COLUMBUS, Ohio – Depending on who you ask, the defense of Ohio State football is best known as a brothel for treacherous patients as elite secondary talent.
Linebackers coach Al Washington may not be ready to admit that blow.
Ohio State needed to make this position a 2022 priority. Following Tuesday’s promise from Overland Park (Kansas) Blue Valley North’s Dasan McCullough, three of the Buckeyes ‘(probably) linebackers’ five promises. All run in the top 120 in the national composition of 247 Sports.
That group ranks behind the top 70 in linebacker Reid Carrico, who is committed to the 2020 class. After spending much of his first two seasons developing and rebuilding the linebackers he inherited, Washington has put together a team that can fully embrace his identity in this defense.
Marysville’s Gabe Powers (No. 43 nationally) and Dayton Alter’s CJ Hicks (No. 118) already gave the Buckeyes two complementary athletes with great to outside linebackers in this class.
• Why Gabe Powers changed his mind about his decision timeline and committed himself to Ohio State football
• Why CJ Hicks found relief in paying two years early to Ohio State
McCullough is still a third-rate linebacker, assuming he sticks there. He spent much of his second season playing safety and cornerback. But he also played linebacker, and at 6-5, 220 pounds, he plans to grow it secondarily.
He is the son of former Miami (OH) running back Deland McCullough, who coaches the position with the Kansas City Chiefs. Allen Trieu’s 247 scouting report for Dasan McCullough compared him to former NFL All-Pro safety Kam Chancellor.
“Has very good fluidity and change of direction for such a long player,” Trieu wrote less than a week ago. “Has good coverage and uses his length to attack the ball in the area. Fun tackle that comes in support and in that area is very reliable for taking good angles and attacking ball carriers without getting too high.
“Main concentration area will see where he lands positively and becomes accustomed to taking blocks as he continues to play more in the box based on his size.”
That last sentence perhaps best describes how McCullough’s addition brings Washington’s corps into focus.
Powers is a pure linebacker. Hicks plans to play more of a hybrid role, whether that’s what Pete Werner gave the Buckeyes in 2019 or something new as the defense continues to adapt over the next few years. McCullough sees a similar future for himself at Ohio State.
“Someone who could have tight ends, running backs, man-on-man coverage and even off the edge and do all that stuff too, but placed as an outside linebacker,” McCullough told cleveland.com in May.
Washington is putting together a linebacker room that he can call his own. One that brings greatness and power without sacrificing speed and agility. One that can boast of versatility, not as a by-product of a lack of individual identities, but as a truly collective identity.
If the result approaches what Larry Johnson, Kerry Coombs and others have achieved in the other levels of defense, what could lie ahead for the Buckeyes?
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Fanatics has released Ohio State Buckeyes Adult Face Coverings. This 3-pack of adult masks, sells for $ 29.99.
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