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Football
Sweat, Barnett Listed as Starters against Marshall
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS — First century Roman philosopher Seneca said luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

After preparing hard for eight long months, Andrew Sweat and C.J. Barnett will get that opportunity when Ohio State plays Marshall in their season-opener next Thursday at Ohio Stadium.

Or at least that is the way the official depth chart looked Thursday when it was released for the first time since the Buckeyes’ 26-17 win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl in January.

Other fairly surprising items in the new two-deep were redshirt freshman Adam Bellamy listed as the backup to Cam Heyward at strongside defensive—although Bellamy had been getting reps with the ones since Nathan Williams went down with a knee injury. Johnathan Hankins –one of five true freshmen in the two-deep—is listed as the backup to Dexter Larimore at nose tackle, while redshirt freshman Corey Brown is behind Devon Torrence at corner. 

C. J. Barnett
Photo by Jim Davidson

The real bombshell, however, was Sweat and Barnett being listed with the ones. Both had been running with the twos for much of camp, but both were playing with the first-team defense during the jersey scrimmage last Saturday.

While Barnett is likely stepping in because of a leg injury to projected starter Orhian Johnson, Sweat appears to have won the starting ‘Sam’ linebacker spot outright despite not having played the position prior to the start of fall camp.

“I have never played 'Sam' before, but I was moved over there and I am trying my best,” Sweat said during the middle of camp.

“I am just going to play 100 percent and everything will be taken care of. I just try to work hard every day in practice.”

That hard work seems to have paid off in Sweat’s battle with classmate Etienne Sabino, who had been working as the first-team Sam linebacker throughout all of spring practice and majority of fall camp. A tremendous athlete out of Miami, Fla., Sabino has all the physical tools to be a great linebacker at Ohio State, but appears to lack the natural football instincts of a guy like Sweat, who was able to win the starting job despite missing six months with a knee injury.

“I felt great in the spring but it was only five months (of recovery) and they ask for six to be cleared,” Sweat said of why he did not take part in spring practice.

“They were hesitant, but they let me do a little bit. It feels great now. It honestly feels better than it did before.”

Before the injury—suffered in the middle of last season—Sweat was a promising young linebacker out of Washington Trinity High School in Pennsylvania. He came to the Buckeyes as a four-star prospect in the heralded class of 2008, along with Sabino and Orhian Johnson.

Expected to be the starter at strong safety alongside Jermale Hines this fall, Johnson has missed a large chunk of practice time because of a leg injury, and may not be ready to play much in the opener against the Thundering Heard. Before the injury, he had taken nearly every snap with the first-team defense since the start of spring practice and is likely to regain his spot atop the depth chart once the injury heals.

“I’m definitely feeling good about the place I’m at right now, but I’m still hungry and humble,” said the 6-foot-2 Johnson, who teammates have called one of the best athletes on the team.

“I’m still trying to work on gaining the defense's trust along with my coaches and teammates.”

If somehow Barnett is the new starter, it isn’t a complete surprise. While Johnson, a redshirt sophomore out of Gulfport, Fla., is in his third year at Ohio State, Barnett enters year-two in the program after contributing on a number of special teams last season.

He was actually a more highly-rated prospect than Johnson coming out of high school, where he was an Under Armour All-American at Clayton Northmont.

It’s the same high school that produced former Buckeye captain Kurt Coleman, who played with Barnett as a senior. Like Coleman, Barnett came to the Buckeyes as a cornerback in the class of 2009, but moved to safety last season. He is listed at 6-0, 190-pounds and the former corner might provide the Buckeyes with better coverage skills on the back end of the defense where they feature a former linebacker in Hines. 

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