It looks like he agrees that the strength of Ohio's team will be the defense, especially the defensive line. Note that all four DL are listed:
DE - Basham - 1st team
NG - Crutcher - 2d team
DT - Purdum - 3rd team
DE - Laseak - 4th team
Behind them three more defenders are listed for a total of seven.
MLB - Russell - 4th team
CB - Bass - 1st team
SS - Kristoff - 3rd team
Better yet, the DL behind that starting four is pretty good, too. I like Sayles and Kendrick Smith at DE, McLeod, Tautuaiki and Davis at DL, and we have yet to see Porter or Aloese and Smart.
The only defenders not listed are Wells (CB) and Ingol (FS), both of whom are return starters, and the two OLB positions. There is quite a group competing for the OLB spots, including Jovon Johnson, Blair Brown, Cody Grillot, Chad Moore, William Johnson, Quinton Poling, and Travis Daugherty. At this point I don't know how good or bad this position will be. There are some pretty good athletes in that group, so I'm hoping for a big upside surprise.
On the other hand, Ohio has only a couple listed on the offensive side. I'm thinking that some players on offense will step up and surprise, but we'll see.
The total numbers of players listed, by team:
NIU - 16 (3 1st team, 6 2d team, 4 3rd team, 3 4th team)
BG - 12 ( 6,2,2,2)
Toledo - 12 (4,4,3,1)
Akron - 12 (1,4,5,2)
Ball - 11 (2,2,4,3)
Ohio - 10 (2,2,3,3)
CMU - 8 (2,3,0,3)
Buffalo - 6 (1,3,1,1)
WMU - 6 (3,0,1,2)
Miami - 6 (0,0,2,4)
Kent - 5 (1,2,0,2)
U.Mass - 5 (1,0,2,2)
EMU - 4 (2,0,1,0)
Based on this, I'd guess Steele will pick Ohio in the upper middle of the MAC, probably behind BG and Akron.
Last Edited: 6/2/2014 3:07:54 PM by L.C.