asdodge wrote:

BuckMike wrote: How do you see the impact of signing Mitchell & Johnson pertaining to next season's depth chart ?  eg...Will they move ahead of players such as Crowell, Perkins, Marcus, Grant, Williams ?

Not sure about Johnson but I could see Mitchell moving ahead of whoever is backup at his position (MLB?) and get his share of PT.  Mitchell could probably play around 240-245 lbs and somewhere between Matt Wilhelm - Big Kat caliber of player...

GO BUCKS !!!

Matt Wilhelm is a great Buckeye and was a good LB, but this is a wide gap for comparison.

The gap is between a consensus 1st team All American (Wilhelm) and a Butkus award
winner (Katzenmoyer).  There really can't be that much in between.

brutus24 wrote: Some people on this board want to compare MLB's to Kat and Wilhelm and hope they are that good. I hope that the any of our LB's can play their position at the level that Randy Gradishar played linebacker. I have been watching college football for over 50 years and to me there was no better linebacker at OSU or any school in the country than Randy Gradishar. He should be in the NFL hall of fame. It is a shame that he isn't. For you youngsters out there, you really missed a great great linebacker. Outside of Bob Ferguson, Randy is my second favorite Buckeye of all time.

Well, I am not quite up to 50 years viewing, but close.  Gradishar was the greatest.  No argument, though, admittedly, the game has changed since his time.  In the era of extensive pass coverages, zones, etc.  Kat was probably the best all around LB beast.  Spielman, then Marek, Hawk, then Cousineau and Laurinaitis.  Obviously, a player needs to have great guys around him, too.  Wilhelm was stuck playing on some rough teams until his senior year.  He did have a great senior year.  Obviously, everyone on that team had a great year.

There are so many great OSU LBs... screw PSU... OSU is LBU.  One of my all-time personal favorites after Gradishar and Katz is Derek Isaman.  he will never be reat LB, he will never be remembered as a great LB because the teams he played for were not great.

A lot of evaluation is subjective and also trapped in its time.  Gradishar was the greatest of his era, Spielman, Katzenmoyer, the greatest of the 80's and 90's, respectively.  hawl probably gets the aughts.  Yet, remember Mike D'Andrea... he was built to be the next great LB... injuries and such kept it from happening.  Hawk was not highly regarded... he was the one who arose to be the great one of that era. 

I never want a linebacker to be another backer, I want them to be come their own name.  If, success-wise, they can achieve a level near Gradishar awesome... between Wilhelm (who is not underrated in my opinion, BiD) and Big Kat, that would be awesome, too.

Gradishar was unbelievable, yet would he have been as unbelievable in the rules andstyles of the 90's or the current style of football, we won't know.  Most guys online only know Gradishar by name.  We have to accept they are not going to think of Randy first.  No sin, no disrespect, they grewq up with other greats.  Just as maybe your dad or grandpa might have regaled you with tales of Chic Harley and such... was he greater than Archie or some other great?  Let the arguments never cease, and pray that the next guy ready to add his name to the list is already at OSU... whether Shazier or some kid to come.

I read last week that Grant has been moved to DE.

theFootballBeast wrote: Perry has a chance to make a spot but IMO it will be Shazier at WILL, grant/Perry at SAM (fits there much better than MLB, and Williams/Mitchell at MLB. mitchell is still raw and needs some time in the weight room and learning the system, but I doubt he redshirts. marcus is an athletic freak and I think he gets time at LEO along with ST, and Perkins has enough speed that I think he plays star along with Pittsburgh Brown. i can see Burrows getting some time at Star as well. Who knows how it will all play out, though, as there is an entire offseason for people to make an impression and work hard. Someone may come out of nowhere, impress, and claim a spot similar to Rolle back in the day.

asdodge wrote:

brutus24 wrote: Some people on this board want to compare MLB's to Kat and Wilhelm and hope they are that good. I hope that the any of our LB's can play their position at the level that Randy Gradishar played linebacker. I have been watching college football for over 50 years and to me there was no better linebacker at OSU or any school in the country than Randy Gradishar. He should be in the NFL hall of fame. It is a shame that he isn't. For you youngsters out there, you really missed a great great linebacker. Outside of Bob Ferguson, Randy is my second favorite Buckeye of all time.

