Football
Heacock Says Defensive Front Looks Improved in 2008 Despite the Loss of Gholston
By John Porentas

OSU defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Jim Heacock is a man who is firmly focused on what needs to get better about the OSU defense and about the OSU defensive line in 2008. It turns out that those two issues are pretty much the same issue.

The Buckeyes will return a veteran, deep and successful linebacking corps in 2008, as well as a veteran, deep and successful defensive backfield. Both of those units performed well in 2007 and both return virtually intact, but if you ask Heacock, the defensive line was not a position of strength last year, and it needs to be this year.

"We had a young defensive line last year up front. Those guys have to mature. They have to be more dominant. That’s critical, for sure," said Heacock.

Last season OSU's defensive front was very inexperienced with the exception of Vernon Gholston. Gholston has decided to forego his last year of college eligibility and has headed to the NFL draft where he is expected to be a high first-round choice. His absence will make the job of improving the OSU front even tougher.

"I wasn’t happy with the inside pressure," continued Heacock.

"Guys played hard last season but probably not to the level we need.

"Vern had 14 sacks so that was good part of our pressure but he have to be much better inside."

OSU's problems along the defensive front were a product of youth and some bad breaks. On the interior, Todd Denlinger, Dexter Larimore, Doug Worthington and Nader Abdallah took most the snaps on the interior defensive front last season, and all but Denlinger were seeing the first significant game action of their careers. To make matters worse, Worthington struggled with an injury all year as well.

"Doug (Worthington) had started off with a bad knee injury," said Heacock.

"He was a young guy. Todd Denlinger hadn’t played much. Dex (Dexter Larimore) was a redshirt freshman and, of course, Nader, came out of nowhere," said Heacock.

One of the things Heacock has done to stress the importance of their performance to his defensive linemen is to make sure that they know that defensive line play is the key any great defense. He says his players have gotten the message.

"We watched the Giants, and they got four-man pressure, and the national championship game in '02, it was pretty much four-man pressure.

"If you're going to be really good you need four-man pressure, and then it makes the blitz even better.

"We have a limited number of inside tackles, so they get a lot of reps, we're getting after it pretty good, they love to play football, so that's what they're doing," Heacock said.

Heacock, who is not usually given to false optimism, sees reason for hope.

"What I’ve seen this spring is that’s probably the most improved position," said Heacock of OSU's defensive line.

"It’s a more mature group, no question. You sense it in the meetings, you sense it on the field," Heacock said.

"They’re very serious about getting better.

"We’ve got an inside four that’s vastly improved. They’re going to get a lot better and have a lot more confidence, lot more physical. I’m pretty excited about the improvement’s they’ve made."

Heacock likes what he has seen of his four returners on the interior, but he still must replace Gholstin at defensive end, and, as the man said, his 14 sacks. On the plus side, Lawrence Wilson will return to action at defensive end this year, and Heacock has made some personnel moves that might also help him at the defensive end position. Additionally, a rash of injuries at defensive end last season forced him to use true freshman Cameron Heyward extensively. That may have hurt OSU at times last year, but Heyward picked up valuable experience that should pay dividends this season.

"We lost Lawrence the very first game of the season. He was one of the experienced guys we had. That group became awfully young then Rob Rose, who was at least a sophomore, he got injured. We lost Rob then we went down to the freshman Cameron. We had a lot of young guys out there," said Heacock.

Heacock says that the experience gained by Heyward and his four interior players should make the entire unit much, much better in 2008.

"It (experience) slows the game down, it does make sense to you," said Heacock.

"Once you’ve had some experience, things happen down in there, as a young guy you get more maturity. It starts to slow down the play, you get a better sense of the blocking schemes," Heacock said.

The return of Wilson at end and the experience of Heyward will help to replace Gholston, but Heacock has taken other steps as well. He has moved two of his bigger linebackers, Thaddeus Gibson (6-2, 240) and Mark Johnson (6-3, 250) to the defensive end position.

"Thaddeus Gibson is playing that position, also, and he’s looked good," said Heacock.

"He’s a good tough kid, a competitor, passionate and wants to play. He had some things thrown at him last year and did a good job for us. He had a good offseason. He’s going to be one of the guys playing for us."

The return of Wilson, the emergence of Gibson and the depth provided by Johnson at defensive end will also allow Heacock to bolster his interior by using Heyward a little on the inside as well.

"We’ll move him around a little but like Kenny Peterson and Darrion Scott," said Heacock.

"We’ll play him at end. That will be his primary spot but we can certainly throw him inside on nickel downs like we did Kenny and Scott."

Heacock said the he is counting on Wilson and Heyward as his starters as the defensive end position, but the Gibson is making it very hard to keep him off the field.

"You'll see him alot, he had a great off-season, he has to step up and be a pass rusher for us and I think he will," said Heaock.

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