Hankins - destroyed everyone in his path
Simon - blew up some big plays. Pretty bad in space though.
Klein - runs INTO blockers. Non factor. He did manage to trip martinez just enough to register a sack tho
roby - his play did all the talking. But his goal line "cornerback tackle" impersonation was disappointing
orhian johnson - the jury is out on this guy. Got chop blocked out of every play down field and had an ok game otherwise
shazier - shows signs of being our only reasonable linebacker in space. Martinez was still too squirmy for him
Williams - great talent we need him to stay healthy because he is maybe our only d lineman who can stop the run, pass rush and step back into coverage on any given play
I didn't see Washington, Spense or Schutt at all. Bennett was back but would like to see the kids get a little time. This topic has been gone over several times already.
Curtis Grant played a little but I didn't realize Sabino was out during the game. I noticed him in with Storm on goal-line. When they (NB) got the penalty and were backed up to the 7 he was out. Still praying Grant can put in valuable time.
Will be interesting to see which freshman play against IU. Would love to see a Freshman linebacker or two make the field. Don't beleive I've seen it yet.
The big plays are killing this D. Is it all a LB issue? Seems like most of the big plays are usually running plays, a la Cal and Burkhead.
josh perry (37) was in a lot of plays when sabino went out. when nebraska split 3 out wide on the goal line he actually lined up over a wide receiver, probably to stop the screen or a wide run. didn't see him blow up any plays though. saw schutt and bennett on the field, same story though, didn't see them make any big plays.
When did Sabino go out? Thanks for the heads up on Shutt and Perry. That's great to hear as we lose a lot on D next year.
Klein is gross to watch.
Tomorrow
one player i noticed on special teams was devan bogard. he was in on everything
Josh Perry (Olentangy kid) was #15 until last week when he changed to #37. He's moving up the depth charts quickly apparently because he was in quite a bit after Sabino went down. Very intelligent young man, and I could see him being another under-the-radar recruit that becomes a great Buckeye LB. He was a highly productive RB in H.S., so if he happens to pick one off and stay on his feet... reservations for 6.
Not sure I'd call Perry an "under the radar" guy. He was a mid 4 star by most accounts
I thought Klien had a couple of other solo plays. I didn't watch him on every snap, but I didn't feel like he was a liability out there.
You can kill a fly with your slipper or a cannon. Either way, the fly dies. -Ramzy
What about Goebel; guy has been solid this entire year and is IMO not getting enough love. Hankins and he own the interior of the line, and play a ton of snaps. Who has run up the gut on this team? Thought he was owed a big shout out from buckeye nation
If not under-the-radar, definitely less heralded and anticipated than many of our defensive recruits last year. Of course, that's at least in part attributable to him being the first commit (I think) in that class.
Ohrian Johnson was atrocious Saturday night. He was torched for all Nebraska's big pass plays, and badly missed tackles on their big runs. He got the pick late, but overall he should get an F for his performance.
^The main problem I saw was that they frequently had Johnson covering Kenny Bell which made no sense in my mind. I guess it was a function of the zone defense we were playing, but to have our (arguably) weakest member of the secondary covering their best WR is scary. IIRC all 2-3 of the deep balls Bell caught were against Johnson who frankly couldn't keep up with him back there. Johnson hasn't had a whole lot of play time back there this year (though he has in the past) outside of the last couple games, so I don't really blame him for that as much as the scheme.
Let's not forget Ben Buchanan's touchdown-saving ankle tackle!
Najee Murray had a nice tackle on kickoff coverage, and was instrumental on Corey Brown's punt return for a TD. He and another Buckeye kept the gunner off of Brown when Brown went to field the ball. Gotta show love for Steubenville :)