Our Honor Defend

We’re all biding time, waiting for August to arrive and for the Midshipmen to arrive in town to start the 2009 season.  While that time and date will come eventually, Buckeye fans wanting to get their fix of Buckeye football have an option.  The Big 33 game between Ohio prepsters and Pennsylvania prepsters is this Saturday and will be televised by the NFL Network (7pm ET).  You can also watch the replay of the game at 11pm ET on the same network.

While Ohio State has made inroads in the state of Pennsylvania recently, no future Buckeye will appear for the Pennsylvania side.  It didn’t happen last year either.  On the other hand, the Buckeyes will be well represented for the native Ohio side.  Chris Fields, pictured to the right rocking an Ohio State shirt during player introductions, will be there.  Tarblooders Marcus Hall and Jonathan Newsome will join him.  Corey Linsley and Sam Longo will play for the Ohio side’s starting line.  Adam Bellamy will feature on Ohio’s defensive line next to Melvin Fellows’ Safari Planet.  That’s crazy!

The future Buckeyes on that roster are among the biggest playing for the squad, so I’m expecting most, if not all, to start this game and play frequently.  Marcus Hall is a lock at starter, likely at right tackle.  Sam Longo will likely be the other bookend in this game.  Corey Linsley has never played anything other than right tackle in high school, so I’m not sure if he will be subbed in for Hall or if he’ll be moved somewhere else on that line.

The Pennsylvania side has dominated this game of late.  They won 31-17 last year in a game where the Ohio talent was significantly greater in previous years.  Previous victories by that saw the Pennsylvania side beat the Ohio team 28-10 and 61-42.

Recent history may be on Pennsylvania’s side, but the talent disparity is disproportionately in the Ohio side’s favor this year.  The Ohio side boasts talent like Mike Edwards (Tennessee), Fitzgerald Toussaint (Michigan), Will Studlien (Northwestern), John Prior (Florida State), Denicos Allen (Michigan State), Nate Klatt (Michigan State) and Micah Hyde (Iowa).  By contrast, the Pennsylvania side has talent spread out across miscellaneous prep schools and JUCOs (including the Big East schools).  Three future Nittany Lions appear on their side (Garry Gilliam, Jordan Hill and Mark Arcidiacono), but places like Villanova, Temple, North Carolina Tech, Duquesne and Colgate stand out.  I’d be surprised if this ends well for the Pennsylvania side.  That said, it’s just a meaningless exhibition and I’m more interested in the individual performance of our our future Buckeyes.