I am very excited about the two LB commitments without a doubt, but I feel that Johnson will play before Mitchell does. I think he is a more fundamentally sound and quicker player. Mitchell is a physical specimen, but his technique needs some more polishing than Johnson's IMHO. I actually hope that neither of them are needed in 2013 and they can both grow into real high level college football players.
With Perry, Williams, Perkins, Roberts, and now Johnson and Mitchell the young LB corp is looking good. Exciting times indeed.
yeah ... & don't forget Grant -- he has 2 more years left. I hope the light comes on for him. There's a reason he was a 5 star in high school...hope he shows it this upcoming season!
Yes, I was only including the underclassmen of 2013, but I am expecting nothing from Grant and hoping to be pleasantly surprised.
vacuuming sucks
I really hope Grant pans out but Jamario O'Neal was a 5 star too. They don't always pan out.
Don't be surprised to see one of them get some playing time.
Buckeye_For_Life
I'd say OSU's ok at LB now...young...but ok. Wait till after 2014's HAUL of LBs and we'll be back to Linebacker U as they were back in the 70's 80's 90's and some in the 2000s. I'm excited too Maestro...defense has always been my fav.
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
True. I've always thought OSU was the real "Linebacker U." --- not PSU. Our quality all-time is just much better than PSU. And, since 2000 - I think we've had 16 LBs drafted to their 8.
Yeah, I heard that before, too. I did a little research, and it looks like we've had 15 LBs drafted since 2000. That is pretty darn impressive. Here are the LB's we've had drafted just since 2000; (this doesn't include any free agents either - just drafted OSU players):
2000: Na'il Diggs --- (Green Bay - 4th round)
James Cotton --- (Chicago - 7th round)
2002: Courtland Bullard --- (St. Louis - 5th round)
2003: Cie Grant --- (New Orleans - 3rd round)
Matt Wilhelm --- (San Diego - 4th round)
2004: Robert Reynolds --- (Tennessee - 5th round)
2006: A.J. Hawk --- (Green Bay - 1st round)
Bobby Carpenter --- (Dallas - 1st round)
Anthony Schlegel --- (New York Jets - 3rd round)
2008: Larry Grant --- (San Francisco - 7th round)
2009: James Laurinaitis --- (St. Louis - 2nd round)
Marcus Freeman --- (Chicago - 5th round)
2010: Austin Spitler --- (Miami - 7th round)
2011: Brian Rolle --- (Philadelphia - 6th round)
Ross Homan --- (Minnesota - 6th round)
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
The 2006 group was my all time favorite group of linebackers ever.
Amen to that. Those guys were incredible. Schlegel wasn't the most athletic but he was just purely a gap stuffer. Hawk I think was the best of anyone on this list while at Ohio State. I just used to watch games with my jaw dropped sometimes because Hawk was just everywhere all the time.
Shame they couldn't cover which is what we needed against UF.
Schlegal, Carpenter, and Hawk were not the starting linebackers against UF in the National Championship game.
They had already graduated!
UF game was Laurinaitis' sophomore year.
One thing also to remember regarding our LB recruits, AJ Hawk wasn't the prize of his recruiting class. It was Mike D'Andrea. We all know how that turned out. I like the sheer number of talented kids we're getting at LB. You'd have to think Meyer and his staff can craft some more good ones to re-establish the pipeline. The Silver Bullets without good LBs goes against the fabric of the universe. It's not natural.
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever
Matter of fact, I believe the two prize linebacker recruits in that class were both D'Andrea and Stan White Jr. D'Andrea unfortunately didn't pan and had some unfortunate injuries and Stan got moved to H-back. Carpenter I think was still a 4 star type of guy but Hawk was the least heralded. Schlegel meanwhile was a transfer at Air Force where he was a stud for them.
That trio was graduated prior to the Florida year. They were the group that tormented Brady Quinn and Notre Dame as seniors. Hawk was phenomenal in coverage and Carpenter was phenomenal as a rush end hybrid.
...actually, you may be right with 16. The 15 are listed below, but if you include Thaddeus Gibson, who was drafted by the Steelers in the 4th round - that could make it 16. They tried to make him into an OLB in their 3/4 Defense; he played primarily DE in college. So, I guess technically it could be 15 1/2.
