Jim Knowles discusses logjam of talent in Ohio State linebacker room

Through spring ball, Jim Knowles is getting to know his linebacker room at Ohio State. This week, he addressed his logjam of talent — which might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Ohio State returns quite a group of linebackers this coming season, and that could make Knowles’ job tough as he takes over for Kerry Coombs as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator. Through spring ball, his goal is to see what they can do before he makes any decisions.

“You have to be able to make an assessment,” Knowles said. “In order to make an assessment, you’ve got to get the guys repetitions. And there’s a lot of talent, but none of it is completely proven, right? Because you have guys all competing for positions. So that’s where you want to take guys and maybe move them to other positions just to get a chance to look at them.

“I think Tommy [Eichenberg] has been a great leader for us. I’ve really liked what I’ve seen out of Tommy. I think he’s mastering the defense quickly and making plays. He’s quiet, but he’s fierce. Teradja [Mitchell] is also a guy who leads in more of a vocal way than Tommy. But he gives us a lot of that energy.”

Ohio State Buckeyes: Ryan Day explains importance of building on last year’s experience

Ryan Day entered the 2021 season with national championship aspirations, hoping to avenge their loss the prior year. Between a tougher schedule and losing key players in key positions, Ohio State came up short and ended its season in the Rose Bowl instead of the College Football Playoff.

However, not everything was a total bust, with players getting a vital year of experience throughout the journey. Day explained how the Buckeyes are going to build on that heading into the 2022 season, saying there won’t be as much doubt in his player’s minds.

“Yeah but also these guys are not 20-year vets in the NFL,” Day said. “They have a year under their belt and there’s still a lot of football left for them to learn. But everything, they’re not doing for the first time and that’s good. There’s a reference point to go back to going into this season as opposed to total unknown going into it which I feel like we had last year. When you have that, you have doubt in your mind. That’s just part of it and there’s a reference point for us, that’s important. We still have a lot of football to learn, a lot of work to do moving forward.”