So, pretty much every position up to now has been in pretty good shape, with the biggest question mark being quarterback, though that's a position well stocked with prospects. Now we turn to the shaky portion of the team, the back seven.
Linebackers:
Probably leaving:
Pete Werner, Tuf Borland, Baron Browning, and Justin Hilliard are all seniors and all likely to sail off into the NFL sunset. I believe only Werner hasn't announced in one way or another but no one expects him back. And that is a lot. For context, that's 4 of their top 5 tackles last year, 3 of the top 6 in 2019, and 2 of the top four in 2018. OSU was playing a 4-4-3 against Alabama entirely because they had four senior linebackers who could play (just not play much with Bama). The position is going to look entirely different next year.
Probably staying:
Teradja Mitchell is probably where we start. His name has gotten mention for years but has just been beaten out by the guys ahead of him. Now there isn't anyone ahead of him, so it would be surprising if he wasn't starting. The team does have two other senior linebackers in Dallas Gant and K'Vaughan Pope. Gant has gotten some snaps, Pope not so much.
Assuming Gant and Mitchell start next year, the third guy might be either Craig Young or Cody Simon. Young was a track star who didn't know how to play football, while Simon was a top 100 recruit who was a true freshman last year. Also in the mix is thumper Tommy Eichenberg and Mitchell Melton. OSU has incoming top 100 recruit Reid Carrico (shout out to Ironton) coming in as well.
The other part of this is that OSU has been recruiting safeties more with an eye towards playing them in a linebacker or hybrid role, but for now I'll treat the safeties as safeties and mention them with defensive backs.
