By RANDY COVITZ, The Kansas City Star
The NFL playoffs demonstrated the surest way to a championship is to get to the quarterback.

San Diego’s pressure rattled Tom Brady in the AFC championship game, forcing him to throw a season-most three interceptions. And the New York Giants’ harassment of Brady produced five sacks and a Super Bowl championship.

That’s where Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston comes in. He and Virginia’s Chris Long are considered the premier pass rushers in the upcoming NFL draft.

Gholston tied Long for third in the nation with a school-record 14 sacks for minus-111 yards last season, and most impressively, recorded the only sack against Michigan tackle Jake Long last season. It was one of three sacks Gholston had in the game against the Wolverines.

“That was a big battle for me,” said Gholson, the Big Ten’s Defensive Lineman of the season. “I know, going back to the previous year, he was tough competition. He kicked back in pass protection, and it was tough for me to get around him.

“So coming into the game, I really focused on that and learned some new techniques to get better hands on him, and it worked.”

Gholston, a 6-3, 266-pounder, didn’t want to reveal any secrets on how he beat Long.

“Just waited for the right moment,” he smiled. “Nothing special, you know. The biggest thing was speed.”

The only question about Gholston’s future in the NFL is where to play him. He played the rush end in a 4-3 at Ohio State, but said he would feel comfortable playing an outside linebacker in a 3-4.

Gholston displayed the strength of a lineman and speed of a linebacker at the combine when he tied Long with 37 reps in the bench press, and ran a 4.65 in the 40-yard dash, which he topped with a 4.58 hand-timed 40 at Ohio State’s Pro Day.

“I love playing defensive end,” Gholston said. “I love getting after the quarterback and affecting the game that way. But at the end of the day, I’ll play wherever the team that picks me wants.”

Gholston could go anywhere from the first overall pick to Miami to either the sixth to the New York Jets or seventh to New England. All play 3-4 fronts.

“Gholston has excited people,” said ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.

“He fits a 3-4 team. He’s kind of the Shawne Merriman, DeMarcus Ware, Kamerion Wimbley, Terrell Suggs,” Kiper said, referring to four first-round picks of the past five years.

Bill Parcells, now Miami’s top front-office executive, selected Ware in the first round of the 2005 draft while head coach at Dallas.

“Those kinds of players, those attacking, outside-linebacker/defensive-end types, are going to help you right away,” Kiper said.

Unlike Long, the son of a Pro Football Hall of Famer, Gholston was a late-comer to football.

He did not play football until his sophomore year in high school at Cass Tech in Detroit when football coach Thomas Wilcher convinced the then-6-foot-3, 240-pounder to join the team.

“I never really watched football,” he said. “I played basketball and I was a big wrestling fan, loved working out, but football was one of the ones that kind of slipped through the cracks. I played a couple times when I was younger, but never really organized.”

By the time Gholston’s career was over at Ohio State, he played in two national-championship games, had 22.5 sacks, made 30.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for losses of 199 yards, made one interception and returned a fumble 25 yards for a touchdown.

He also watched the Super Bowl and noticed how the Giants pressured Brady, which may have helped the draft stock of defensive ends.

“I know how (important) the defensive line is,” Gholston said.

“If you got a front four that can control the game, you’re destined for championships. That was proven, the way they were able buying prescription drugs online to take advantage of their speed and get to the quarterback.”

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