[Correction: updated post with correct spelling of McElroy. I left that goof for 24 hours to take my lumps, but now correcting for posterity].
This morning, Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic - on their Birmingham AL-based sports radio show - compared Ohio State's and Alabama's 2023 rosters.
Cubelic (an Auburn guy) and especially McElroy (Bama guy) know more about Bama's roster than they do Ohio State's. Given that imbalance, it's interesting that they effectively gave the overall edge to Ohio State:
Offense:
- QB: slight nod to Ohio State.
- WR: big edge to Ohio State's WR corps, which they described as "ridiculous" and "next level." McElroy believes that several Bama WRs that failed to emerge in 2022 will shine in 2023, but that Ohio State's WR corps also will be even better than it was in 2022.
- RBs: slight edge to Ohio State. McElroy said to "watch out for" Trayanum.
- TEs: toss up. They prefer Bama's "depth" at the position, but both love Stover who is a "beast."
- OL: sizable edge to Bama. Ohio State's "OL is a concern." "Huge void at C." Whereas Bama has two starting-caliber Cs and more proven starter-quality players.
Defense:
- DL: slight edge to Ohio State or toss up (this wasn't clear from their comments). They like Ohio State's DEs but were skeptical about their DTs.
- LB: edge to Bama.
- DBs: edge to Bama.
You could argue that their analysis points to an even larger overall edge to Ohio State's roster when you account for their greater knowledge of Bama's roster. McElroy and Cubelic clearly have a good grasp of Ohio State's OL personnel and that unit is a legit concern.
On the other hand, they exhibited some ignorance of the Buckeyes' TE room after Stover (you could argue that Ohio State has the best TE unit in the country going into 2023), DTs (potentially thin on depth, but if all of them stay healthy, look out!), LBs (maybe the best we've seen at Ohio State since 2014?), and the DBs (McElroy and Cubelic were oblivious to all the buzz generated this spring by Ohio State's secondary).
