From: LancasterEagleGazette.com -- LEXINGTON -- It didn't take long for Marcus Freeman to fall into character as a football coach. He got down at eye level with his players, counting off the pushups as they hit the ground at the end of each drill. "If I tell you to pick your nose, pick your nose," barked the former Ohio State linebacker as his troops -- a bunch of grade-schoolers -- hung on his every word. "OK, everybody clap!" This group wasn't going to win any ... Read More

By: Dane Noble (WindyCityGridiron.com) -- In the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears selected Ohio State outside linebacker Marcus Freeman.  Freeman was thought to be a very talented outside LB, and his size and speed were things that caught Lovie Smith's eye.  Unfortunately, Freeman was among a very deep group of linebackers in Chicago, and was released just after preseason. Fast forward almost a year, Freeman is retiring from the game, for the same ... Read More

From: StyleBlips.com -- Ohio State defensive end Lawrence Wilson (6-4, 272) made a visit to Halas Hall this week, according to a source. Wilson is projected as a late-round pick or could sign as an undrafted free agent. keep an eye on Lawrence Wilson - Once considered a ferocious defensive end prospect, Wilson's career has been derailed by season-ending injuries each of the last two years. A broken leg that required a steel rod and a torn ACL ... Read More

By JOHN KAMPF (MorningJournal.com) --COLUMBUS — Patience is supposedly a virtue. Good luck telling that to a freshman football player who is used to being “The Man” on the football field. Brian Rolle and Ross Homan know all about it. The pair of returning starting linebackers for Ohio State remember coming to Columbus and being told by the likes of James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman to be patient, listen and learn. It wasn’t easy for them. And now that they are veterans and saying the ... Read More

By: Carlos Holmes (DaytonDailyNews.com) -- Huber Heights native and former Ohio State linebacker Marcus Freeman had a lifelong dream of playing in the NFL. The dream became somewhat of a reality when he was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round of the 2009 draft. Freeman saw action in all four preseason games with the Bears, but was waived before the start of the regular season. He was later ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Columbus -- When 13 years later you remember and regret the shutouts that should have been as much as the ones that happened, you were part of a great defense. Though Ohio State's 1996 defense did shut out three opponents in 12 games, former linebacker Greg Bellisari recalls the one that got away, a 38-7 win over Penn State when the Nittany Lions were dominated before scoring on Ohio State's second team in the fourth quarter. "A ... Read More

By: Adam Rittenberg (ESPN.com) -- Ohio State junior linebacker Tyler Moeller will miss the 2009 season because of a head injury sustained on a family vacation, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday. Tressel told reporters in Columbus that he originally feared Moeller would not play football again but now expects the junior to rejoin the team sometime in the future. A source close to the Ohio State program told ESPN.com that Moeller was in Florida with family members when he was punched at ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Breaking down the best 20 Ohio State players on the roster right now as the Buckeyes open practice today. No. 5: Junior linebacker Ross Homan I don't know which Ohio State linebackers are going to start where, and how the rest of them might rotate in, but I'm confident in the idea that Homan is the best linebacker on the roster. Even before Tyler Moeller's status for the season was called into question by his hospitalization for a ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Who are the best 20 players on Ohio State's roster right now? This is a venture with no right answers, but I think it's an interesting way to evaluate just how the 2009 Buckeyes are going to come together. A year ago, this was a much easier list to make. Starting with Beanie Wells, Malcolm Jenkins and James Laurinaitis and running through veterans like Marcus Freeman, Brian Robiskie, Brian Hartline, Donald Washington, Alex Boone, etc., you had a ... 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

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Brian Rolle was a star of the spring. For two years, the linebacker from Immokalee, Fla., stayed in the background at Ohio State, popping up with some big plays on special teams, but otherwise biding his time with veterans like James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman in front of him. A little undersized at 5-11, but with big-hit ability, it was hard to get a read on him as a person and a player. Here's a read. This ... Read More