After reading some of Remy's great posts on Buckeyes of the past I noticed something. The one thing that stood out was having an All-American DB(namely safety) and winning the National Championship.
Looking back from Cassidy in 54' to Vonn Bell (who I believe played better than Collins last year). The thing that really caught my eye was the great All-American safety's in National Championship years.
Bell (15)who I believe will be an All-American .
Doss (02')
Tatum ,Sensibaugh, Anderson (68') (70')
Cassidy (54') yes according to Wikipedia he never had a pass completed against him as a DB.
While this does not exactly hold true in other years namely 42' , 57', and 61'. The fact that in 5 of 8 National Championship years the Buckeyes have had an All-American(I'm counting Bell) patrolling the secondary is interesting.
So the question is what position is an All-American caliber player most needed to win a National Championship?