Ohio State Releases Depth Chart For Youngstown State Game

Adam Kiefaber

College football’s opening weekend will kickoff tomorrow night. The headlining game will be a SEC match up between the #2 LSU Tigers at the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The game will be televised on ESPN.

The Buckeyes kick things off at noon on Saturday against Youngstown State (game will televised on the Big Ten Network). Earlier this week Bucknuts.com’s released their OSU depth chart for YSU game. Also, the official Ohio State website released a new depth chart just before the season.

On Offense:

Some quick notes, wide receiver Ray Small won’t be playing (or at least isn’t listed on the depth chart) this weekend according to Bucknuts.com. Small has battled injury problems this spring. Small is expected to one of the most exciting and possible breakout players for the Buckeyes this season.

On a national sports level, quarterback Todd Boeckman was named the starter. Buckeye fans have known this all along.

At running back, backups are listed junior Maurice Wells or freshman Brandon Saine. I would imagine that Mo Wells will get the majority of the work behind Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells, however what that really means is that Saine has looked more impressive than fellow true freshman Daniel “Boom” Herron.

Another position I thought to be interesting is wide receiver. As expected the Brians (Robiskie and Hartline) will be the starters. However, the backups will be two true freshmen Taurian Washington and Dane Sanzenbacher. Washington (right) was a bigger recruit than Sanzenbacher. OSU stole Washington from the state of Michigan, and he turned down offers from Michigan and Wisconsin. According to Lindy’s Big Ten 2007 Preview had Sanzenbacher listed as the Buckeyes’ sleeper recruit. The top three recruits the magazine listed were defensive back Eugene Clifford, running back Brandon Saine and defensive lineman Cameron Heyward.

On defense

As expected, senior Larry Grant will be one of the starting outside linebackers. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can finally do.

At cornerback, junior Malcolm Jenkins and sophomore Donald Washington will start. That isn’t a surprise, but what is a surprise are the backups Eugene Clifford and Chimdi Chekwa. Clifford is a true freshman and was considered by most to be the top recruit in OSU’s ‘07 class, but I thought he would get some playing time at safety, he still might, keep an eye on him. Chekwa is a redshirt freshman who has been very impressive this spring.

Fellow true freshman Cameron Heyward is listed on the depth chart, he might see playing time at defensive end and at tackle. Doug Worthington and Todd Denlinger are listed as the starters at defensive tackle.

Also, it looks like ‘06 backup kicker junior Ryan Pretorius beat out Aaron Pettrey for the starting kicking job this year.