Dave Biddle of Bucknuts.com Weighs in on this Weekend's Game

IlliniBeat was lucky enough to interview Bucknuts.com's Dave Biddle this week and get his view on the upcoming clash between Illinois and OSU. Bucknuts is in my opinion the premier site on the net for a behind the scenes look at the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Biddle was the sports editor of The Madison Press in London, Ohio for nearly five years (February 2000-December 2004). While at the Press, he won three Associated Press Awards, including two for Best Sports Writer. Biddle also held the position of sports editor at the Kettering-Oakwood Times in Dayton, Ohio from July 1999-February 2000.

Let's talk about Terrelle Pryor. Any quarterback who starts that young is going to need mechanics work. What changes have you noticed in Pryor this year compared to his freshman year, and where does he still need to improve?

"Well, first of all his throwing mechanics are improving, they're still a little ways off though. His throwing motion was a little bit too long, that, and he needed to do a better job of stepping into his throws; he tended to throw off of his back foot a lot. He's gotten better at that this year, but he still has work to do. No question he has a strong arm, and he's still such a young guy. You can compare him to Juice Williams a little bit, and maybe he will really start to get it towards the end of his sophomore season. A lot of quarterbacks in their mold red shirt like Vince Young, and they weren't given that luxury."

And mentally he must be tough to start at OSU as a true freshman. Where can he improve there?

"He really doesn't do a real good job of going through all of his checks. He's better this year in that if his primary receiver isn't there he can check down once, but he's not a guy who will go through four or five progressions. He still tends to get happy feet. If his primary guy isn't open, he'll check down once, maybe twice, then he's off. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. He's always going to be what he is, and that's a guy who can kill you with his running skills. He's trying to become a pocket passer. I think you saw that a little bit last week against Toledo (262 passing yards, 3 passing TD). But against USC, I feel like he didn't run the ball nearly enough, was going out of bounds too early, wasn't taking those big hits that maybe he would have taken last year. He's working through that, and it looked better against Toledo...He did a better job of finishing his rushes."

Does he seem more comfortable this year with things like time management, watching film, and just daily football life?

"No question about it because, as you know, a lot of guys who play early as freshman are the ones who were able to come in for spring ball the year before. And that wasn't the case for him. He wasn't able to get in until June. He came in trying to just learn the offense and became the starter week 4. It was sort of a surprise to everyone. Todd Boeckman was a captain and 6th year senior... I think it shocked people how bad he was playing. Terrelle took over and didn't really know the nuances of the position at the college level that well. I definitely think he has a better command of the offense, although they aren't giving him the freedom to go out there and just call plays. Basic stuff. It really did help to get him a full spring with his teammates, and he is getting there. But, like I said, as a whole quarterback package, he's still a little bit away from where they need him to be."

I know Ohio State has battled Penn State for the title of linebacker U, but most people don't realize that the Buckeyes recently have been turning out wide receivers at almost the same rate. Going back to Cris Carter who retired in 2002 with 130 NFL touchdown catches, you have names like Joey Galloway, Terry Glen, Santonio Holmes, and Ted Ginn Jr. OSU has been lucky to have a go-to-guy on offense that when it's third and seven, you want the ball in his hands. This year there seems to be a lack of the obvious go-to-wide receiver although Dane Sanzenbacher has looked good. Is he the guy you would say is stepping into that role?

"Yeah, no question about it right now, Dane is the number one receiver... DeVier Posey, you could call a close second. I would say that Ohio State has two very solid number twos but not that game breaker. Sanzenbacher is a guy who's very solid...I don't think he is the type that will put a lot of fear into top opposing defenses. He's quicker than fast, a guy who probably runs in the middle to low 4.5's in the 40 meter. He will probably never be a 4.4 guy, but he's very quick out there, runs good routes, very sure hands. He's really not that big of a guy at 5'11", 180 lbs. So he's the number one, but ideally he's the kind of guy you'd like to have at the number two spot. Posey is stepping up, he's a sophomore where as Sanzenbacher is a junior. Nobody really knew heading into the season which one of them would take the number one spot. Sanzenbacher got it, but Posey has been playing well as well. I would guess that Posey has the higher ceiling, he's the bigger guy at 6'3", 205 lbs., a high 4.4 guy, not as quick as Dane...It's a good battle between the two. Also taking a role early is freshman Duron Carter, Cris Carter's son."

