If Zen doesn’t work out, I would think Donovan or Tegra would go to LT, with Sereveld taking over at the vacated guard spot. Honestly, Donovan has the ability and would certainly boost his draft stock if he can play well at LT.

Bench Burke now.

Denzel Burke is why we lost to Oregon, period.

What is unacceptable is keeping Burke in the Oregon game and what would be even more unacceptable would be to continue starting him this season. He has been exposed and will continue to be exposed by competent passing teams. It’s truly time to give Jermaine Matthews or Calvin Simpson-Hunt a chance, they could not possibly be exposed more than Burke has been already.

When all 3 TDs and roughly half of the passing yardage gained was against one CB (Burke), can we really say Gabriel and the receivers were “balling out”? Or was Burke just that bad and allowed those stats to happen?

Yeah, not seeing a lot of talk about that GLARING weakness in the D. I don’t usually say things like this, but it is clear Burke should not see the field again against good receivers. 2022/2024 Burke is a huge liability and we can’t wait for 2021/2023 Burke to show up. 

Over 80% completion percentage, over 300 yards, 2 passing TDs, 1 rushing TD and ZERO turnovers. Not sure what you’re expecting. Howard was not the issue in this game. If you watched that game and thought Howard was the reason we lost, you weren’t paying attention.

Way too early to make this take on Howard. He was not the issue last night, he completed 80% of his passes, 2 TD passes with zero turnovers and a rushing TD. The OPI, the weird non-timeout at the end, Denzel Burke pulling a Shawn Wade, the defense’s lack of pressure on Gabriel, Simmons’ injury all were far worse happenings than Howard’s night. The QB played more than well enough to win, most of the rest of the team did not. 

I cannot agree with you on this. LK was the Gatorade NATIONAL Athlete of the Year in HS and is an incredible athlete, probably the best overall athlete in the OSU QB room currently. His only exposure thus far was to be elevated from scout team to heavy playing time in a meaningless bowl game behind a retooled O Line as a true freshman. There is no way anyone got a good read on LK’s abilities or ceiling in that game. I would argue Brown certainly has 4 star skills, but hasn’t been able to stay healthy long enough to show it. 

While I would never say it is “good” for a player not to play, Stewart honestly doesn’t even need to play. All the big schools have seen him at the camps and they all know his potential and will all offer very big bags to him even if he only plays one season of HS ball. It might lessen his impact as an underclassman trying to break into a rotation early, but there is zero doubt the kid will be an absolute stud as long as he keeps developing physically. Zero schools will back off because of the suspension and potential reclassification.

He’s technically 2026, but might reclassify to 2025. Would be a massive get in either class. Future All-Pro.

Hicks, while being one of our better athletes on the team cannot cover in zone, cannot cover in man, cannot read a key, can’t shed blocks, can’t scrape, can’t pursue and so far all we have seen is he is a serviceable pass rusher. So, basically he can only do one thing, which doesn’t require as much learning as the other facets of being a LB. Riddle me how someone that talented can’t figure it out… learning disabilities doesn’t equal mental handicap, it means he can’t learn at the rate he is supposed to. It is a real thing. Way to go straight to defending him not being mentally handicapped. That was never said AND learning disabilities occur even in people with high IQ. Read up, buckaroo, read up.

I have to disagree, Browning was never a good stand up LB. He just wasn’t. I wasn’t thrilled with Borland either, but at least Borland put himself in positions to make plays as a stand up LB.

Here’s the issue with that, though… he was ranked a 5 star by EVERYONE, not just one random evaluator or even one scouting service. Clearly it had to be the athleticism that warranted the ranking, but the on field product is not and maybe never was 5 star. Hicks seems a lot like Baron Browning (not saying he will be as good as BB). Not a reactive player, but if you give him one specific task or use him in only certain packages, he could be very effective. Our defense just doesn’t accommodate tweener types and we’re so loaded at DE that Hicks can’t have a real role there, even on passing downs.

Is it safe to say CJ Hicks is a bust yet? It feels a lot like it. A 5 star LB recruit who 3 years later is only (potentially) a pass rusher who cannot be counted on as a stand up LB. He would be wise to transfer out to a team that employs a 3-4, because we don’t have the playing time to play a tweener much in our defense. I have to say, very few of us saw this coming. It’s just so odd that someone so physically talented cannot read a key, cannot cover and cannot defend the run in a way that warrants playing time. I’m being dead serious when I ask this… does he have a learning disability? It just doesn’t make sense.

I’m under the impression that Day was coaching him to stay healthy at all costs because he knew we had no viable backup… in the UGA semifinal and in the NFL, Stroud has not hesitated to use his mobility at all.

Over who? Styles? No. Reese? No. Hicks? Maybe.

Not sure Hicks or Powers stay if Reese and Styles stay.

We are all witnesses.

Safety - Jack Tatum, Mike Doss, Malik Hooker, Damon Moore

Cornerback - Antoine Winfield, Shawn Springs, Chris Gamble, Malcolm Jenkins

Jack Tatum

Antoine Winfield

Shawn Springs

Mike Doss

Any list leaving Winfield off should be automatically disqualified.

I think Inniss would be an ideal PR and Jayden Ballard at KR. I just don’t like putting big bodied receivers at KR or PR, they are huge targets and have less agility than other options, not to mention gunners would love the option of taking out a starting WR on special teams if given the chance. Inniss and Ballard are likely not starting at WR, but will be needed and giving them extra touches via special teams keeps them, especially Ballard, engaged. The kid can flat out fly and we don’t use his speed much.

I used to live on King, 8th and 9th during my days at OSU. Saw plenty of sporting events at the Bier Stube, often bought beer a the 14-0 and ordered Orange Chicken from Yau’s at least once a week. All gone in one fell swoop. Granted, this was a while ago and South campus has really been sterilized since then. Does anyone remember how bad the Kroger’s at King and High was? We used to call it KroGhetto.

“Wrong spot” to talk about OSU’s predicted gaudy rushing stats and why this will be so? Explain.

Styles is less of a converted safety and more of a “tweener”. And at 6’4” 240 and with his pedigree (father was an outstanding MLB in the 1990s for OSU and in the NFL), this talk of “converted safety” is just silly. If he were 200 pounds, you’d have a point, but he was always a GIGANTIC safety.