And that is how it works. That is why on the roster Ohio has eight players who have yet to red-shirt. Three seniors, three juniors and two sophomores. Basham, as a freshman, led the team in sacks & tfl, Sayles, as a freshman contributed 32 tkls as a DL, Smith, as a freshman, played in 11 games when L. Smith, Waters & Dovell were dinged up and made 12 catches, Pruehs, as a freshman stepped up and started most of the season when Wood was hurt, I seem to remember McCray, as a freshman, starting for a dinged up Watson, Ouellette, as a freshman led the team in rushing, Crouch, as a freshman, played in 13 games & made 8 ttl tkls, Hale, as a freshman, took over the the long snapper duties. It appears of the above, Basham, Oullette ans Hale secured starting roles as freshmen that they have yet to surrender. Oullette, as a junior, has been elected by the players to be one of their captains. Pruehs and McCray lost their starting roles when Wood and Watson returned. All of the above is about playing the best player.

Just to be clear, no one is saying AJ should play because he works hard. People are saying that AJ is good, and that he accomplishes more than you might expect because he works hard.

Agreed. However, White and Brown are thoroughbreds too. White might well emerge like Bogan, all 5'7" of him, of WMU, who took over for the 228lb. Franklin who was just the 2014 MAC OPOY. Or the 2012 Kent season with Archer/Durham. Archer more yards, Durham by far more carries. Oh, and for the QB to be decent there will be times the RB will need to be aware of the defense, when to stay and protect, when to slip out and set up between defenders in a zone or work for separation from a defender in man. Week to week opponent defenses will present different challenges, one week White might be the man breaking plays, another Brown/Irons might excel between the tackles, another week Oullette might be the most important just keeping the QB upright.