The Ohio State Buckeyes enter the 2008 season considered as one of the top three teams in the country(Depending on the poll) and seem to have the talent available to make another National Championship run.
Ohio State likely bloomed a bit earlier than expected in last seasons surprise visit to the BCS title game and figured that this was the season that was more likely to produce a championship.
Todd Boeckman returns at quarterback after a series of late season struggles.
Boeckman will need to produce early,especially in the USC game to take the pressure off Chris Wells.
Former Pirate farmhand Joe Bauserman backs up as does the heralded freshman Terrell Pryor.
Pryor will see action,but likely in specialty situations and lopsided affairs.
Chris Wells is the leading candidate for the Heisman at tailback.
The 6'1 junior from Akron should be the top runner in the country and should make the Buckeye ground attack second to none.
Speedy sophomore Brandon Saine and senior Maurice Wells should get plenty of time as well along with freshman Daniel Herron.
Fullback brings a few questions as two relatively untested seniors battle for the job.
Brandon Smith and Ryan Lukens should both play often as they continue to slug it out for playing time.
The Wide Receivers are strong with senior Brian Robiskie and junior Brian Hartline returning as starters.
Robiskie should be a top contender for the Biletnikoff award for the top pass catcher.
Hartline will continue to be the Buckeye go to guy on short passing situations.
Junior Ray Small is solid at the third wideout and sophomore Dane Sanzenbacher should see some passes as well.
Two huge tight ends give Boeckman large targets and surprisingly soft hands in senior Rory Nicol and junior Jake Ballard.
Ballard ,in particular,was playing especially well at the end of 2007.
Both will be quite active this season.
The offensive line lost just one starter and should be a strength of the squad.
Senior tackle Alex Boone anchors the line that feature two other seniors in guards Steve Rehring and Ben Person with junior Jim Cordle returning at center.
Sophomore Bryant Browning will attempt to fill the shoes of NFL bound Kirk Barton at the other offensive tackle.
The defensive line will need to step up this season as rushing the passer was an issue in several games down the stretch in 2007.
The ends are the proven position with Lawrence Wilson returning from an early season broken leg and powerhouse soph Cameron Heyward commandeering those spots.
Look for Rob Rose and speed rusher Thad Gibson to see the field often as well.
The tackles are less inspiring as Nader Abdullah,Doug Worthington and Todd Denlinger need to improve this season after mediocre 2007 efforts.
Worthington has the most talent of the three and shows flashes of dominance,but does not always sustain his efforts and had some off the field problems in the off season.
The Linebackers have no such worries with All-Univerise James Laurinaitis manning the position.
The senior from Minnesota is the best linebacker that I have ever seen at Ohio State and that covers a lot of ground.
There is other talent surrounding Laurinaitis as well with senior Marcus Freeman and the next OSU All-American in sophomore Ross Homan.
Homan will be the the player that we will be bragging on in 2009.
The secondary lost two talented players for the first two games as Donald Washington and Jamario O'Neal was miss them for disciplinary reasons.
Washington will battle soph Chimdi Chekwa to regain his starting spot on one corner,while senior Malcolm Jenkins is firmly entrenched on the other.
Juniors Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell are solid at the safeties with O'Neal appearing in multi-back sets.
Speedy running backs Brandon Saine and Daniel Herron should be the kickoff return team and Brian Hartline should split punt duties with Ray Small.
Ryan Pretorius and Aaron Pettrey both return to continue their years long war for the kicking position.
Pretorius has the edge,but Pettrey will get some attempts.
A.J.Trapasso is back as the punter.
The Buckeyes most heralded hurdle is the early season hurdle is the game at USC,but two other games look large to me.
At Wisconsin is always tough and the Badgers look to be the main competition in the Big Ten.
The other sleeper is at Michigan State as Mark D'antonio knows the Bucks well.
That one could be the proverbial trap game.
Lets go with 11-1 and another Big Ten title.
Running the table is so hard and it is so tough to predict perfection.....................
Photo Credit
Brutus:TuttleImages
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