brian Rolle, and cornerback Chimdi Chekwa—hail from both of those states.

Starting center Mike Brewster also hails from Florida as one of the major prospects from the South in the past two years.

Sophomore linebacker Etienne Sabino and redshirt freshman defensive back Travis Howard are both expected to fill major roles on the Buckeye defense.

In addition, Berry and Carter both hail from Florida and both have made early impressions on the Buckeye coaching staff.

But Florida is not the only major outside source for Buckeye talent in the past two recruiting classes. Jim Tressel has left a mark on the neighboring state of Pennsylvania, as he has taken the top player in the state to Columbus twice now.

Last year it was current starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor along with linebacker Andrew Sweat.

This year, stud linebacker Dorian Bell and defensive back/wide receiver Corey Brown came from the Keystone State to Columbus.

No one who follows recruiting can deny how much talent the Buckeyes have landed in their last two previous classes. Those classes ranked among the top five, rivaling recruiting titans USC and Florida.

As with any recruiting class, teams start reaping the benefits after the kids have a year under their belt, or even sooner.

If the 2009 season is the rule and not the exception, Ohio State fans are in for some exciting football.

No one outside of the program knows the current position rankings and depth charts of the roster until just before the first game. So it's unclear at this time what type of impact the freshmen and second-year players will have.

No doubt this is one of Tressel's youngest teams. So odds are high that these young guys will be thrust into action.

But if the youngsters hold true to their recruiting hype, Ohio State's new Buckeyes could have several teams that would be among the best in a storied history.


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