Illini fans may remember former recruiting target Lamaar "Flash" Thomas. Where is the sophomore fitting into the OSU offense?

"He's currently the fifth receiver on the roster, I think some expected and hoped he would be playing a bigger role than that. The Buckeyes really cut it off after the top four guys, and if you're not in that top four you're going to be hard pressed to get a lot of playing time offensively. His biggest role is as Ohio State's primary kickoff returner. They've really struggled and been one of the worst teams in the nation on kick returns since Ted Ginn Jr. left. According to the assistant coaches though, they like him, they like his speed and his agility, they think he brings a lot to the table. He's just still learning to be a true wide receiver after he played all over in high school."

Looking at the recruiting classes recently, OSU has really been cleaning up. Tell me about some of the young guys we all hear about like running back Jaamal Berry. Who has stepped up?

"Well, Berry hasn't played yet in a game. He was the guy who was supposed to be the top running back in the class. They actually signed three of them, one of them didn't make it academically, he was also from Florida like Berry. The guy who has been the big surprise has been Jordan Hall. He was the lowest rated of the three signed... a former teammate of Terelle Pryor, just a year younger. He had huge stats as a high school junior. Then last year as a senior without Pryor, he rushed for 35 touchdowns, and even still people wondered if he was just a throw in with Terrelle Pryor. He's been impressing people since the preseason scrimmage though, and I think it's impressive that he's been able to win the number three spot behind Dan "Boom" Herron and Brandon Saine. Berry was the higher regarded of the two, just had all of the accolades, but really Jordan Hall has been very impressive. Coach Tressel says that he doesn't want to red shirt Jaamal, but it's getting to the point where you start wondering if that's going to happen. I feel that the top three running backs are set because Hall has looked so good and not just as a freshman. I would guess that barring an injury, Berry red shirts."

Illini fans were happy to find out that running back Justin Green had changed his mind and decided to play for the Illini instead of the Buckeyes last year. They weren't so happy however to find out that DE Melvin Fellows was doing the same thing but going the opposite direction. What's the plan for Fellows?

"Well, he had a knee injury his final year of high school which caused him to have surgery. He was selected for the Ohio vs. Pennsylvania Big 33 Classic, which is a pretty big all-star game around here and wasn't able to play. That was in June. He thought he would be 100% by the time he got to fall camp. That wasn't the case, so they've decided to red shirt him. He's really not that far off, he's been able to practice a little bit. It seems like a pretty straight up trade between Fellows and Green, we'll have to wait and see. I really do feel that he will challenge to crack the rotation at defensive end though, if he is healthy."

Two years ago, Juice was able to run out the clock in the fourth quarter by running up the middle repeatedly. From that point on people were saying that the defensive tackle spot position was maybe a weakness compared to years in the past. Do you feel that OSU has solidified the D-tackle position?

"They've looked very impressive this year. It's hard to call the position a weakness in years past because the Buckeyes ranked so high in run defense, but you didn't really see the defensive tackles dominating the guards they went up against. Now the group has played for three years together for the most part. You have senior Doug Worthington and junior Dexter Larimore. Then there is senior Todd Denlinger who is technically the number three, but they have a true freshman who's coming on, John Simon, who is already one of the strongest on the team, if not the strongest. He's playing a lot and that's really rare at Ohio State to see a true freshman getting that much time on the defensive line. Besides that, defensive end Cameron Heyward is an over sized end at 6'6", 290 lbs., so they slide him down to tackle at times to get some extra speed up front. No question that this is the best defensive tackle team at OSU since the 2006 team that went to the national championship with Quinn Pitcock, and it may be better. I really feel that the defensive line as a whole is the strength of this defense."

