HMB1S1 OHIO STATE 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW Buckeyes looking for explosive year Tuesday, August 29, 2017 2 Tuesday, August 29, 2017 OHIO STATE FOOTBALL PREVIEW The Times-Gazette A championship season or just close? label Ohio State has heard. If the Buck- mature physically and mentally. 3. Michigan is overdue against Ohio Ohio State has talent to win eyes front line earns it, they could find FIVE REASONS OHIO STATE MIGHT MIGHT State. a national title but there are themselves in Atlanta on Jan. 8. MISS THE PLAYOFFS The last time Ohio State went into the Michigan game as a clear favorite and no guarantees 3. No letdowns. No injuries. No 1. The offensive struggles could lost was 21 years ago when the Wolver- freak plays. continue. ines stunned the Buckeyes 13-9 in Ohio FIVE REASONS OHIO STATE COULD WIN IT Pay attention. Stay healthy. Maybe 2014 J.T. Barrett is gone Stadium in 1996. Don’t get field goals blocked. and he’s not coming back. Maybe ALL the receivers will never live up to 4. Youthful secondary. 4. Urban isn’t messing around. their recruiting hype. Maybe Mike 1. J.T. Barrett turns the quarterback Replacing three starting defensive After OSU was shut out 31-0 Weber still doesn’t have breakaway clock back to 2014. backs might not be as easy as OSU made by Clemson in a College Football speed. Maybe the lack of offensive it look in 2016. Especially when the Remember the school-record 34 Playoff semifinal, it took less than line depth will catch up with the touchdown passes? Remember the two two weeks before it had a new Jim Buckeyes. three it has to replace this year all were overtime touchdowns at Penn State? offensive coordinator and a new Naveau first-round NFL draft choices. Remember him being fifth in the Heis- quarterbacks coach. Lima News 2. The kicking game Sports man Trophy voting? If Barrett plays like Sean Nuernberger, who was 5. Something no one is thinking he did in 2014, OSU could win it all. 5. Bigger, stronger, faster, injured last season, was the No. 1 about. older. kicker in 2014 but lost his job to a walk- No one saw a loss to a Penn State 2. The defensive line is as good as OSU got to the College Football Play- on in 2015. Punter Drue Chrisman was a team that started its season 2-2 coming expected. off with a very young team last season. highly rated recruit but has never been in when the Nittany Lions beat Ohio State Best defensive line in the country is a The ones who came back are a year more a college game. last season. Fast, Friendly, Hometown Pharmacy • Drive-thru Service • Dose Packing • DME- Durable Medical Equipment Sales & Rental • Medication Therapy Management • Free Delivery including Leesburg, New Vienna, Rocky Fork Lake & New Market www.downtowndrugofhillsboro.com 119 SOUTH HIGH STREET| HILLSBORO, OHIO 45133 937-840-0136 41016725 The Times-Gazette OHIO STATE FOOTBALL PREVIEW Tuesday, August 29, 2017 3 OSU pitches success, future to recruits By Jim Naveau Success on the field and in [email protected] getting players to the NFL obvi- ously has a lot to do with it. COLUMBUS – Ohio State’s Meyer is a magnetic, some 2018 recruiting class is ranked would say charismatic personal- No. 1 in the country and its ity. Recruiting coordinator Mark 2017 freshmen were ranked No. Pantoni directs a 10-person staff 2. which relentlessly identifies, Next year’s recruiting class evaluates and pursues the top has two 5-star recruits and gets the Ohio State recruits and 12 brand out there, including post- 4-stars so far and ing as many as 500 items a week this year’s class on social media. had two 5-stars And they all emphasize what and 17 4-stars. Ohio State can do for an athlete In Urban Mey- once his playing days are over. er’s six years as Here’s what some of the top Martell OSU’s head coach, recruits in the 2017 recruiting he has had only class said convinced them Ohio one recruiting State was the place for them. class ranked lower Jeffrey Okudah, a 5-star cor- than No. 5 in the nerback from Texas, said, “What country. sold me was the plan they had So, how do set out for me after football. Not the Buckeyes do many schools go into that much it? What started detail. That really sold me and Okudah this tidal wave of my family. incoming talent, “They were pretty close to Don Speck/The Lima News beginning with my family. They did a really Ohio State freshman Brendon White (80) works against Shaun Wade (24) in Ohio State’s spring game. White has since the all-world class good job of recruiting everyone switched to safety from wide receiver and wears number 25. of 2013, which around me. And I knew in my included players head I wanted to compete with spot.’ They knew we knew we’d Martell said he felt a connec- parents love him. like Joey Bosa, the best players in the country. have to come in and work for it tion with Meyer. “I think we “What sold me was he told me Ezekiel Elliott, From the start, that always from Day 1,” he said. both have a passion for football he would help me get a job after Vonn Bell, Darron caught my eye. Tate Martell, a 4-star quar- that is second to none. It just felt football or if I get hurt he would Wade Lee, Eli Apple, “The one thing I liked about terback from Las Vegas, said, “I like a perfect fit for me,” he said. help me get a great job. If they Billy Price and Ohio State’s coaching staff was knew this was the place for me Shaun Wade, a 4-star corner- didn’t have anybody go to the Tyquan Lewis? the honesty. They never said as soon as I got offered. This is back from Florida, said, “He NFL I would still be here,” Wade And what has kept it going? anything like, ‘We’ll give you a where I wanted to be.” (Meyer) does a great job. My said. Window Tinting - Car Detailing - Truck & Car Accessories Vinyl - Graphics & Pin Stripes - Remote Starters 1480 North High Street Hillsboro, Ohio 45133 41015100 4 Tuesday, August 29, 2017 OHIO STATE FOOTBALL PREVIEW The Times-Gazette Offense still needs playmakers By Jim Naveau “We’ve had guys get open, we’ve had [email protected] guys not get open. The quarterback doesn’t make a great throw, the offensive COLUMBUS – The search for play- line doesn’t protect. Call it the perfect makers at wide receiver is now into its storm,” he said. second year at Ohio State. A perfect storm that produced far from Ohio State’s best receiver last season perfect results and might have played was running back Curtis Samuel and the a big role in a coaching shake-up that deep ball was absent from the Buckeyes’ saw Kevin Wilson replace Ed Warinner offense in most games. as offensive coordinator and Ryan Day There were only four receptions of get the quarterbacks coach job that Tim more than 40 yards by OSU players last Beck had last season. season – a 79-yard catch against Bowling Those changes came not long after Green and a 75-yarder against Nebraska Ohio State threw for 86 yards, 124 yards by Curtis Samuel, a 47-yard catch by and 127 yards and only one touchdown K.J. Hill against Bowling Green and a in its last three games a year ago against 43-yarder by Dontre Wilson against Wis- Michigan State, Michigan and Clemson. Photos by Don Speck/The Lima News consin. Here’s a look at the Buckeyes’ top In a scene seen often last year, Ohio State missed connections in the passing game. Here Terry McLaurin It’s not like Ohio State hasn’t tried to receivers, their credentials and their pro- just misses a throw from J.T. Barrett at Michigan State late last season. address the issue. All six of the players duction so far: expected to get most of the playing time Johnnie Dixon: He was a 4-star recruit Parris Campbell: The Akron St. at wide receiver this season were nation- and the No. 9-ranked wide receiver Vincent-St. Mary graduate was a 4-star ally ranked 4-star recruits and so were nationally when he signed with Ohio recruit who was ranked No. 23 nationally the top receivers in this year’s freshman State in 2014. Knee problems have lim- among wide receivers in 2014. All 13 of class. ited him to seven catches in his career, his career catches came last season. He So what are the problems? Why six of them last season. will be used mostly as an H-back this haven’t the Buckeyes been able to hit big Dixon, a fourth-year junior, considered season. plays in the passing game? quitting football after the Fiesta Bowl, K.J. Hill: He was a 4-star recruit who Some people blame quarterback J.T. but stayed and was a standout in the was the No. 17 wide receiver nationally Barrett. Others say it’s the receivers. spring game. in the 2015 recruiting class. He caught Receivers coach Zach Smith says it’s a Binjimen Victor: He was a 4-star 18 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown combination of a lot of things.