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
^ You could also make it 17 w/ Vernon Gholston. He was drafted as a rush OLB.
Hopefully Shazier can show them the ropes!!
How Firm Thy Friendship....
I gotta say I agree with your assessment, completely.
Shazier plays with reckless abandon and so will these 2.. I can't wait to see how the 2012 recruits develop with a full offseason. I think the LB core will be better than people think. I also think both Johnson and Mitchel will get a chance to see the field early!
Well to be honest I don't have high expectations, and I'm still holding out hope for C. Grant. So, yes I think they will exceed expectations.
Two years and the light hasn't came on yet.
Mike Mitchell will be a monster on special teams as a freshman
That sentence actually brought a smile to my face while reading it.
Neither guy will redshirt they both will at least play special teams and it wouldn't surprise me if both jump into the LB mix/rotation
Mitchell is a freak but I think Johnson has better instincts. Toss up IMO.
Based on what? I'm not questioning your opinion, but I've heard this several times.
Mike Mitchell had about 190 tackles this year, how bad could his instincts be?
I've heard it many times as well. Just watch his tape, and you'll see it. He really does not take the best angles. Look at how many times he gets too far into the backfield, but then he uses his speed and strength to catch up and pull the guy down from behind or the side. If he played like that here, our coaching staff would yell at him after every play, just like they did to other LBs (early) this year. However, he's still in high school, and he'll get much better coaching here. High hopes that he'll be great in college too.
EDIT: Here's a blurb from Scout on our last great MLB recruit in Grant, for comparison:
At the same time every player is different and you can't judge one by another. Mitchell seems to have a unique training hunger. He trained at home with his dad for the sparq competition and you saw what he did there. That was impressive.
Crimson sums up my point of view very well. Mitchell is an athletically superior talent that has thrived on athleticism over technique so far in his life. He won't be able to do that at OSU. Hopefully he is very coachable. If he is he could be a great one. If not he won't play much.
vacuuming sucks
true statement. Mitchell got his with freakish atgletic ability while johnson isn't the fastest he's always around the ball n has a nose for big plays. Johnson is just one if those natural good football players. I think johnson is more polished while mitchell has crazy upside.
O'Deez330
stark county football
Check out this video of Mike Mitchell dunking in a high school basketball game. Athletic as all get out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65rSBUlHIa4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65rSBUlHIa4
I love the kids faces after he dunks.
I really couldn't be more impressed with this kid short of Clowney level.
How good can he shoot? We need some help on the court...
2nd best lb haul in country behind nd imo
O'Deez330
stark county football
Crazy to be able to say that just a few days/weeks after there was wide spread panic about linebackers in this class. That's what I call getting Urban'd
Best part is when you get a couple kids of that caliber coming in at one position it puts everyone already there on notice.
By reading about their strengths and weaknesses, it seems that they will complement each other very well playing next to one another.
Anyone have a link the that trey johnson hit in the beginning of his AA game? I missed it and could not catch it on a replay, just wondering if someone else has it. I am looking for it online as we speak.
I can't remember which thread it was but the game is up on youtube in 2 parts, and somebody posted them. I missed the tackle too, but if you search on youtube you should find the game, and just FF a lil bit.
thank you for the info
http://youtu.be/tL8TewLNT-M?t=8m15s
^I think that's the one, but it wasn't a huge hit or anything... I think I got it so the video starts right before the play.
and thanks for the link
I think Mike Mitchell could finish the Ninja Warrior course. Freak of an athlete.
With Mitchell and Johnson finally in the class and I would imagine the 2013 linebacker recruiting finished would Urban now allow 2014 linebackers to commit? It seemed that Urban wasn't letting 2014 players commit until that position was done filling up in the current class. I would love to continue the momentum of big time defensive players flocking to the Bucks (i.e. Booker, Garrett, McMillian)
You can make an easy argument that we should wait to let other LBs commit until February 6th, after the faxes come in. It would be fun to get all of the letters in on the 6th, and then get a wave of 4-5 commits on the 7th for next year.
The Rapping Bum is excited about all of the LBs who are underclassmen.
Help is on the way.
Help is on the way, indeed.
