I was doing a little casual Buckeye football-related reading on the interwebs and a quote from Adolphus Washington grabbed my attention. It was from an article about how the defense will deal with Joey Bosa's suspension.
"It might be a lot of pressure on guys, but that’s my job and Joel Hale's job as a leader on the defensive line and Coach Johnson's job to make those guys feel as comfortable as possible," defensive tackle Adolphus Washington said. "So when they go out there, they should have nothing to worry about but just playing."
As sad as it may be that I was actually reading something on esecpn.go, I found it interesting that Adolphus would single out Joel Hale as a d-line leader.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's great. After all, Joel Hale is a Senior - and there's no rule that says one must be a starter to be a leader. It's just that it's the first time I've noticed him being referred to in that particular role.
Not to read too much in to one quote - but it also crossed my mind that perhaps Adolphus is anticipating that Joel may be ready to take on more playing time than I was originally thinking he would -