The depth chart for the Wisconsin game is out and while it's important to point out that these things are tentative at best (remember, Pryor was listed as a firm #2 the week of his first start), there's some interesting movement.
Click image to enlargeFor starters, it appears as if guard Steve Rehring is getting close to returning to the lineup. While we've previously speculated that he may not get his job back, he's listed as a co-starter with Cordle at left guard. He'd been out of action since the USC game and in his absence, Cordle slid over from center with freshman center Mike Brewster getting his first two starts of his young career against Troy and Minnesota.
The depth chart shows Brewster and Cordle listed as co-starters at center, but as poorly as the guards have played this season, I'm all in favor of keeping Brewster at center, Cordle at left guard and then having Rehring and Person wrestle in Jell-O for that open right guard spot.
Rory Nicol's ankle injury means he won't see any action this weekend and fullback Brandon Smith is listed as the #2 tight end, his natural position. Smith will still maintain starting fullback duties and his versatility combined with the fact that the Buckeyes hate throwing to tight ends means the injury probably won't impact the offense that much.
In some exciting news, DeVier Posey is listed on the depth chart for the first time this season in the third slot at one of the wide receiver positions. He's listed behind Hartline and Small, but through the first five games the staff has listed only two players at each of the receiver spots, so read into that as you see fit.
Chekwa and Donald Washington are still listed as co-starters at one of the corner spots and Jermale Hines has cemented his spot ahead of Jamario O'Neal at safety, but really not a whole lot of movement in the secondary.
Finally, the kick return pair remains the same with Saine and Boom listed as the top guys. I'm going to object to Boom being back there for fear of injury -- he's really starting to come on. And you know my feelings on Saine back there. Can't get everything we want, I guess.
Comments
I agree about Saine. He hasn't proven crap to this point to show that he deserves to even be returning kicks. Let's see what Posey or Thomas can do. Who knows though? Maybe they did try all their options in practice and Saine had the best results.
In regards to the poll...
I tried to take off my homer cap, but I voted yes. Texas Tech? BYU?? In the top 10?! Seriously?!?!?
On KO return the returners split and each cover one sideline to mid-field. Every KO on Saturday from Minnesota ended up in Saine's hands. One could opine that this was not a coincidence. Minnesota purposely kept the ball from Boom seeing Saine as the less dangerous returner.
Just an observation.
I say we give Person a shot at returing kicks, he can't play the line very well so we might as well give him a shot elsewhere. LOL
But in all seriousness, I agree that Boom should be left off KR duties....why isn't Small back there, or Flash? Our best KR's in recent history were WR Tress.....remember that Ginn guy? Yeahhhhh....now you remember.
BYU in the top 10 this year isn't as bad as it sounds. They have played pretty well I think. It's an absolute travisty(sp?) that Florida is ranked ahead of us still, along with Georgia and other SEC flops coughAUBURNcough........all the voters must work for ESECPN
Bout time they started showing me on the depth chart!
Our special teams have gotten steadily worse it seems over the last 2 years w/o Ginn - like he solved a lot of problems. Look, it's probably scheme related why we are one of the worse return teams in the country ... I know we have better special teams athletes than most teams ahead of us.
I have no problem ranking FL, GA etc ahead of us, we have a lot to prove. quite frankly, they are overall better teams at this point, even if we have the 2 best players perhaps. I am looking forward to watching this team improve over thisa season and we'll see just how much better they get. Hopefully there aren't too many screwups along the way, though. I think this team will probably lose one road game at least, but I do not want to drop any of the home games, and we can probably still win the conference with a 6-2 record, definitely with a 7-1 record).
And, we should hopefully be put in a bowl game we can win this time. A big game as bowl games go, but one where we are not playing for all the marbles. Nothing about this team says "top 10" to me right now. I gotta see them play better than this.
How almighty will the SEC look if Vandy or Kentucky come stumbling out of the SEC East in the their champioship game?
I don't think we have proven enough yet to be in the top 10. After this weekend it will be more clear whether or not we should be in the top 10. However, it seems as though the voters are really starting to doubt us so even a big win against Whisky won't be enough to crack the top 10.
What really baffles me is how the F&@% did Auburn jump us after barely beating a bad Tenessee team that has an even worse QB??????
Heyward will be tested this week, he will be the point of attack on double teams and traps. He has to stat low while play hard, fast, and for keeps. That means fighting for every inch and not yielding. I hope the OL & DL are doing extra reps in the weightroom.
I like the position Ohio State is in right now, just keep winning and let all the other teams in front of you lose. I have said it for a couple of weeks now, when the Buckeyes are sitting at 7-1 or 8-1, the pollsters will have no choice. Everyone gets too excited early in the season, when it doesn't matter until the last three weeks and then anything can still happen.
Why can't Rehring play tackle? Flip him out to RT, and bump Browning in to RG - and assign Ben Person to picking up the locker room or something. I can't believe that he wouldn't know the assignments - he's been here for five years, and I seriously doubt they've got separate film study and meetings for guards and tackles. Lots of people who know more about it than me have suggested that Browning's better suited to G anyway.
Nicol's injury doesn't matter other than it sucks for him - Jake Ballard's a better receiver AND blocker anyway. I think he could be a real weapon if JT ever decided to use passes to the TE as anything other than a tendencies-breaker.
It's going to be interesting to see how much Jermale gets on the field this week - Homan's probably going to be out there for all but the most obvious of passing downs given Wisconsin's scheme. Has Hines done enough to earn the right to rotate w/ Coleman?
I think Hines should start in fron of ARussell iam a big critic of safeties and i remeber the Moore and Doss days being up at the line stuffing plays. I really hope its not all on Heacock because our safeties do not make plays at the line of scrimmage, Coleman did have two picks but one was a bad pass and the other one the guy caught the ball and he stripped him. All this being said Coleman is better then Russell and i think Hines is better then Russell.