Football
Barton High on Offensive Line Potential
By John Porentas

Yesterday offensive lineman Jim Cordle told us he is using summer conditioning to make up for some of the ground he lost while rehabbing an injury last year. Veteran offensive lineman Kirk Barton also missed some practice time recently when his spring practice reps were limited due to minor surgery, but according to Barton, having a bit more experience than Cordle has minimized the effect of missing some reps in spring camp.

"I had a foot problem. It was nothing major, but they fixed it and its fine now," said Barton.

"It (sitting out some of spring ball) was a precaution. I wanted my injury from during the season to heal and I wanted the foot to heal," said Barton explaining why he opted to limit his participation in spring drills.

"I knew my spot was pretty secure. If I would have been in competition (for a starting spot) I definitely would have gone but after the season and the surgery and playing through the injury, it kind of took a toll, so I made a decision with the coaches that maybe I should sit out and be ready for the season. That's the most important thing."

Barton explained that job security was not the only issue involved in the decision to sit out last spring. Simply put, he, along with the OSU coaching staff, felt that with his level of experience there was more to be gained by sitting out than by participating, though that might not have been true for him earlier in his career.

"My redshirt freshman year I missed spring and I thought that set me back," said Barton.

"This past spring the only thing I didn't do is scrimmage. I still did a lot of live contact. We did our inside run drill which is our most physical drill, and I did that every day and I did well, so I don't feel like I lost anything. If anything I'll feel a little bit fresher for the season."

Barton was a force at right tackle last season, but missed a couple of game due to an injury, most notably the Penn State, an OSU loss. Barton said that having to be on the sidelines during the loss to Penn State was one of the low lights of the season for him, along with the OSU's loss to Texas.

"The national title game had a lot of hype, but the Texas game has like three years worth of hype," said Barton.

"The national title game was only a couple of months, though it was a lot of hype for those two months, but I heard about Texas from the time I got here.

"Losing that sucked because it meant we lost the driver's seat for the (national) title.

"The other one (low light) was watching the guys against Penn State because when guys haven't played different positions it's really hard to do it in a game. Especially against a team like Penn State. I know if I had to move to left guard, because Robby (Sims) moved to right tackle, I wouldn't have had a clue what was going on. Robby did as well as he could but it's hard when you don't rep at a spot to go out and play against a great player like their all-American end."

Barton had no trouble at all in identifying his highlight games from the previous campaign.

"You never stop thinking about beating Michigan, but putting 617 (yards) on Notre Dame was fun. They've been playing for 120 years and we had the all-time record against them. That was nice for our offense," he said.

Barton is now focused on preparing for next season, but the off-season has brought a rash of illnesses to the OSU offensive coaching staff. Quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels and offensive line coach Jim Bollman both spent time in the hospital this summer, and while those events aren't slowing OSU preparation for next fall, Barton is mindful of the seriousness of those situations.

"We just hope that our guys and our fans get together and pray for these guys because Coach Bollman, Coach Daniels and Coach Rudolph are all fighting through some tough times right now and our fans need to pray for them.

"All these guys have had their scrutiny since they've been here and by the end of last year we were probably the best offense in the nation. They do a great job and our fans need to appreciate that and keep praying for them."

Barton has obvious respect for his position coach, Bollman.

"Obviously he's got to be one of the top offensive line coaches in the country," Barton said.

"If you just base it off production of NFL talent, he produced Shane (Olivea) who has started for the Chargers for three years, he Alex (Stepanovich) who has started for three years, Adrien (Clark) who might start this year, Nick (Mangold) was a first-round pick, LeCharles (Bentley) was a first-round pick, Flozell Adams was a first-round pick.

"With that kind of resume and talent, anything he says you have to listen to it and do it, and that's what I've really bought into. By learning his techniques and doing what he tells me to do it honest-to-God has made me about five times better than I ever thought I'd be."

Like all the other Buckeyes, Barton is hard at work this summer under the tutelage of new strength and conditioning coach Eric Lichter.

"I definitely think he's a great coach," said Barton.

"Our old (strength) coaching staff was a great staff as well, but Coach Lichter brings something different to the table. It's more explosion, more balance. He's trained some top-flight guys and I anything he tells me to do, I do, because when it comes to combine training, he's at the top of the heap in terms of diet, lifting techniques, running form, explosion, he's improving our entire team."

Barton thinks this could be a banner year for the OSU offensive line.

"We sure hope it is," he said.

"We've got three guys who have played a lot (returning starters T. J. Downing, Doug Datish and Barton) and Alex (Boone) has played some and Steve (Rehring) has played some.

"Jon Skinner is probably the most improved guy over the past year. He really works hard and is in great shape.

"Kyle Mitchum and Ben Person are both getting in shape and getting ready to play. We just can't rest on our laurels, can't rest on last year. We have to improve from last year even though we lost two great players in Nick (Mangold) and Rob (Sims). We really feel like the sky could be the limit for us."

Barton's height and weight have been listed differently in various places. Barton himself gave us the definitive word.

"I'm about 6-6 and 310 weight-wise," he said.

"I've lost about 15 pounds just because during the summer you just sweat it all off working out hard. I'll play at between 315 and 320 this year. It (the extra weight) helps if you're going up a guy who is 330. Texas has some big tackles so it helps if you're at-least as big as they are if you're going to move them."

Listen to the entire interview. (Audio - Approximately seven minutes)

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