A clean slate at linebacker for Buckeyes

By Darrell Laurant | Tuesday, February 28, 2006 | ( 0 )

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Spring football is often all about the changing of the guard -- or, in the case of the University of Minnesota, the center.

It might seem odd to quote Canadian singer Sarah MacLachlan about American college football, but she may have said it best in one of her mournful ballads: "Every generation yields to newborn hope, unjaded by their years."

In other words, no one can play college football forever -- not even Greg Eslinger, who started every game at center from the time he arrived at Minnesota, culminating with an All-America season in 2005.

Of course, for every Eslinger, there are several younger players waiting patiently (or, perhaps, not so patiently) to take his place. And spring football is their time, a brief and golden opportunity between their apprenticeship on the bench and the arrival in the fall of an even hungrier group of incoming freshman trying to earn playing time at the same position.

So it is at Ohio State, which finished 10-2 in 2005 and led the nation in defense against the run (74 yards allowed per game). And perhaps no high-profile team took a bigger hit at one position than the Buckeyes at linebacker, where A.J. Hawk and Bobby Carpenter were All-Americans (and a lock to be first-round NFL draftees) and Anthony Schlegal a two-year starter (after starting another two seasons for the Air Force Academy).

All three are gone now, but soon some new names will be reverberating over the loudspeakers at Ohio Stadium. Say goodbye to the hard-tackling firm of Hawk, Carpenter and Schlegal. Meet John Kerr, James Laurinaitis, Mike D'Andrea, Chad Hoobler and Curtis Terry.

Kerr is probably the most interesting of the new bunch. As a freshman at Indiana University in 2002, he led the Hoosiers -- and all Big Ten freshmen -- in tackles with 114. By the end of the season, he was the starting middle linebacker, with a bright future in Bloomington.

But Kerr is from Strongsville, OH, and grew up bleeding crimson and gray. So he transferred to Ohio State, even though he could not accept a scholarship there under Big Ten rules and had to pay his own way. Even though it was obvious that A.J. Hawk probably wouldn't be dislodged for a couple of years.

Now, it's Kerr's time. The 6-1, 246-pounder was the first reserve at linebacker last fall, finishing with 14 tackles, seven of them solo. Ohio State linebacker coach Luke Fickell and the team's Northeast Ohio fan base probably still remember Kerr's dominating season at St. Ignatius High School in 2001, when he registered 230 tackles and 17 sacks in leading his team to a state title.

Mike D'Andrea had perhaps an even more impressive prep pedigree, being named the nation's No. 1 high school linebacker in 2001 by Parade Magazine. A 6-3, 240-pounder out of Avon Lake, OH, he saw considerable playing time as a freshman, then separated his shoulder the next year. In 2004, a knee injury cost him the last third of the season, and he was held out in 2005 to finish his rehabilitation. If nothing else, he has banked a lot of experience.

The 6-3, 231-pound Laurinaitis was Mr. Football in Minnesota in 2004, registering 193 tackles for a state championship team in Wayzata. Also an accomplished hockey player and the son of former professional wrestler Joe Laurinaitis, he had nine tackles in a reserve role in 2005.

Hoobler came out of Centerville, OH as a tight end -- rated the third best in the country, in fact -- but seems to have found a home at linebacker. Big (6-3, 240) and fast (he ran the 200 meters in high school), he played in more than half the Ohio State Buckeyes' 2005 games, notching four tackles.

Terry, from the same school (Glenville) that produced All-America candidate Buckeye QB Troy Smith, has played mostly on special teams at OSU, but flashed impressive athletic skills (including a 40-inch vertical leap).

If you ask the Buckeye coaching staff, they'll tell you how much faith they have in these five hopefuls -- but not so much that they didn't make linebacker a priority in the last recruiting class. One of those newcomers, three-time All-Stater Ross Homan from Coldwater, OH, is already enrolled in school and will participate in spring drills. And if all that wasn't enough, Ohio State also snagged the 2005 junior college linebacker of the year, Larry Grant from the Community College of San Francisco.

Gentlemen, start your engines. It's almost spring.

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