"Because the rules won't let you go for three." - Woody Hayes
THE Ohio State University
Curtis Grant is now a DE FYI.
Link, or it didn't happen. Sorry, but there's been lots of rumors with no proof.
I think he would better be described as a "Work in Progress".
I think LB will turn into a strength in the near future, with the studs we are getting.
I dont know about you, but I think those Anzalone and Neal committments worked out pretty good for us after this weekend?
I think Mitchell could start at MIKE...Johnson will be in the two-deep but back up WILL or SAM, IMO
Is it August yet?
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
You are nuts if you think the quality of OSU's LBs all time is way better than PSU's. PSU actually right now has the best collection of LBs in the NFL.
Navorro Bowman- All Pro last year, will be this year
Tamba Hali- Pro Bowler the last 2 years
Cameron Wake- All Pro(DE this year but all pro 2 years ago at LB).
POZ- solid starter
Sean Lee- would have been a pro bowler had he not got hurt
PSU has a total of 8 LBs in the NFL right now with Hodges and Mauti heading there this year.
OSU's LBs may have been drafted a little higher than PSU's over the last decade but based on NFL performance, PSU is LB U.
Welcome, not many PSU guys here. First off Hali only counts as half since he played DL in college, I wouldn't count Gholston or Gibson as OSU LBers. And with Laurenitis and Hawk running their defenses, I think we put up a good list with just those two. I hope Larry Grant gets a chance soon because he played very well for Patrick Willis last year, that defense didn't miss a beat despite being without their clear leader.
No doubt PSU has some great LBers, but it isn't as clear cut as you all like to think.
Larry Grant will have a tough time cracking the starting lineup in SF with Willis and Bowman ahead of him. He will most likely have to go to another team if he wants a chance to start.
Agreed, the Redskins might be in the market for a new starter after London Fletcher turns 90. And now that Ray Lewis is gone there might be a spot there too.
Hmmm...Tamba Hali - Pro Bowler. I never cared for bowling, and anyway this is a football site.
Penn State has not been Linebacker U since Buttle graduated.
Ok, if you say so.
I think that OSU and PSU are the best college programs at producing linebacker talent. This is why it bothers me when PSU is referred to as Linebacker U, as Ohio State has been just as good, if not better at producing linebackers. A list of Ohio State linebackers in the pros would look similar to that of Penn State's, probably headlined by Laurinaitis and Hawk.
For starters, Penn State did not name itself "LB U". The name was bestowed upon us by someone else(Howard Cossell?). I think PSU's track record at producing LBs over the last 40 or so years is pretty much near the top compared to any other school. Sure, there have been periods where we slipped a bit(we did not send too many LBs to the NFL in the 1990s) but if you look at the last 40 years, PSU is tough to beat. As of right now, I feel PSU has the best set of LBs in the NFL(even better than USC and Miami). PSU has a total of 8 LBs in the NFL, 5 of which are starters. Out of those 5 starters, 3 of them have been selected to either a Pro Bowl or All Pro Team within the last 3 seasons and 1 of the others(Sean Lee) would have been a Pro Bowler this year had he not gotten injured.
A new Mitchell highlight tape is out and first of all he gets from sideline to sideline as well or better than B.Rolle. Also he seems to be out of position a lot less and hitting the hole on time a lot more than I remember from his tape last year. Given his apparent work ethic, it wouldn't surprise me if he gets close or in the starting line up by the end of the year.
http://www.prepforce.com/video/3353/2013-lb-mike-mitchell-2012-season-hi...
Thanks for the link. Mitchell has a great motor. He seems very instinctive and he will get playing time as a freshman. Urban and his staff have put together a phenomenal class. I am really excited about the future for the Buckeyes and the fun we will wreck on the B1G.
He victimized that team with the light blue helemts over and over again.
Watching that video kept reminding me of Great White sharks attacking seals during shark week.
I never understood why the seals didn't just stay out of the water during shark week!
Mitchell will be one of the best linebackers to come through OSU when he is finished and of course if he stays healthy. His determination on every play to get to the ball, and he does it with what appears to be the worst of intentions, is only comparable to Chris Spielman. He did it in the all star game a few days ago as well. This kid has "it". With proper training and coaching it will be with great joy to watch him go. Welcome to "The Abusement Park!!"