By: Adam Rittenberg (ESPN.com) -- After a long weekend off, it's time to dive back into the Big Ten position rankings. The secondary units are up next. The top two look absolutely stacked, and the top four or five all will be solid. Quarterback play should be much better in the Big Ten this fall, and the secondaries will need to elevate their play. 1. Iowa -- Three starters return from a unit that helped Iowa lead the Big Ten in takeaways (32) and allow ... Read More

By: MATT MARKEY (ToledoBlade.com) -- COLUMBUS - After humbling losses in high-profile bowl games the past three years, it seemed like the only consensus reached about Ohio State was that its national reputation had been sullied, its armor chinked and its complexion pock-marked and blemished. Buckeye football had been deflated, the media saturation bombing contended, over and over, ad nauseam. But as the 2009 preseason predictions, rankings and polls continue to be rolled out, it looks like not everyone guzzled that Kool-Aid. Ohio State ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Walking through the local mall here in the Columbus suburbs today and I saw the new Ohio State jerseys for the first time. Each year, there are five or six numbers put out before the season, representing the best guess at the Buckeyes the fans are most interested in. Last year, it was Beanie Wells (28), James Laurinaitis (33), Malcolm Jenkins (2), Brian Robiskie (80), Todd Boeckman (17) and Marcus Freeman (1). As the year went ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Safety Kurt Coleman, defensive tackle Doug Worthington and tight end Jake Ballard, all seniors, were announced today as the representatives for the Buckeyes at the Big Ten media days on July 27 and 28 in Chicago. And I'm guessing those will be three of your four captains for Ohio State in the fall. The guys who are trusted by Jim Tressel to sit in suits at round tables and field several hours of questions from reporters typically fare ... Read More

From: Nola.com via Mike Triplett, TimesPicayune.com -- This week has been a non-stop cram session for Saints rookie cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, who squeezed in three final exams and three final papers to finish school at Ohio State a week early. He said he was up all night studying on Thursday before he finished his last test on Friday. Then he traded in his textbooks for his playbook and boarded a flight to New Orleans. "I was watching some film on the plane," said Jenkins, who arrived ... Read More

By: Matt Hinton (Yahoo.com) -- One of the themes of the last couple weeks is contenders, and what makes (or breaks) a team's shot at No. 1, and as I indicated in premature assessment of Ohio State, OSU -- a ubiquitous contender the last four years -- looks like a definite "break." This has much less to do with the Buckeyes' recent failures in their biggest games (though they've become too obvious for even an OSU defender to overlook) than with the much ... Read More

By: Brady Aymond (TheAdvertiser.com) -- It pains me to say it, but the New Orleans Saints nailed it with their first-round draft pick this year. As much as I hate to admit it, Malcolm Jenkins is good - despite the fact that he's a Buckeye. Jenkins may end up being a bust, as easily as he could end up being a perennial Pro Bowler. Nothing in his career points to him being a bust, though. Jenkins was the equivalent of a shutdown corner in college, ... Read More

By: Doug (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Safeties Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell make the second corner job slightly less critical. In 2005, the Buckeyes got by with Tyler Everett and freshman Malcolm Jenkins basically sharing the second corner spot opposite Ashton Youboty partly because veteran safeties Nate Salley and Donte Whitner were there to lend a hand. The OSU coaches have already said that losing both Jenkins Propecia buy and Donald Washington from last season's team means that the Buckeyes will ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- For the last several months, I've been pondering a story, trying to figure out the best way to go about it while bouncing the premise off other people who follow Ohio State. And it went something like this: Why I think Ohio State might lose four games next season. This was my thinking. There are eight starters back on defense, but the three guys who led the way there are gone. The offensive line was a giant question ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Ohio State should have eight or nine players drafted over the next two days. A final look at the draft possibilities of OSU players today and Sunday: * Malcolm Jenkins, CB/S: The most likely Buckeye off the board first, he could go as high as No. 9 to Green Bay and doesn't look like he'll get past New Orleans at No. 14 or Houston at No. 15. Guess: No. 14 to New Orleans * Beanie Wells, ... Read More