Big Ten Roundtable of Bloggers: Week One

By Adam Kiefaber

Every week this season a fellow Big Ten blogging site will host the Big Ten Bloggers roundtable of questions.

This week Around the Oval, which is a fellow Buckeye site and founder of the Big Ten Bloggers, is hosting the first regular season roundtable of the season. Around the Oval will play host again, but it won’t be until Ohio State/Michigan week (Nov. 12 through the 17th). Buckeye Lane will play host the week of the Wisconsin at Ohio State game (September 29th through the November 3rd).

Normally during the regular season there will be a set of three or four questions a fellow Big Ten Blogger will make up. Usually the questions will have a little to do with the key stories of the week, that depends on who is asking the questions. Overall, this will be the Big Ten Bloggers second roundtable, the first was conducted by Badger Tracker. Here are my answers to his questions, Buckeye Lane’s Preseason Roundtable. Part of the duty of hosting the roundtable is to wrap-up the questions, so here is Badger Tracker’s Wrap Up.

Feel free to comment on my answers, tell me if you agree or disagree. Also, you can go to Around the Oval Original Post, many of the fellow Big Ten Bloggers will comment on this post and the links on those comments will direct you to their answers. Also, feel free to click on one of the Big Ten Bloggers, (links on the right side of this page).

1. Which player from your own team are you most looking forward to watching?
Buckeye Lane: I could sit there and give an easy answer like I’m looking forward to watching Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells run over defenses, or Brain Robiskie development into the #1 receiver, or offensive tackles Alex Boone and Kirk Barton dominating opposing defensive linemen, or Vernon Gholston leading this team in sacks, or watching linebackers James Laurinaitis (below) and Marcus Freeman make plays all over the field, and lastly I could say that I want to see cornerback Malcolm Jenkins shut down the Big Ten’s best wide receivers.

That would be too easy. So, I really want to see the players that have a lot to prove and could either breakout or bust. Again easily, I could say the quarterbacks Todd Boeckman, Rob Schoenhoft and Antonio Henton, but I think watching the QBs might be aggravating to watch and not fun.

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing linebacker Larry Grant and wide receiver Ray Small. Small has had injury problems this spring, while Grant will take over one of the starting linebacking spots for the departing John Kerr.

As a true freshman, Small caught eight balls for 68 yards and had only one touchdown. However, he could become the Buckeyes’ best player in this year or the next. Ted Ginn Sr., coach of Glenville, has been quoted as saying that Small is the most talented receiver he has coached. Also, former OSU defensive tackle David Patterson has said that Small would be the next great wide receiver at Ohio State. I expect big things from Small in 2007. In the spring game he returned kickoffs and took one 40 yards.

Grant, who was a big-time junior college recruit last year, is expected to have a breakout season. In the spring game, Grant had two sacks and forced two fumbles (One of those fumbles he recovered and returned 80 yards for a touchdown). Last year, Grant had only 18 tackles.

2. Which player from another Big Ten team are you most looking forward to watching?
Buckeye Lane: As of right now, I have to say that I’m looking forward to seeing Illinois true freshman wide receiver Arrelious Benn. There is always something interesting about a starting true freshman. Many sources consider Benn to be the best WR in the entire nation’s ‘07 recruiting class. Every source has Benn is their top ten WRs in the country, he could be special.

Also, would like to see Penn State running back Austin Scott (led the team in rushing as a true frosh in ‘03, but has been backing up Tony Hunt since. Now it is Scott’s job), Wisconsin QB situation (Tyler Donovan and Allan Evridge better play well if this team expects to win the Big Ten or the BCS National Championship), Illinois QB Juice Williams (his name is Juice and played well at times as a freshman last year), MSU RB Javon Ringer (if he stays healthy, Ringer will have a huge year), Indiana’s QB Kellen Lewis and WR James Hardy (Lewis played well at times as a freshman last year, and Hardy is 6-foot-7), Minnesota’s QB Tony Mortensen (he might not play, but his dad- ESPN’s NFL Analyst Chris- will be watching).

3. If your team was an action movie star, who would it be?
Buckeye Lane: This was a tough one for me. Arnold Schwarzenegger is all-time favorite movie star. He isn’t just my favorite action movie star, but my favorite movie star. If he wasn’t around when I was growing up, who knows how I would have turned out. Trust me, he is great, go to the video store and rent Commando and if you aren’t on the floor laughing, then you don’t have a heartbeat.

Sly Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme aren’t smart enough to work in the ‘Tressel-Ball System.’ I know the play-calling is simple, but we are talking about possibly two of the dumbest actors of all time. Also, those training montages that both actors use, especially Van Damme’s where he seems to always thinking about his past girlfriend on a roof top somewhere are terrible.

Steven Seagal was ok for a brief time and now sucks. He would be a good fit for other schools in the Big Ten.

I was thinking Bruce Willis, who is a solid actor that continues his work as a badass on the silver screen, but there is somebody better.

Finally the answer is Sean Connery.

Everyday he sports the scarlet (on his kilt) and the grey (which is all over his face). Connery is such a devoted supporter of Ohio State that he has literally made himself look a mascot of The Ohio State University.

Connery’s career has been lengthy and dominating. He won an Oscar for his work on the movie The Untouchables. Also, he is cool enough to win an MTV Movie Award for his role in the The Rock at the age of 67.

Connery turned 77-years-old on Saturday.

The two are very similar, Connery and the Buckeyes have kicked some serious arrsshhhh (like Connery would say) for a long time.