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Football
Football Notebook: DBTH
By Brandon Castel

The start of the 2010 college football season is still sixth months away, but already Ohio State coach Jim Tressel is warning his players not to buy into the buzz that is certain to surround the Buckeyes after their 26-17 win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

“First thing coach Tress mentioned to us when we had our first meeting after winning the Rose Bowl was DBTH – “Don’t Believe the Hype,” senior cornerback Chimdi Chekwa said.

“Right now we’re getting a lot of hype and this is going to be a great season next year, but right now what we’re trying to do is just get back to the basics.”

With nine starters back on offense, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor off an impressive performance in Pasadena, the Buckeyes are being pegged as a preseason top five team for next season by many national publications. ESPN analyst Mark Schlabach recently tabbed Ohio State as his No. 2 team behind defending national champion Alabama, and he was neither the first nor the last.

“The stuff they’re talking about, that’s great but it’s not going to help us,” Chekwa added.

“We can only help ourselves.”

Defensively, the Buckeyes return six starters, including five seniors, but they must replace team captains Kurt Coleman, Doug Worthington and Austin Spitler along with star junior Thad Gibson, who opted to make the early jump to the NFL.

Even with some holes to fill on the back end and front line, the Buckeyes believe they have the talent and coaching to be one of the top defensive team in the country yet again.

“I don’t want to offend the offensive guys or anything like that, but we play defense at Ohio State. That’s what we do,” said Chekwa, who returns for his third season as a starting corner in Columbus.

“I’m speaking biasedly from a defensive standpoint, but when we step on the field we’re going to play great defense. No matter who we put in there, the defense is going to be great.”

Getting Some Help on D

The Buckeyes may have lost some key names on defense in the off-season, but they could be on the verge of getting one big name back. Penciled as starter at Sam linebacker before last season, Tyler Moeller was lost for the season when he suffered a traumatic head injury away from the field last summer.

There were serious questions on whether the Cincinnati Colerain product would ever put on the pads again, but it is sounding more and more likely that Moeller will be ready to give it a go this spring when the Buckeyes open camp April 1 st.

“We’ve got Tyler Moeller back from a year off and he’ll be playing some safety. Kind of the “Star” position that Jermale Hines plays,” Chekwa said.

“He’s just getting back into it. Taking it slow but he’s involved in winter workouts.”

Along with Moeller, the Buckeyes should have another familiar face back on the field this spring as safety Aaron Gant returns for a fifth season in Columbus. The former high school running back out of Orchard Lake, Mich. missed last season with a knee injury, but used the year to take a medical redshirt.

“When I figured out I was going to miss half the games I talked to my coaches to see how I was progressing with my rehab and we decided then that we should probably make a go for one more year,” Gant said.

He had two surgeries on his knee, the first to repair a torn meniscus and the second to clean up loose cartilage. He was back on the practice field during bowl prep, but it has taken him a while to get back close to his old form.

“I’m about 90 percent now, but going into the spring I’ll be full go, running around competing for a position in the secondary,” Gant said.

Having Gant and Moeller back would certainly help the Buckeyes offset the losses of Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell, their two starting safeties from the past three seasons.

Winter Workouts Heating Up

With 6 a.m. workouts in full swing, things really started to heat up this winter with the testing phase of the off-season kicking in this past week. On Sunday the Buckeyes hit the track to test their 40 times, but the battle of the bench took place on Friday with a couple of young linemen getting the best of their elder teammates.

“We did the bench Friday. Sam Longo got like 38 on the bench. Johnny Simon did something like that too,” Chekwa said.

“I got 19 (reps) myself, should have been 20. Pound-for-pound I think I’m the strongest guy on the team.”

Simon and Longo were classmates in the recruiting class of 2009, but the numbers they put up would have been good enough to crack the top 10 at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. A workout warrior with a reputation for being able to put up big numbers, Simon’s name should be a surprise to no one. The young defensive tackle hit the ground running last season as he worked his way into the two-deep and ultimately the rotation on the defensive line for Jim Heacock.

Longo, on the other hand, was an underrated offensive tackle who spent last season redshirting. Starting right guard Bryant Browning said to watch out for Longo this season, along with his classmates Marcus Hall, Corey Linsley and Jack Mewhort.

"All our freshmen linemen were pretty strong coming out of high school and it’s really showing when they get here,” Browning said.

“I would say (to watch out for) Marcus, but I guess people have seen him a little bit, so I would say Corey Linsley. He’s been working really hard in the weight room and I think he’ll be a pretty good player here.”

He Said It

While bench pressing might come naturally for big guys like Browning, running the 40 is not exactly their forte. Browning was asked about the ferocity of the competition between the linemen when it comes to running the 40 yard dash.

“Probably not that fierce,” he said with a big grin and a chuckle.

“It’s just basically trying to get to through the 40 for us. Just make it to 40 yards without falling down.”

Quick Hitters

* Tailback Jordan Hall intends on changing his number from 23 to 7 this season now that Lamaar Thomas is playing at New Mexico. Hall said he has always liked wearing single digits.

* Hall also said a team can never have too many tailbacks, and he expects Jaamal Berry to be in the mix this year now that he is healed from the hamstring injury that hampered him all of last season.

* Redshirt freshman Kenny Guiton believes he will get an opportunity to challenge Joe Bauserman for the backup quarterback job behind Terrelle Pryor.

* Check out our full update on Pryor’s recovery from knee surgery.

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