Well, I am not quite up to 50 years viewing, but close.  Gradishar was the greatest.  No argument, though, admittedly, the game has changed since his time.  In the era of extensive pass coverages, zones, etc.  Kat was probably the best all around LB beast.  Spielman, then Marek, Hawk, then Cousineau and Laurinaitis.  Obviously, a player needs to have great guys around him, too.  Wilhelm was stuck playing on some rough teams until his senior year.  He did have a great senior year.  Obviously, everyone on that team had a great year.

There are so many great OSU LBs... screw PSU... OSU is LBU.  One of my all-time personal favorites after Gradishar and Katz is Derek Isaman.  he will never be reat LB, he will never be remembered as a great LB because the teams he played for were not great.

A lot of evaluation is subjective and also trapped in its time.  Gradishar was the greatest of his era, Spielman, Katzenmoyer, the greatest of the 80's and 90's, respectively.  hawl probably gets the aughts.  Yet, remember Mike D'Andrea... he was built to be the next great LB... injuries and such kept it from happening.  Hawk was not highly regarded... he was the one who arose to be the great one of that era. 

I never want a linebacker to be another backer, I want them to be come their own name.  If, success-wise, they can achieve a level near Gradishar awesome... between Wilhelm (who is not underrated in my opinion, BiD) and Big Kat, that would be awesome, too.

Gradishar was unbelievable, yet would he have been as unbelievable in the rules andstyles of the 90's or the current style of football, we won't know.  Most guys online only know Gradishar by name.  We have to accept they are not going to think of Randy first.  No sin, no disrespect, they grewq up with other greats.  Just as maybe your dad or grandpa might have regaled you with tales of Chic Harley and such... was he greater than Archie or some other great?  Let the arguments never cease, and pray that the next guy ready to add his name to the list is already at OSU... whether Shazier or some kid to come.

I agree that Randy was our best LB ever.  He was huge for a LB 40 years ago.  6'3" and a solid 235 lbs.  I also agree with whoever wrote that he should be in the the Pro FB HOF.  If he didnt play in the same era as Ham and Lambert, he would have been the best LB of the 70's.  BUT he always made All Pro next to the 2 guys from the Steelers. 

No one ran and tackled like Gradishar.  He hit you, you went down.  Period.  He was also fast enough to run sideline to sideline as well as any LB we have ever had.  Woody said Randy was the best he ever coached at the position.  Forty years later, Randy is still the best.

  I like all of them...even the ones who played in 1968

Shzier-Mitchell-Perry

The great thing about OSU football is that there are always great players to watch and talk about. I know the younger people have no idea about the players of the past, but they will be there someday themselves. Their kids or grandkids will not have heard of Shazier, Ginn, Smith and others. That is the fun thing of it all. Trying to let the younger kids know about the great players of the past. The younger generation always say that the athletes of today are better athletes, but they are better athletes because of the scientific advancement in training. I could just imagine what Randy Gradishar or someone like Jimmy Brown would be like today with the training menthods and supplements today.

rocketman wrote: I read last week that Grant has been moved to DE.

theFootballBeast wrote: Perry has a chance to make a spot but IMO it will be Shazier at WILL, grant/Perry at SAM (fits there much better than MLB, and Williams/Mitchell at MLB. mitchell is still raw and needs some time in the weight room and learning the system, but I doubt he redshirts. marcus is an athletic freak and I think he gets time at LEO along with ST, and Perkins has enough speed that I think he plays star along with Pittsburgh Brown. i can see Burrows getting some time at Star as well. Who knows how it will all play out, though, as there is an entire offseason for people to make an impression and work hard. Someone may come out of nowhere, impress, and claim a spot similar to Rolle back in the day.

Hm I think that might suit him a bit better. He looked bad in pass coverage last year.