English: James Laurinaitis, a player on the Saint Louis Rams American football team. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ohio State Struggling At Linebacker

Ohio State University is well known as a place where linebackers thrive. From the 1970s right up until almost the present day, there is a litany of great linebacking names associated with the college.

Players like Randy Gradishar and Marcus Marek, like Steve Rovar and Na'il Diggs. All these players and many more were listed as All-American linebackers while they played at OSU.

The last man to emulate their feats was James Laurinaitis, who was named each year from 2006 through 2008. The years that have passed since then have weighed heavy on the defensive tradition at OSU it seems.

In a recent outing against Indiana, OSU deployed fullback Zach Boren at linebacker. Almost incredibly, the player led the tackle count at the end of the game with eight.

Zach Boren had not actually played at linebacker since he turned out for his High School team in his senior year.

The news that several freshman at OSU had not stepped up to the plate in training, so the coaches had decided to throw Boren in instead, must not have come as music to the ears of many Ohio fans.

Some have pointed the finger of blame at the current coaching set-up, but other fans prefer to see the situation as some of the team's big players not putting in enough effort and thought.

Players like Curtis Grant and the currently injured Etienne Sabino have not quite fired as fans would have wanted.

With a little tweaking though, and maybe some switches of position, the signs are still there that the Buckeyes can improve though.