As someone who has done it, Raekwon McMillan knows firsthand the most important thing needed to play as a true freshman at Ohio State lies between the ears.
“It’s all the mental game,” McMillan said last month at the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “You can be the best physical player in the world ... To get on the field [you] have to be mentally gifted.”
Chris Worley is the stark opposite of a true freshman but is undergoing transition this spring as the current selection from the Ohio State coaching staff to replace McMillan at middle linebacker in 2017. A two-year starter at arguably the most important position on defense in addition to a team captain, the shoes McMillan leaves behind are spacious. Worley played outside linebacker last year, his first full year as a starter.
With a shift one spot over in the middle of an Ohio State defense that was one of the nation's best a year ago under way, it isn't a surprise to hear Worley mention the added strain of knowing what each of his teammates is supposed to do on any given play and getting them in the right place when he discusses being the new quarterback of the defense.
But don't you dare think he is the least bit worried about it.
“Not everybody can get everybody else lined up and still hold their own. A lot of them can just take care of themselves and Chris is outstanding at getting everybody and himself lined up.”– Billy Davis
“I’ve always been crazy confident. You can ask any coach. When I’m on that field, I’m just different,” Worley said on Tuesday after Ohio State's third practice of spring. “I'm just being more vocal about it now.”
Worley has been around for a while — the 2017 season will be his fifth in the program — and exhibits plenty of gusto when he talks about having to step in for McMillan, a Butkus finalist and soon to be early round draft pick. In a sense, he has sort of waited for this opportunity for a while. Worley won the starting outside linebacker job out of fall camp in 2014, only to yield to a guy named Darron Lee.
That didn't stop him from staying vocal, though — just in a different way.
“I didn’t want to be the biggest loudmouth and wasn’t even really touching the field in the ways that I wanted to, you know I played special teams,” Worley said. “Sometimes it’s better to just go under the radar and just help the team in any way that they need you, but now I feel I’m in a position to be more vocal.”
He has always been that way in front of television cameras and microphones. A Cleveland kid from Glenville High School, earning a scholarship and becoming an impact player for Ohio State was always the dream.
He blossomed into a key and more than dependable part of Luke Fickell's defense in 2016 alongside McMillan and opposite of Jerome Baker, logging 69 tackles (4.5 for loss) and an interception against Michigan State. Three times, he recorded double-digit tackles.
“You can see that the last few games — Michigan State, That Team Up North — I played in the box a lot based on the type of offense,” Worley said. “I did pretty good: double-digit tackles against Team Up North, three tackles against Michigan State and an interception. So I’m very comfortable in the box. I’m excited, so we’ll see how it all unfolds.”
Urban Meyer said two weeks ago that Worley is the heir apparent for McMillan — for now. It could change and new linebackers coach Billy Davis expects Worley to be ready to play all three linebacker spots. Ohio State requires that of all players at the position.
But with McMillan on to the NFL, Worley is the best candidate to keep the foundation Fickell set moving in the right direction.
“It’s a little bit of everything with probably the key piece being the strong leadership. He’s our quarterback,” Davis said. “He has a great understanding of he has to line everybody else up and then do his job.”
He better, because McMillan was the best at that. Defensive end Jalyn Holmes said late last season his pre-snap responsibilities were simple: “Wait for Raekwon to tell me what to do.”
For reference, here is everything McMillan did in essentially the span of a few breaths before the opposing quarterback took the snap from the center:
These are the pre-snap responsibilities Ohio State bestows upon middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan every play: pic.twitter.com/x9DQEbxPDr
— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) October 31, 2016
Tired yet? Worley isn't.
“I’m a highly intelligent guy on the football field. It’s not that big of a burden on me to get other guys lined up and stuff,” he said. “I’m just kind of embracing it and going with the flow.”
“Not everybody can do that. Not everybody can get everybody else lined up and still hold their own,” Davis added. “A lot of them can just take care of themselves and Chris is outstanding at getting everybody and himself lined up.”
Worley said he added a handful of extra pounds to be ready to stand proudly in the middle of Ohio State's defense. McMillan checked in at 240 pounds at the NFL Combine, a shade under 6-foot-2. Worley is the same height and claims he played around 235 or 236 pounds last season. So the body frames, their tenacity and obsession with hitting people are similar.
“I loved it. I got to hit people,” Worley said when asked how the team's first day in full pads of spring practice went. “I haven’t done that since we took that big loss, so it was good to get a little bit of that frustration out, but doing it in the right way, not trying to hurt your teammates or anything. It wasn’t like a scrimmage. Just thud and stay up. But I finally got to hit some of them offensive linemen and let them know I’m here.”
All that is left is the mental aspect of playing quarterback, taking everything he can from McMillan and applying it.
“It speaks to how coach Meyer and coach Fickell and now coach Davis and coach Schiano, how they’ve sort of raised the linebacker group to sort of feed off of each other,” Worley said. “But I also put the work in so I’m ready for it.”
