Ohio State then-junior linebacker Dallas Gant (19) at the line of scrimmage during the Ohio State-Rutgers game on Nov. 7. Ohio State won 49-27. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
A season ago, an Ohio State linebacker unit that was returning all but one starter had little uncertainty surrounding it.
With its top four contributors now moving on, linebackers coach Al Washington is faced with molding a new corps to help an Ohio State defense that surrendered 25.8 points per game in the 2020 season.
Washington, who has coached college football since 2007, said the position rehaul that awaits is unlike anything he has seen, but he stressed the importance of players stepping up.
“I’m fortunate that the four guys that left did a great job of setting the example,” Washington said. “When I first got here, those four guys, they grew the past two years. There was an evolution there, so I think the young guys having a chance to witness that, being in a room with those guys, and seeing how they developed and how they grew, helps.”
With senior linebacker Pete Werner leading the team with 54 tackles, graduate linebackers Tuf Borland, Justin Hilliard and Baron Browning rounded out three of the next four leading tacklers for the Buckeyes in 2020.
But the departure of all four players leaves senior Dallas Gant and his 44 career tackles as the most experienced linebacker returning.
However, Gant’s chance to mesh on the field with the new unit will have to wait as a foot injury is keeping him out of spring practices.
Unable to perform any physical reps in the coming weeks, Gant said he can still watch film and help his teammates make reads.
Along with fine tuning the unit’s play and techniques, Gant said he and the other senior linebackers must assume the leadership mantle before the season begins.
“That role has been put upon me and the older guys in the room — me, Teradja (Mitchell) and K’Vaughan (Pope) — to be leaders and examples through this spring and through really the whole year and the rest of our time here,” Gant said. “As much as we need to step up with our production and playing and all that, we also need to step up as leaders as well.”
Washington said Gant is one of the leaders in the room, and although the physical reps would have benefited the Toledo, Ohio, native, the third-year Ohio State coach said the effects of missing out will not be damaging.
Senior linebacker Teradja Mitchell is a potential key contributor that will get to participate in the spring.
Promising a playstyle that is aggressive and seeks out contact, Mitchell has also focused on the leadership responsibilities that have fallen to him.
“It’s kinda come natural to me, because we’ve seen what it takes to lead the unit, so just following in the footsteps of the older guys,” Mitchell said.
On the field, Mitchell recognized the standard that has been established at Ohio State.
Along with Gant and senior linebacker K’Vaughan Pope, Mitchell said the trio learned from past leaders of the unit as they awaited their turn to continue a high standard of play.
“We just have the expectation to try to be the toughest, baddest unit on the team in the weight room, everywhere,” Mitchell said. “Being a linebacker at Ohio State, you have to compete, you’ve got to be a tough guy.”
The Buckeyes will have about five months to improve and ready themselves for the start of the season.
Although Washington said there is progress for the unit to make, he was complimentary of what he has seen from his group thus far.
“The best thing we have is competition and I think everybody is competing, and so when that happens, I think you get everybody’s best,” Washington said. “We still have to improve every day. We’re only three practices in but you can see the growth every day, and our goal is at the end of the 15 practices, be better in every way leading into the fall.”