How has corner back Chimdi Checkwa done stepping up into the role of top dog since Malcolm Jenkins' graduated to the NFL?

"Well he looks solid so far, but I feel like he hasn't really been tested. Ohio State's defense played really well against USC, who didn't take a lot of shots down field. It's kind of a wait and see. He looked good against Toledo who's a team that had done very well moving the ball through the air on teams like Purdue and Colorado, who I don't think are all that good, especially Colorado. So it's really a little too early to tell, but he's a guy that physically has all of the tools. With the ability to run in the low 4.4 forty meter range, Checkwa was a member of OSU's Big Ten championship winning outdoor 4X100 relay team. He's not huge for a corner, but also not small by any means. Coming in at 6'0" 180 lbs, Checkwa knows how to be physical and is pretty good run support... Not Malcolm Jenkins good, but he's stepped up pretty well. The real concern was the other corner spot, and junior Devon Torrence has been starting there along with Andre Amos getting snaps as well. Torrence has impressed me. He's a big, physical corner like Ohio State likes to have out there. He still needs to work on his coverage a little, but he's done a solid job. Really the corners have done well this year. It was a concern to everyone who followed the Buckeyes coming into the season, but I think that's not the case anymore."

Looking towards the game this weekend, what things besides a win are you looking for to call it a successful game?

"First I'll be looking at the defense and whether they are able to contain Juice Williams or not. Some of those plays where you get pressure on him, nothing's open down field, and he just slips away and has 8 yards in front of him... that just killed us in 2007 when the Fighting Illini came into the horseshoe and upset the number one ranked Buckeyes. I'll tell you what, we've seen far too much of this in Columbus. Illinois has won seven of the last ten games in Columbus, and that's just a mind boggling stat if you think about it. So mainly it's on Ohio State's defense to slow Juice down. If he get's some confidence early, the team knows that they can win in this stadium...You can't let Rejus Benn get going either. He's a guy who even on the short passes can break a tackle and take it to the house. It's all about being tough early. If we let Illinois hang around, Juice is the kind of guy who can have a half like he did in 2007 where he just controls the ball and the clock."

And for the Buckeyes on offense?

"On Offense, Terrelle and the rest of the guys need to take care of the ball. Pryor did that pretty well as a true freshman. This year he's been a little sloppier, taking a few more chances...And that's the way Illinois is going to win this game. If Pryor goes out there and is sloppy with the football, fumbles, throws interceptions, Illinois can get momentum, a lead, and, like I said, just run the clock. If OSU is going to win, then they are going to have to throw the ball. If you're playing against Ohio State this year, why wouldn't you cheat up and try to take away the run? Not just the running backs but Pryor too. I would like to see some play action early to open things up. People are going to have eight and nine guys in the box, daring us to throw. Illinois lost a great corner this year in Vontae Davis. Ohio state was in a similar situation losing Jenkins in the first round, but I think we might have a had a little bit more returning depth so it was a more seamless transition."

Thoughts on the Illini this season?

"This is a dangerous Illini team in my opinion. I had them picked as the number three team in the Big Ten coming into the season. They sort of laid an egg against Missouri, which is too bad because I really thought that this was going to be the year that they beat them. I still think that this is a dangerous team though, and I expect them to play us like they have nothing to lose. I pick this game at 27-17, OSU"

Thoughts on the IlliBuck trophy?

"This really is a great rivalry, and, if you ask me, it's one of the most underrated in the country. These teams have been playing each other for so long now, and while some may think the trophy is a little silly, I think it still means a lot to the guys. All you have to do is look a the win-loss record over the last 20 or so years to realize that both of these teams get fired up for this, and it is usually anybody's game."