I have not been a fan of our linebacker group since about 2007. We must have the smallest linebackers in the country. I am tired of seeing us recruit guys who are barely 210 pounds and never get above 220. Lee Renfro, Alphonso Lewis, Jelani Woseley, Keith Moore, Jovon Johnson, Jake Schaney could all be classified as such. Don't get me wrong, with the exception of Schaney, each of those guys were good players and did some great things for Ohio football, but they were all essentially safeties playing linebacker. Where are my 230+ pound backers? How come you never see something like the image below at Ohio?

https://instagram.com/p/rIXMdNi9dn/media?size=l

I've also seen mentioned on Twitter that Papi White is back to practice.

How come we haven't seen Zach Murdock play this year? Are Lowery and McCray better options?

I remember Brandon Atwell being in the 225 range, not so much Schaney. I went back to 2007 and didn't include a guy like Graham since he was not a Solich recruit.

To be fair, we have received verbals under Solich from some linebackers who were already pretty large in high school, but never panned out or even made it to Ohio (Dylan Reda, Jared Brumfield, Joe Morales, a few others whose names I am forgetting).

Aside from Poling, who has played very well thus far, our mikes have been prototypical.

Our two linebacker verbals, Cloud and Glasco, appear to be bigger guys.

Better QB play will stem from better O Line Play. I want to be critical of the QB but I've watched every snap and our QB's have NO time to set up and look for receivers.

Fingers Crossed for this week.....

Blows my mind. From the BGSU game notes.

X-WR
18 Robbie Walker (Fr., 5-9, 180, Reston, Va.)
19 Herman Brunis (Fr., 6-0, 170, Fairfield, Ohio)

That two true freshmen can be ahead of a long list of roster athletes that have had a long time with coach Dixon. That is a statement about improved recruiting. JMHO.

Or a statement of how bad the recruiting was before. Either way, improvement.

Not sure why you would even go there. Price, Foster, Brazill, Cochran. WR recruiting and coaching has been just fine at Ohio. Really, why did you feel the need to go there?

I don't think he meant long-term recruiting at the position, but just the span of the last four or so years that serves to make up the current depth chart. When freshman are 1 and 2, you either got really good recruits in the past class or you had poor recruits in the few classes before (or a combination).

Interesting discussion from BGSU fan site. Below are one BG fan's thoughts.

My thoughts on the program under Solich are mostly positive. Clawson used OU as a model for how to run a program - Solich has done a phenomenal job of recruiting players who make it all four years and he has built workable depth. When a senior graduates from a position, the position is generally filled by an experienced player. We all remember our dropoffs in 2006 and 2010 after big senior classes left, and those dropoffs just don't happen under Solich.

Watching the line on this one has been very interesting. It opened with Ohio as a 3.25 point favorite. The early money took BG, and pushed the line up to +2, and since then the money has been in favor of Ohio. It was Ohio+1 yesterday, and today it's a pick-em.

I think it was vs. EIU we went with a 5 wide formation several times, 2 to one side and 3 to the other. If I remember correctly, we had the RB line up in the slot to the 2 side and a TE in the slot on the 3 side. I don't know that I remember us ever previously going to that formation as often as we did in that game.

If our O line can handle the rush vs BG, I think an interesting twist on this would be to move the RB to the same side as the 3 (so you get 1 and 4 wide) with Cochran as the lone WR to his side. You lose the play action element, but you almost force the D to cover Cochran 1 on 1 there, or else someone on the other side will be open.

Another variant would be to leave it 2 and 3, but send the RB in motion towards the 3 and fake the jet sweep to him to add the play action element back in.

But, again, this all presupposes O Line protection. Hopefully we don't see another D Line as good as CMU's (I really didn't think I would be writing that sentence 6 weeks ago).

Seriously, I challenge you to run a stop watch on our QB vs others. I would say keep it simple and just do the Marshall game. Tell me this is not factual evidence that our QB's have only a fraction of the time to set up. We also don't give up as many sacks based on the fact we run the ball more than Most teams in college football. Im curious if there is a stat to reflect that.

While we are on the subject of factual evidence. How many of us on here have "Factual Evidence" to back up every statement. Most everyones comments stem from visual validations.. Im sorry but being ranked 16th is not a true tell of how well the OL is doing opening up holes or giving the QB enough time to see the field or enough time for our WR to separate from DB's. I agree we do not take sakes as much as most teams but this may be due to the fact we don't throw as often as most. I wish there was a stat for how we rank in QB time in the Pocket or how many times our QB is flushed out of the pocket and forced to pull down the pass and run.

I agree with you on the fact that our OL is young and getting better. I would agree that 100% and that is a FACT and the its Based on Visual Validation. Same as you.

After looking at the injury report on the front page, I am beginning to wonder if I really should go to the game! Then again, it is Athens in October and I was there in the 80s and 90s so,why not?